into the hands of the Pope, and received it back again.P John of Oxford was armed with more powerful weapons than perjury or submission, and the times now favoured the use of these more irresistible arms. The Emperor Frederick was levying, if he had not already set in motion, that mighty army which swept, during the next year, through Italy, made him master of Rome, and witnessed his coronation and the enthronement of the Antipope. Henry had now, notwithstanding his suspicious-more than suspicious-dealings with the Emperor, returned to his allegiance to Alexander. Vast sums of English money were from this time expended in strengthening the cause of the Pope. The Guelfic cities of Italy received them with greedy hands. By the gold of the King of England, and of the King of Sicily, the Frangipani and the family of Peter Leonis were retained in their fidelity to the Pope. Becket, on the other hand, had powerful friends in Rome, especially the Cardinal Hyacinth, to whom he writes, that Henry had boasted that in Rome everything was venal. It was, however, not till a second embassy arrived, consisting of John Cummin and Ralph of Tamworth, that Alexander made his great concession, the sign that he was not yet extricated from his distress. He appointed William of Pavia, and Otho, Cardinal of St. Nicolas, his legates in France, to decide the cause. Meantime all Becket's acts were suspended by the papal authority. At the same time the Pope wrote to Becket, entreating him at this perilous time of the Church to make all possible concessions, and to dissemble, if necessary, for the present." If John of Oxford boasted prematurely of his triumph (on his return to England he took ostentatious possession of his deanery of Salisbury'), and predicted the utter ruin

Dec. 1166.

P The Pope acknowledges that this was extorted from him by fear of Henry, and makes an awkward apology to Becket.-Giles, iv. 18; Bouquet, 309.

9 He was crowned in Rome August 1. Compare next chapter-Sismondi, Republiques Italiennes, ii. ch. x.; Von Raumer, ii. p. 209, &c.

Giles, iii. 128; Bouquet, 272. Compare Letters to Cardinals Boso and Henry.-Giles, iii. 103, 113; Bouquet, 174. Letter to Henry announcing the appointment, December 20.

"Si non omnia secundum beneplacitum succedant, ad præsens dissimulet." -Giles, vi. 15; Bouquet, 277.

See the curious letter of Master Lombard, Becket's instructor in the canon law, who boldly remonstrates with the Pope. He asserts that Henry was so frightened at the menace of excommunication, his subjects, even the bishops, at that of his interdict, that they were in despair. Their only hope was in the death or some great disaster of the Pope. -Giles, iv. 208; Bouquet, 282.

CHAP. VIII. WILLIAM OF PAVIA AND CARDINAL OTHO. 493

of Becket, his friends, especially the King of France," were in utter dismay at this change in the papal policy. John, as Becket had heard (and his emissaries were everywhere), on his landing in England, had met the Bishop of Hereford (one of the wavering bishops), prepared to cross the sea in obedience to Becket's citation. To him, after some delay, John had exhibited letters of the Pope, which sent him back to his diocese. On the sight of these same letters, the Bishop of London had exclaimed in the fulness of his joy, "Then our Thomas is no longer archbishop! "If this be true," adds Becket, "the Pope has given a death-blow to the Church." To the Archbishop of Mentz, for in the empire he had his ardent admirers, he poured forth all the bitterness of his soul. Of the two cardinals he writes, "The one is weak and versatile, the other treacherous and crafty." He looked to their arrival with indignant apprehension. They are open to bribes, and may be perverted to any injustice."

John of Oxford had proclaimed that the cardinals, William of Pavia, and Otho, were invested in full powers to passjudgment between the King and the Primate. But whether John of Oxford had mistaken or exaggerated their powers, or the Pope (no improbable case, considering the change of affairs in Italy) had thought fit afterwards to modify or retract them, they came rather as mediators than judges, with orders to reconcile the contending parties, rather than to decide on their cause. The cardinals did not arrive in France till the autumn of the year."

See Letters of Louis; Giles, iv. 308; Bouquet, 287.

"Strangulavit," a favourite word.Giles, iii. 214; Bouquet, 284.

