found himself at open war with him. Queen Eleanor’s grandfather,
on going to the Crusades, had mortgaged the county of Toulouse to
Raymond of St. Gilles. The mortgage money had not been repaid,
as Raymond of St. Gilles still held the city. This nobleman had
married the French King’s sister Constance. When therefore Henry
raised the claim of his wife, the French King openly adopted the
cause of Raymond.[20] Henry determined to have recourse to arms,
and in 1159 raised an army for the purpose. The war is interesting,
not so much in itself, as in two or three collateral points
connected with it. Thus Malcolm of Scotland came with forty-five
ships, and a Welsh prince likewise joined the army. Again, the
presence of Becket at the head of an unusually well-equipped body
of 700 men is mentioned. He is said to have urged the King to
active measures against the French monarch. But Henry--who was
surprised at finding his lately made friend in arms against him,
and opposing with all his power a claim he had once himself urged,
and who by no means wished to drive matters to extremity--showed
some scruple in attacking his suzerain, and contented himself
with gaining his object by laying waste the country and capturing
the castles. At the same time he contracted an engagement between
his son Richard and Berengaria, the daughter of Count Raymond of
Barcelona, the son-in-law of the King of Aragon,[21] and in fact
Governor of that country. But the most important point about the
war was the introduction of the habit of money payments in exchange
for military service. This measure had been adopted previously
with respect to the Church in the war with Wales. On the present
occasion the sum is said to have amounted to £180,000.[22] There
were many advantages in the change. The King was enabled to hire
mercenaries, and dispense with the irregular services of his feudal
followers; he got contributions from the Church lands, and was
enabled to do without the hated tax of the Danegelt, at the same
time that he struck a blow at the military importance of his feudal
barons.
[Sidenote: Having reduced the State to order, Henry turns to the
Church.]
[Sidenote: General friendship of England and France with the Pope.]
Thus far the course of Henry’s reign had been one of unbroken
prosperity. He had settled and increased his dominions both in
England and on the Continent, had on the whole gained in his
opposition to his suzerain the King of France, and had strengthened
himself by prudent marriages for his children. He was henceforward,
except for a very few years, to be plunged in disputes and
difficulties. It has been mentioned that the Church in England had
reached a position of great pre-eminence during the troubled period
of Stephen’s reign. The policy of the Norman kings had been always
to support the Church to the utmost, to keep on good terms with
Rome, but at the same time to make good the supremacy of the power
of the king in his own dominions. William the Conqueror, it will be
remembered, had entirely separated the spiritual from the temporal
jurisdiction. Before the arrival of the Normans, all offences not
strictly ecclesiastical had been tried and punished in the County
and Hundred courts, where both bishop and aldermen presided side by
side. In withdrawing the bishop from the secular courts, William
had desired to raise the character of the clergy by confining them
more completely to spiritual matters. But an abuse had easily
grown up, which produced a directly opposite effect. As the
pretensions of the Church rose, not only were spiritual questions
to be tried in the spiritual courts, but spiritual men were also
withdrawn from the secular jurisdiction, and the doctrine became
prevalent that the cleric could be only tried by his ecclesiastical
superior.[23] Now ecclesiastical courts could not inflict corporal
punishments. Censures, excommunications, and penances were their
weapons. Consequently clerks might and did commit every sort of
crime without suffering any punishment. To Henry’s love of justice
and order this was most repugnant. But at the same time that he
wished to curtail the license of the clergy, and to establish the
superiority of the royal jurisdiction, he distinctly upheld the
policy of his predecessors in supporting the Roman See. It was a
critical time for that power. The great Frederick Barbarossa was
upon the throne of Germany and attempting to establish with regard
to himself and the Pope on a larger scale what Henry was anxious
to do in England. With a comprehensive view of the struggle, he
had invited the Kings of England and France to join him in united
action for the establishment of the supremacy of the secular power.
