is dwelt on by all his biographers. "So great," says Roger of Pontigny, "was the multitude of soldiers and men of various kinds which followed him, that the King himself sometimes seemed to be deserted in comparison." a But Fitzstephen, in particular, rises above himself in describing his master's state. The troops of attendants—the profusion of gold and silver plate—the sumptuous fare, provided without any regard to costthe throng of knights and nobles who enjoyed his magnificent hospitality-the daily supply of rushes in winter, and of green branches in summer, that those who could not find room on the benches might not be obliged to soil their dress by sitting on the bare floorthe voluntary homage of many barons-the costly and profuse gifts of horses, hawks, money, vestments, gold and silver vessels-the eagerness with which persons of high rank strove to place their sons in a household which was regarded as the best school of noble breeding, and of which even the heir-apparent of the kingdom was an inmate these and other circumstances are set forth by the biographer in a style which leads us to suspect that, although he had followed his patron in the more spiritual part of his career, his memory was by no means unwilling to revert to the braveries of which he had been an admiring spectator while the saint was as yet a child of this world.

b

But the most signal exhibition of Becket's pomp was when, in 1159, he went on an embassy into France, in order to ask the Princess Margaret in marriage for his

royal pupil. Fitzstephen's account of this expedition reads like a fairy tale. The carriages drawn by five horses each; the huge train of clerks, knights, men-at-arms, falconers with their hawks, huntsmen with their dogs, and domestics of every kind—all arrayed in brilliant new holiday attire; the menagerie of strange beasts; the fierce mastiffs who guarded every waggon, each of them powerful enough to subdue a bear or a lion; the apes mounted on every sumpter-horse; the grooms riding "in English fashion (a peculiarity of which unhappily no explanation is vouchsafed); the prodigious apparatus of plate, chapelfurniture, cooking-utensils, and bedding; the goodly iron-hooped barrels of ale, pure, sparkling, delicious, and wholesome-fitted at once to charm the palate of every Frenchman who should taste it, and to fill him with admiring envy of the islanders who could brew such exquisite potions; the huge chests of money, books, clothing, and provisions-altogether formed such a sight as had never before been seen along the road. From castles and from cottages, from hamlets and from cities, crowds of astonished natives rushed forth, with shoulders shrugged, hands uplifted, and eyes distended in blank amazement asking, as well they might, with strange French exclamations, who might be the chief of all this marvellous procession; and on hearing that it was the King of England's chancellor, they were lost in specu

a

'Duæ bigæ solam cerevisiam | fæcatum, colore vineo, sapore trahebant, factam in aquæ de- meliori" (197). Robert of Mont coctione ex adipe frumenti, in St. Michel mentions it as a thing cadis ferratis, donandam Francis, unheard of, that in 1152, after two id genus liquidi plasmatis mi- bad vintages, beer and mead were rantibus, potum sane salubrem, de- sold in France.-Patrol. clx. 470.

lation as to what the master must be if the officer's equipage were so magnificent.a

The envoy's behaviour at Paris was in keeping with the grandeur of his preparations. King Louis, whose custom it was to pay all the expenses of ambassadors, had ordered the inhabitants of his capital to sell no provisions to the Englishmen; but Becket was aware of this beforehand, and had sent out disguised purveyors, who bought up enormous quantities in the towns and villages around; so that, on arriving at his lodgings in the Temple, he found them stored, at his own cost, with three days' supplies for a thousand men. All Paris was astonished by the sumptuousness of his table; a dish of eels, which cost a hundred shillings "sterlingorum,” was long after especially famous in the history of gastronomy. He distributed presents with a lavish hand; and feeling, it would seem, the importance of winning favour with the literary class, bestowed much both of his attention and of his liberality on the professors and students of the schools. By these means, we are told, he gained unexampled popularity; and having effected the object of his mission, in his return he seized and imprisoned a famous robber, who was particularly obnoxious to the King of England.

b

A less amicable expedition into France followed shortly after. William IX., Duke of Aquitaine, when preparing to set out for the first crusade, had pledged

a

the county of Toulouse, which he held in right of his wife, to her uncle Raymond V., Count of St. Gilles, whose grandson now held possession of it. As many years had passed during which the dukes of Aquitaine were in no condition to redeem the pledge, Toulouse had come to be regarded by the Counts of St. Gilles as their own; but a claim to it had been set up by Louis VII., in behalf of his wife Eleanor, the heiress of Aquitaine. This claim had now passed to Henry of England, in consequence of his having married Eleanor on her being divorced by Louis; and in 1159 he prepared to assert it by force of arms. By the Chancellor's advice an important novelty was introduced in levying the troops for this expedition-the personal service of the King's vassals being commuted for a scutage, or rate levied on every knight's fee, in order to the payment of mercenaries.b Becket equipped and maintained 700 knights for the war at his own expense, and to these he afterwards added 1200 knights and 4000 infantry. He appeared at the head of his troops, in cuirass and helmet,© led them to the assault or to the sack of towns and castles, and, among other acts of prowess, unhorsed in single combat a valiant French knight, Engelram de

Trie, whose steed he carried off as a trophy. Garnier, who was to become his biographer in the character of a saint, tells us that he had himself often seen him in military attire, advancing to charge the French.a

The expedition failed of its main object. Louis, although he had himself formerly urged Eleanor's claim, was not disposed to favour it when taken up by the powerful rival who had succeeded him in the possession of her person and territories; and Henry, on approaching Toulouse, found that the King of France, the suzerain of his continental dominions, was within its walls, as the ally of the Count of St. Gilles. Although urged by his Chancellor to make an assault, which might probably have resulted in the capture of Louis, he hesitated, out of a scruple as to his feudal duty, and as to the probable effects of such an example; and, after having besieged the city from Midsummer to the end of October, he withdrew, leaving the Chancellor to garrison Cahors, which had been surrendered to him, and to defend his other acquisitions in the south of France. For the part which Becket took in this expedition, innumerable precedents of dignified ecclesiastics might have been pleaded; for not only deacons (as he then was), but bishops, and even popes, had led troops to war, and some of them had distinguished themselves by their personal exploits. Yet it is evident that, besides being contrary to a long succession of canons, such acts were

"E ieo 1 ui sur Franceis plusurs feiz cheualchier."-P. 53*.

b Fitzst., 200; Rob. de Monte, A.D. 1159; Sismondi, v. 410-4.