admiration of all beholders. He was preceded by 1158. two hundred and fifty singing boys; then came his hounds and light wagons, laden with provisions, his wardrobe (and on this occasion we are told he had twenty-four changes of apparel), the furniture of his chapel, and of his bedchamber. Two of the wagons carried barrels of ale, to be distributed among the people. After the wagons, were led twelve beautiful horses, "having on each a kneeling groom, and a monkey in front of him." Then followed war-horses for all the knights in his train. After them, came the falconers, knights, and squires; and lastly, the royal chancellor himself. As the people of France gazed upon this splendid pageant, they exclaimed, "What manner of man must the king of England be, when his chancellor travels in such state!"

He

In return for all the favor bestowed upon him by the king, Thomas à Becket seemed devoted to the royal interests. attended Henry in his wars, and, although a churchman, donned armor of mail, and, at the head of seven hundred of his own vassals, captured French castles for the English king. He aided Henry in breaking down the great power of the Norman barons, eleven hundred of whose castles, the strongholds of robbery and cruelty, were levelled to the ground. He even reproved the bishops who asserted their independence, telling them that men of the church were as much bound to support the royal authority, as men of the sword.

It is true, that when the subject of the primacy was first named to Becket by the king, he said, laughingly, whilst pointing to his gay dress, "A fine saint you have chosen for so holy an office!"-and then added, more seriously, "besides, you have views on the subject of the church, to which I could never lend myself; and I fear that, if I were to become archbishop, we should soon cease to be friends." But Henry did not regard these words as uttered in earnest.

1162.

No sooner had Becket been installed primate of England, than, giving up his office. of chancellor, he dismissed his retinue of knights and squires, and surrounded

himself by men of Saxon birth, and low degree. His delicate food was exchanged for the coarsest fare; water, in which were steeped bitter herbs, supplied his daily drink. Sackcloth took the place of his costly raiment. He washed the feet of beggars, and visited, with alms and prayers, the sick and the miserable. From indulging in every extravagance which even his luxurious taste could devise, he came now to abandon the most simple and innocent recreations of life. The man of the world had become a rigid monk, and gained by his extraordinary austerities the reputation of a saint.

1163.

The king's dismay at this change in the new archbishop was unbounded. That the devoted, pleasureloving courtier, whose talents had been hitherto chiefly conspicuous in ministering to the royal magnificence, should now set himself in opposition to the monarch's will, and rival the asceticism of a St. Dunstan, was indeed matter of astonishment to the whole realm. The conduct of Becket, however, did not suffer the king's mind to remain long in doubt as to the reality of this strange transformation, and in this long and bitter controversy between Henry and his prelate, it must be conceded that à Becket was the first aggressor.

Henry very soon discovered that the views of Becket, as the courtier had asserted before his promotion, were widely different from his own on the subject of ecclesiastical authority. So far from showing any willingness to abate the influence of the clergy, the new primate did all in his power to increase and extend it.

In the county of Kent, on the banks of the Med1163. way, and scattered throughout other portions of that pleasant province, stood strong castles and fair manor-houses, which in more favored days had belonged to the see of Canterbury. Becket insisted on the restitution of them all. From the king himself he claimed the strong castle of Rochester, the position of which rendered it a place of great importance, and from the Earl of Clare he demanded the surrender of Tunbridge barony and castle. But the crowning audacity of the haughty prelate was the excommunication of one

of Henry's vassals for interfering in a matter of church preferment. This last act made Henry exceedingly angry; for among the laws which he was most anxious to establish, was one to prevent the excommunication of a vassal of the king, without the royal consent.

The quarrel between the monarch and his once familiar friend became daily more violent. The king won over most of the bishops, and all the Norman nobles, to his side, and the primate was left single-handed in the struggle. He had with him, only the hearts and prayers of the English portion of the nation, who saw with pride and delight, an archbishop of Saxon birth, opposing, with so much firmness, the power of a Norman king.

1164.

At Clarendon, near Salisbury, the king held a large assembly of bishops and nobles. He presented to them sixteen articles (known as the Constitutions of Clarendon) for the regulation of the church. Becket alone refused to sign them. The king then took away the riches which, in other days, he had delighted to lavish upon his favorite courtier. Bishops and nobles besought the primate to yield, and for a moment he gave in his adhesion to the king's demands, but afterwards repented of this submission, and renewed his resistance to royal authority. Believing his life and liberty in danger, he fled in the disguise of a Saxon monk, taking the name of Brother Dearman, to France.