* Giles, iii. 235; Bouquet, 285.

Compare John of Salisbury, p. 539. "Scripsit autem rex Domino Coloniensi, Henricum Pisanum et Willelmum Papiensem in Franciam venturos ad novas exactiones faciendas, ut undique conradant et contrahant, unde Papa Alexander in urbe sustentetur: alter, ut nostis, levis est et mutabilis, alter dolosus et fraudulentus, uterque cupidus et avarus: et ideo de facili munera cœnabunt eos et ad omnem injustitiam incurvabunt. Andito eorum detestando adventu formidare cæpi præsentiam eorum causæ vestræ multum nocituram; et ne vestro et ves

trorum sanguine gratiam Regis Angliæ redimire non erubescant." He refers with great joy to the insurrection of the Saxons against the Emperor. He says elsewhere of Henry of Pisa, "Vir bonæ opinionis est, sed Romanus et Cardinalis."-Epist. cc. ii.

The English bishops declare to the Pope himself that they had received this concession, scripto formatum, from the Pope, and that the King was furious at what he thought a deception.-Giles, vi. 194; Bouquet, 304.

The Pope wrote to the legates to soothe Becket and the King of France; he accuses John of Oxford of spreading false reports about the extent of their commission; John Cummin of betraying his letters to the Antipope.-Giles, vi. 54.

A.D. 1167.

Fight of

Even before their arrival, first rumours, then more certain intelligence had been propagated throughout Christendom of the terrible disaster which had befallen the Emperor. Barbarossa's career of vengeance and conquest Frederick. had been cut short. The Pope a prisoner, a fugitive, is unexpectedly released, restored to power, if not to the possession of Rome. The climate of Rome, as usual, but in a far more fearful manner, had resented the invasion of the city by the German army. A pestilence had broken out, which in less than a month made such havoc among the soldiers, that they could scarcely find room to bury the dead. The fever seemed to choose its victims among the higher clergy, the partisans of the Antipope; of the princes and nobles, the chief victims were the younger Duke Guelf, Duke Frederick of Swabia, and some others; of the bishops, those of Prague, Ratisbon, Augsburg, Spires, Verdun, Liege, Zeitz; and the archrebel himself, the antipope-maker, Reginald of Cologne. Throughout Europe the clergy on the side of Alexander raised a cry of awful exultation; it was God manifestly avenging himself on the enemies of the Church; the new Sennacherib (so he is called by Becket) had been smitten in his pride; and the example of this chastisement of Frederick was a command to the Church to resist to the last all rebels against her power, to put forth her spiritual arms, which God would as assuredly support by the same or more signal wonders. The defeat of Frederick was an admonition to the Pope to lay bare the sword of Peter, and smite on all sides.d

There can be no doubt that Becket so interpreted what Becket against he deemed a sign from heaven. But even before the disaster was certainly known he had determined

the legates.

b So completely does Becket's fortune follow that of the Pope, that on June 17 Alexander writes to permit Roger of York to crown the King's son; no sooner is he safe in Benevento, August 22 (perhaps the fever had begun), than he writes to his legates to confirm the excommunications of Becket, which he had suspended.

Muratori, sub ann. 1167; Von Raumer, ii. 210. On the 1st of August Frederick was crowned; September 4,

he is at the Pass of Pontremoli, in full retreat, or rather flight.

In a curious passage in a letter written by Herbert de Bosham in the name of Becket, Frederick's defeat is compared to Henry's disgraceful campaign in Wales. "My enemy," says Becket, "in the abundance of his valour, could not prevail against a breechless and ragged people (exbraccatum et pannosum')."-Giles, viii. p. 268.

CHAP. VIII.

THE LEGATES IN FRANCE.

495

to show no submission to a judge so partial and so corrupt as William of Pavia. That cardinal had urged the Pope at Sens to accept Becket's resignation of his see. Becket would not deign to disguise his contempt. He wrote a letter so full of violence that John of Salisbury, to whom it was submitted, persuaded him to destroy it. A second was little milder; at length he was persuaded to take a more moderate tone. Yet even then he speaks of the "insolence of princes lifting up their horn." To Cardinal Otho, on the other hand, his language borders on adulation.

