b the Archbishop himself, as his clerks, although there were many learned canonists and eloquent speakers among them, declined it, out of fear lest they should render themselves especially obnoxious to the King." The Pope placed him at his right hand, and, as he was about to rise for the purpose of speaking, desired him to remain seated. After a short opening, in which he declared himself willing to endure anything rather than consent to the demands which were made against the liberties of the Church, the Archbishop threw himself on his knees, and, instead of the present which was customary in such cases, spread out before the Pope the parchment which he had received at Clarendon. The Constitutions were then read aloud, and the Pope emphatically expressed his disapproval of them. Some, he said, might have been borne with, although none were good; but ten out of the sixteen he pronounced abominable, as being contrary to ancient canons and to all that was holy, and he anathematized all who should observe them. William of Pavia, a cardinal who was supposed to be under especial obligations to the English King and to have planned the deposition of Becket, endeavoured to entangle him in disputation; but the Archbishop, whose fluent and elegant Latin is said to have been no less admirable than his readiness in argument, broke through all his sophistries "like a spider's web," to the admiration of the d The Constitutions are given by Herbert, in S. T. C., viii. 201, C with notes of the Pope's approval or censure. d Garnier, 57-8. a whole assembly. The Pope strongly reproved Becket for having joined with the other English prelates in consenting to the Constitutions, even for a moment: a submission, he said, which amounted to renouncing their priesthood, and reducing the Church to the condition of a bondmaid. But he declared that the Archbishop's subsequent conduct had atoned for his passing weakness ; "and thus," says Herbert, "having first rebuked him with the severity of a father, he dismissed him with the sweetness of a mother's consolation." b On the following day the Archbishop was again admitted to an interview with the Pope. He broke out into lamentations over the unhappy condition of the Church, and traced all her calamities to his own promotion, effected as it had been, not by a free canonical election, but by the intrusion of royal power. He professed that he had long been weary of his office; that, from a wish not to give a precedent of sacrificing the Church's rights in order to appease a prince's anger, he had withstood the advice of his brethren who wished him to resign it: but that he had only reserved his resignation until he should be in the presence of the supreme Pontiff,-in whose hands he now placed the See of Canterbury, beseeching him to appoint to it a successor more capable of benefiting the Church. So saying, he drew off the archiepiscopal ring, and delivered it to the Pope; and the tears with which he accompanied the action affected all who were present. He then withdrew, and the conclave debated as to the acceptance of his resignation. Some of the Cardinals-"and these," says Alan, "were of the Pharisees"-bribed by the King of England, according to other writers-regarded it as the best means of extricating the Church from the difficulties which beset her. But the opposite counsels prevailed; the champion of the Church, it was said, ought to be restored, "even if unwilling," and to be assisted by all possible means.b And Becket received his office anew from the hands of the Pope,-a mode of appointment which precluded all scruples as to the regularity of his former title. Alexander assured him of his constant support and sympathy, and commended him to the care of the Abbot of Pontigny, a Cistercian monastery, about twelve leagues from Sens, which appears to have been chosen as a retreat by the Archbishop himself. "Hitherto," he said, "you have lived in abundance and luxury; but, that you may learn to be in future, as you ought to be, the comforter of the poor, and as this lesson can only be learnt under the tuition of poverty herself, who is the mother of religion, we have thought fit to commit you to the poor of Christ." e One of the King's ambassadors, John of Oxford, in his way homewards visited Henry's mother, the Empress Matilda, whom he endeavoured to prejudice against the Archbishop. Our knowledge of this visit is derived from a letter in which Nicolas, master of a hospital at Mont S. Jacques, near Rouen, reports to Becket three inter f a i. 362. f According to Becket's enemies, Matilda had opposed his appointment to the primacy (S. T. C., vi. 187). views to which he himself and Herbert of Bosham were a shortly after admitted by the Empress. Matilda, after some hesitation, received from these envoys a letter with which the Archbishop had charged them, and requested them to read it aloud to her, as she did not wish her own chaplains to know of it. After hearing the contents, she professed that her son had kept her in ignorance of his designs, “because he knew that she was favourable to the liberty of the Church rather than to the royal will." At a later interview, she desired that the Constitutions of Clarendon might be read to her in Latin and explained in French. "The woman is of the race of tyrants," says Nicolas," and approved some of them,”among others, that which prohibited the excommunication of the King's tenants without his leave; to which Nicolas replied that Scripture says, "Tell it to the Church," not "Tell it to the King." She disapproved, however, of the greater number, and especially of their being reduced to writing, and enforced on the bishops 66 a Thom., Ep. 346. This letter | somewhat difficult. Mr. Froude, is placed by Mr. Froude in January, omitting de consilio episcopo1166, as he connects it with a rum," renders them, "John of later mission of John to the Pope. Oxford, who on his way from EngDr. Giles follows Mr. Froude land to the court, and on his rein his date (iii. 340). But the turn, paid a visit to the Empress" letter evidently belongs to Christ- (132). But unless we change the mas 1164; and I find that Dom position of "reversus and "ve Brial dates it accordingly (Recueil niens," the meaning seems rather des Historiens, xvi. 226). The to be that, after having left Sens words "Joannes de Oxeneford, qui, in company with the other envoys, ex consilio episcoporum vestrorum he returned to that city alone, and ad curiam reversus, et a curia thence took his way to the Emveniens, per dominam imperatri- press, not having visited her before. cem transitum fecit" (iii. 188) are by an engagement to observe them. Her skill in defending her son seems to have somewhat perplexed the envoys, and they were unable to gainsay her arguments as to the practical mischief of the clerical immunities. "She shows great discernment and reason in detecting the origin of the troubles of the Church; for she said some things in which we quite went along with her. The bishops indiscreetly ordain clerks who are without titles to any churches; whereby it comes to pass that a multitude of persons in orders, through poverty and idleness, fall into discreditable courses: for one who has no title to a benefice has no fear of deprivation. He does not fear punishment, because the Church will defend him; nor does he dread the Bishop's prison, since Bishops would rather that crime should pass unpunished than take the trouble of doing their duty as pastors or keeping him in custody." It does not appear how, after having admitted the truth of these remarks, the envoys justified their master's proceedings: but they secured from the Empress a promise of her mediation with the King. They also report an interview with Arnulf of Lisieux, who told them that, but for his debts, he would openly avow his sympathy with the Archbishop, and characteristically promised to befriend him in so far as it might be possible to do so without compromising himself. It was on Christmas eve that the King of England heard from his envoys the report of their ill-success at a 66 Commissum," Brial. The other editions read " conversum." b Mr. Froude omits all after "For one who," &c.—a somewhat important omission. Thom., Ep. 346. Matilda reappears in connexion with a proposal that Becket should have a conference with her, A.D. 1166. Joh. Sarisb., Ep. 182. |