Sometimes the Pope and the exiled primate, and At length, in the year

This quarrel was long and bitter. the king of France took part with sometimes with the angry monarch. 1170, the Pope took decided ground in support of the archbishop, and obliged Henry, who was then in France, to restore him to favor. The meeting of reconciliation was held in a pleasant meadow on the borders of Touraine.

A few months later, Becket went back to England. 1170. His friends begged him not to venture across the Channel. They told him he had enemies there, who hated him to the death, and that one knight had sworn, "that he would not let the archbishop live to eat a single loaf of bread

in England." But the fearless archbishop replied: "Seven years of absence are long enough, both for the shepherd and his flock, and I will not stop, though I were sure to be cut to pieces as soon as I landed on the opposite coast." Becket entered England in safety, and was warmly received by the poor and lowly of Saxon blood; but not a single great lord or noble, not one of Norman race, gave welcome to the exile.

Not long before Becket's return, the king had caused his eldest son, Prince Henry, to be crowned by the archbishop of York. The right of crowning English monarchs, since the conquest, had belonged solely to the archbishop of Canterbury. When the primate found that this honor had been conferred on the see of York, he persuaded the Pope to excommunicate the archbishop, as well as the bishops of London and Salisbury, who were among Becket's chief enemies.

1170.

The three excommunicated prelates hastened across the Channel, and presented themselves to the king in Normandy. Henry's anger, on hearing of what had been. done, knew no bounds. "How!" he exclaimed, 66 a fellow that hath eaten my bread,-a beggar, that first came to my court on a lame horse, dares insult his king and the royal family, and tread upon the whole kingdom, and not one of the cowards I nourish at my table-not one will deliver me from this turbulent priest!" Solomon says: "The wrath of a king is as messengers of death." Scarcely had Henry uttered these words, when four knights secretly left his court. Their absence was unnoted, their design unsuspected.

1170.

Soon they were in England, lodging at the house of a bitter enemy of Thomas à Becket. On the afternoon of the 29th of December, they came, with twelve adherents, to the archbishop's palace, arrayed in armor. The gates were barred, and the building rung with the sound of blows from the battle-axe of the conspirators. Becket's attendants urged him to take refuge in the church. He refused, until, hearing the chanting of vespers, he exclaimed, "Now my duty calls me thither, I will go." With calm and stately mien, preceded by his cross-bearer, Becket passed into

the cloisters, and proceeded to the cathedral. On entering, his followers would have barred the doors, but he forbade them. Scarcely had he reached the steps ascending to the choir, when a knight, followed by armed men, appeared at the other end of the church, and a voice cried, "Where is the traitor?" The church was dimly lighted-only here and there a lamp glimmered before a shrine. In the crypts of the old cathedral, Becket might easily have found a hiding-place; but he would not stir, and when the voice again cried, "Where is the archbishop?" he answered, "Here am I, an archbishop, but no traitor, ready to suffer in my Saviour's name." Alone, save for the protection of his faithful crossbearer, who warded off the first blow, the English archbishop was slain at the foot of a column, then standing in what has ever since been called, "The Transept of the Martyrdom," in the cathedral church of Canterbury.

1170.

QUESTIONS.-Describe the territorial possessions of Henry II.— Relate the means by which he acquired them.-Were these vast dominions left him in undisturbed possession?-What law had been made by William the Conqueror in behalf of the clergy?-How had it operated in favor of the Saxon portion of the nation?—What design did King Henry form?-To effect this reform, what requisite was important?

Relate the history of Becket's parents.-Where did he pass his childhood?-Describe Becket's advancement in the royal favor.Give some account of the style in which he travelled.—In what ways did he render assistance to the king?—How did he receive the proposition of the primacy?

Describe Becket's conduct on becoming archbishop.-In what way did he thwart the king's designs ?—What classes espoused the cause of the king?-Who remained with Becket?-Describe the primate's conduct regarding the Constitutions of Clarendon.-What foreign powers took part in this quarrel, and what was their conduct?— When and by what means was a reconciliation effected?

Describe the archbishop's return to England.—What act of the king had, about this time, excited Becket's anger?-How did the primate treat his enemies?-Describe Henry's conduct, and repeat his words, on hearing of this transaction.-What effect did the latter produce?-Relate the circumstances of Becket's death.