a tutions, under the penalty of an interdict unless he should comply within thirty days after receiving their admonition. At Witsand, where he intended to embark, Becket heard that the Archbishop of York, with the Bishops of London and Salisbury, was preparing to cross into Normandy for the purpose of claiming the King's protection; and he at once despatched the letters of excommunication and suspension across the Channel. A clerk who accompanied the messenger was seized at Dover, and, as he could not show the King's license for his landing, was compelled to recross the straits with the first wind; and the delivery of the letters produced a ferment of exasperation among the Archbishop's с a Ep. 263 (Oct. 9). judice the Archbishop of Canter- | for all France. Rob. Autissiod., bury's right, "quominus corona- A.D. 1054, in Rec. des Hist., xiv. tionis et inunctionis regum Angliæ possessionem taliter habeatis, sicut antecessores tui et eadem ecclesia a quadraginta annis retro habuisse noscitur" (Ep. 228). This seems to suggest that the Archbishop of York might properly have performed the coronation unless it had been specially forbidden, and unless he had gone beyond his own province. Such a right had been successfully asserted in the case of one of Louis VII.'s queens by the Archbishop of Sens against the Archbishop of Rheims, who claimed the exclusive privilege of crowning b Diceto, 553-4. It has been very generally said that a letter to a nun named Idonea, encouraging her to perform a dangerous task in delivering a mandate from the Pope to the Archbishop of York (Ep. 196), was written on this occasion: but it seems rather to relate to the letter forbidding the coronation. Garnier (124) and Gervase (141) speak of a servant "uaslet à pié". 66 puer -as employed on this occasion, and Roger says that his name was Osbern (i. 159). c Garnier, 124; Gervase, 141. enemies. He had already received several warnings as to their designs; and now, as he was pacing the beach at Witsand, the master of a vessel which came in from England reported that the coast was beset by armed men, who were bent on seizing, and probably murdering him. But his resolution to return to Canterbury was not to be shaken by any fear of danger. He declared that for more than six years he had been an exile, and that, although he believed his death to be at hand-even if he were to be torn limb from limb-nothing should any longer keep him from his post. It was in no spirit of peace or conciliation that he prepared to return; the step which he had taken in making use of the papal letters, which were intended to be published only in extremity, and were certain to reopen and envenom the wounds which had been superficially healed, was censured by all but those in whom personal devotion to him had wholly overpowered their prudence and their discernment. b b iii. 83-4; Fitzst., i. 280; Will. e See Anon. Lambeth., ii. 116; Cant., ii. 28; Herb., vii. 310-5; | Will. Neubrig., ii. 25, p. 154. CHAPTER XIII. THE RETURN AND THE MURDER.-DEC. A.D. 1170. b AFTER a favourable passage the Archbishop landed at Sandwich, a town belonging to his see," and in that age "the most famous of all English seaports." As the vessel approached the harbour, the archiepiscopal banner of the cross was displayed, and a multitude flocked forth at the sight to welcome their spiritual father-some rushing into the water that they might be the first to receive his blessing, while others knelt or prostrated themselves by the wayside where he was to pass, and the air was filled with cries of "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord!" His enemies had expected him to land at Dover; but it would seem that they had been apprised of his change of plan, and soon after his arrival at Sandwich a party of them appeared in arms, headed by Gervase de Cornhill, sheriff of Kent, Reginald de Warrenne, and Ranulf de Broc, who had been in communication with the suspended and excommunicated bishops at Dover. Violence was, however, prevented a с Boys, 'Hist. of Sandwich,' 655. | day was Dec. 1, as the continuer of b "Omnium Anglorum portuum Florence of Worcester says (ii. famosissimus." Encomium Em- 142); but the statements vary as mæ, quoted in Handb. of Kent to this. and Sussex.' (202.) If the landing was on Tuesday (see p. 339), the с Herb., vii. 315. d Roger, 159. For R. de War by the presence of John of Oxford, who took aside the leaders of the force, and represented to them the discredit which would result to the King from any seeming breach of the late agreement;a nor, indeed, were they strong enough to attempt any violence in the face of the multitudes who were exulting in the Archbishop's return, and were ready to fight for him as their feudal lord." The sheriff, in order that he might not appear to have come without an object, inquired whether there were any foreign clerks in the Archbishop's train, and wished to exact from the Archdeacon of Sens, who appears to have been the only person of this description, an oath that he had no design against the peace of the realm, and would behave with fidelity to the King. But, although the archdeacon was ready to comply, Becket protested against this, as unprecedented and inhospitable: such oaths, he said, ought not to be exacted except from persons who were liable to suspicion; nothing of the kind had ever been required from clerks in attendance on the Archbishop of Canterbury, and he would not allow the practice to begin with himself. On being desired to absolve the bishops, he said that he had the King's licence for pronouncing censures on them, but deferred his answer until he should be at Canterbury; and, after renne, see Foss, i. 319; for G. de Cornhill, ib., 226; for John of Oxford, ib., 288. De Warrenne was of a great family, which Becket had provoked by preventing the marriage of one of the daughters with the King's brother William, on the ground of consanguinity; an impediment with which ecclesiastics in those days played fast and loose in the case of persons of rank. See Fitzst., i. 303. a Joh. Sarisb., Ep. 300, col. 350, A; Garnier, 124. b Joh. Sarisb., Ep. 300; S. T. C., iii. 85; Gervas., 1413. Canterbury. The news of his landing had already spread, and the general enthusiasm rendered his journey a sort of triumph. As he passed along the road the whole population of the neighbourhood pressed to see him— each parish headed by its priest. They stripped off their clothes and spread them in the way, while one party after another caught up and prolonged the jubilant cry, "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord!" On reaching his city the Primate was received with processions. The cathedral was adorned with the most sumptuous hangings; the clergy were arrayed in their festival robes; banquets were prepared to welcome the chief pastor; hymns, organs, trumpets, bells, loudly testified the general joy.o b As the Archbishop entered the cathedral, his face was flushed as if with exultation and joy, and the expression of it was remarked as singularly gracious. After having prostrated himself on the pavement he took his place in the choir, where he received the monks, one by one, to a iii. 84-5; Fitzst., i. 281; Roger, ib., 159; Joh. Sarisb., Ep. 300; Garnier, 125-6. b Herbert's "Diceres profecto si videres, Dominum secundo ad passionem appropinquare" (vii. 317)i. e., one aware of what was at hand might have said so-is not quite the same as M. Michelet's "Tous disaient que," &c.; and it |