His overtures had not been received; and when, upon the death
of Hadrian, in 1159, after a stormy conclave, the Italian party
elected Rolando Bandinelli, under the title of Alexander III.,
and the imperial party Cardinal Octavian, as Victor IV., the two
Western kings gave in their adhesion to Alexander. When expelled
from Italy, they received him with extreme honour at Chateauroux,
where they acted as his grooms, leading his horse between them. He
finally found shelter in the French town of Sens.
[Sidenote: Election of Becket to Archbishopric. 1161.]
[Sidenote: Becket upholds encroachments of the Church.]
[Sidenote: Henry produces Constitutions of Clarendon. 1164.]
In 1161, Theobald the Archbishop died, and it seemed to Henry that
the opportunity had arrived for carrying out his reforming plans.
Without difficulty he secured the election of his Chancellor,
believing that he would serve him still in that capacity. But such
were not the views of Becket. He found himself in a position where
he might not only serve but rival the King, and he at once became
the ambitious and fanatical ecclesiastic. His manner of life was
wholly changed, fasts and penances took the place of his former
gaiety; the ostentation which he still exhibited was for others
and not for himself; he scarcely touched food while his guests
were feasting; and poor saints and beggars took the place of the
courtiers who had formerly thronged his hall. He did not wait to
be attacked, but himself began the quarrel with the King. He at
once insisted on resigning his temporal offices. He then demanded
homage from some barons whom he declared to be liegemen of the See
of Canterbury and not of the King. He refused in bold outspoken
words to pay the usual tax for the sheriff at a court at Woodstock.
But these were only slight beginnings. A meeting of the clergy
was held at Westminster, and the great subject of ecclesiastical
jurisdictions was raised. A very bad instance had just excited
the King’s attention. A clerk of the name of Philip Brois had
committed a murder and received no punishment. At the assizes of
Dunstable, Simon Fitz-Peter, the King’s Justice, had found him
guilty of the murder, but Becket insisted on his being withdrawn
from the secular jurisdiction, and sentenced him to two years’ loss
of his benefice. To Henry this seemed at once an insult to his
authority and a mere fostering of crime. He determined upon action,
and demanded of the bishops whether they would accept the ancient
customs of the country. Many of the clergy Henry knew he could rely
upon, such for instance as Becket’s old enemy Roger of York, and
Gilbert Foliot, Bishop of London. He did not expect to meet much
opposition anywhere. With much persuasion Becket certainly accepted
the customs. Henry, determined that there should be no question on
this matter, caused these customs to be drawn up in the form of
Constitutions, and presented to a great council held at Clarendon.
There Becket distinctly broke his word and retracted.
[Sidenote: Becket refuses them.]
Bishops and laymen, knowing the King’s character, besought Becket
not to risk the fortunes of the Church by further opposition. For a
moment he seemed to yield, but the next day, when his final answer
was to be given, he again refused to sign them. He stated his
objections fully. His arguments were based principally on the Canon
law of Gratian[24] and the False Decretals. The Body of Customs,
as presented to him, consisted of sixteen clauses. By these,
which did not pretend to be new legislation, but a recapitulation
of the old practices of the country, the line was sharply drawn
between criminal and ecclesiastical cases; the criminal clerk being
amenable to the civil jurisdiction: questions with regard to land
claimed by the clergy were to be referred to a jury: as also cases
of crime where there was no accuser: the King was made the ultimate
hearer of appeals, except by his own special leave: bishops
were restrained from leaving the country without leave, or from
excommunicating the King’s men: elections to bishoprics were to be
held in the King’s chapel, in the presence and with the consent
of those whom he should summon: and the newly-elected officer was
to swear fealty to the King.[25] Other minor matters with regard
to the position of the Church were also settled, but it is these
chiefly which were to secure the supremacy of the crown. Becket is
said to have particularly objected to any subordination of clerks
to secular jurisdiction; to have held that one punishment for one
offence was enough, and that the Church should look to; and to have
regarded with displeasure any restrictions laid upon the right of
clerical jurisdiction or excommunication.[26] Ultimately, however,
he was certainly induced to accept and to seal them. On retiring
from the council he at once began to show signs of repentance, and
got absolution for what he had done from the Pope.