Meeting near

The cardinal Legates travelled in slow state. They visited first Becket at Sens, afterwards King Henry at Rouen. At length a meeting was agreed on to be held on the borders of the French and English Gisors. territory, between Gisors and Trie. The proud Becket was disturbed at being hastily summoned, when he was unable to muster a sufficient retinue of horsemen to meet the Italian cardinals. The two kings were there. Of Henry's prelates the Archbishop of Rouen alone was present at the first interview. Becket was charged with urging the King of France to war against his master. On the following day the King of France said in the presence of the cardinals, that this impeachment on Becket's loyalty was false. To all the persuasions, menaces, entrea- Octave of ties of the cardinals" Becket declared that he would Nov. 23. submit, "saving the honour of God, and of the Apostolic See, the liberty of the Church, the dignity of his person, and the property of the churches. As to the Customs he declared that he would rather bow his neck to the executioner than swear to observe them. He peremptorily demanded his own restoration at once to all the honours and possessions of the see." The third question was on the appeal of the bishops. Becket inveighed with bitterness on their treachery towards him, their servility to the King. "When the shepherds fled all Egypt returned to idolatry." Becket interpreted these

St. Martin.

"plus avaritiæ quam justitiæ studiosi." W. Cant. p. 21.

f Giles, iii. 157, and John of Salisbury's remarkable expostulatory letter upon Becket's violence.-Bouquet, p. 566.

Herbert de Bosham, p. 248; Epist. Giles, iii. 16; Bouquet, 296.

"shepherds" as the clergy." He compares them to the slaves in the old comedy; he declared that he would submit to no judgment on that point but that of the Pope himself. The Cardinals proceeded to the King. They were

The Cardinals before the King.

received but coldly at Argences, not far from Caen, at a great meeting with the Norman and English prelates. The Bishop of London entered at length into the King's grievances and his own; Becket's debt to the King,' his usurpations on the see of London. At the close Henry, in tears, entreated the cardinals to rid him of the troublesome churchman. William of Pavia wept, or seemed to weep from sympathy. Otho, writes Becket's emissary, could hardly suppress his laughter. The English prelates afterwards at Le Mans solemnly renewed their appeal. Their appeal was accompanied with a letter, in which they complain that Becket would leave them exposed to the wrath of the King, from which wrath he himself had fled; of false representations of the Customs, and disregard of all justice and of the sacred canons in suspending and anathematising the clergy without hearing and without trial. William of Pavia gave notice of the appeal for the next St. Martin's Day (so a year was to elapse), with command to abstain from all excommunication and interdict of the kingdom till that day." Both cardinals wrote strongly to the Pope in favour of the Bishop of London."

At this suspension Becket wrote to the Pope in a tone of mingled grief and indignation." He described himself as the most wretched of men; applied the prophetic description of the Saviour's unequalled sorrow to himself. He inveighed against William of Pavia :P he threw himself

h Giles, iii. p. 21. Compare the whole letter.

Foliot rather profanely said, the primate seems to think that as sin is washed away in baptism, so debts are cancelled by promotion.

"Ad mortem nos invitat et sanguinis effusionem, cum ipse mortem, quam nemo sibi dignabatur aut minabatur inferre, summo studio declinaverit et suum sanguinem illibatum conservando, ejus nec guttam effundi voluerit." -Giles, vi. 196. Bouquet, 304.

m

Giles, vi. 148. Bouquet, 304.

■ Giles, vi. 135, 141. Bouquet, 306. William of Pavia recommended the translation of Becket to some other see. ° Giles, iii. 28. Bouquet, 306.

P One of his letters to William of Pavia begins with this fierce denunciation: "Non credebam me tibi venalem proponendum emptoribus, ut de sanguine meo compareres tibi compendium de pretio iniquitatis, faciens tibi nomen et gloriam."-Giles, iii. 153. Becket always represents his enemies as thirsting after his blood.