[Sidenote: Lukewarmness of Alexander III.]
[Sidenote: The quarrel takes a legal turn.]
[Sidenote: Comes before the council.]
[Sidenote: Henry presses him with charges.]
[Sidenote: Becket leaves the court before judgment is given.]
Alexander’s position was peculiar, and, as in the case of Anselm,
it was too important to him in his present difficulties to retain
the friendship of England for him to allow himself to side very
strongly with Becket. Throughout the quarrel it is the Archbishop
who urges the Pope onward, and not the Pope the Archbishop. Such
lukewarmness suited neither party, and Henry summoned another
council for 8th of October at Northampton. Two days before the
council the Archbishop arrived. He did not receive the kiss of
peace, and it was plain that matters were coming to extremities.
Again the Archbishop began the attack. He lodged some complaint
against a nobleman, and had justice promised him; but was then in
his turn charged with delaying justice, in the case of an official
of the Treasury called John the Marshall, who demanded a piece
of land in his court. Marshall summoned him before the royal
court, and he was now told that the case would come on before the
council on the following day. On that day therefore the court sat
in judgment upon the Archbishop. He was found guilty. The extreme
penalty, which would have been the seizure of all his moveables,
was remitted, and a heavy fine of £500 substituted. No sooner
was this charge finished than a fresh charge was brought against
him, and £300 demanded of him, which he had borrowed upon the
castles of Eye and Berkhampstead. On the following day a sum of
500 marks, which he had borrowed for the expedition to Toulouse
on the King’s security, was demanded. Becket declared it was a
gift. He found fresh securities, and retired in dudgeon. He found
his hall deserted by the knights and barons. Then followed the
final blow. As chancellor he had had the administration of vacant
ecclesiastical and baronial benefices; and now he was ordered to
account for a sum of not less than 30,000 marks. On accepting
the bishopric, he had been discharged from all liability by
Prince Henry and Richard de Lucy the Justiciary. The demand was
manifestly an unjust one, and the greater part of the bishops
appealed against it. The temporal nobles refused to allow the
appeal, as it had yet to be proved that the King was a party to
the discharge. Sickness kept the Archbishop confined to his house
for some days. Meanwhile the bishops attempted to make him yield,
and finally for the most part deserted him, and betook themselves
to the court. The Archbishop was determined to meet the charge in
all the magnificence of his office, and went to the council with
his cross and other insignia. The bishops, overawed by this unusual
demonstration, which they regarded as a challenge to the King, went
to him, leaving the accused Archbishop sitting alone with a few
friends. They tried in vain to get the King’s demand lessened, and
changed for the fine usual in Kent, which was only forty shillings.
Henry, in wrath, merely asked whether the Archbishop had made up
his mind to accept the Constitutions. Becket refused to plead
upon any charge except that of John the Marshall, and at length
openly declared that he placed himself and the Church under the
guardianship of the Pope and of God. The disturbance was great. The
King wished the bishops to declare the sentence. They earnestly
entreated not to be called upon to judge their superior, and
finally the duty was left to Robert of Leicester the Justiciary.
But the Archbishop would not let him speak. “How can you judge me
who appeal to a higher power? And do not thou Earl of Leicester
venture to judge thy spiritual father!” He rose, and, leaning on
his cross, swept from the hall. As cries of “traitor” arose behind
him, his old worldly vehemence got the better of him, and he turned
and cried, “Might I but wear weapons, I should soon know how to
clear myself of the charge of treason.” As he passed on his way
through the streets people knelt and demanded his blessing. A final
answer was required of him the following day, but in the night, in
the midst of wild weather, he secretly left Northampton, and after
a difficult flight, on the 2nd of November contrived to cross to
Gravelines.
[Sidenote: He is received by the Pope. 1165.]
On the very same night, an embassy, consisting of his chief
enemies--the Bishops of York, London, Exeter, Chichester and
Worcester, together with John of Oxford, the King’s chief adviser
in this matter,--crossed to seek the Pope. The Archbishop put
himself under the protection of the King of France at Soissons; and
the two parties carried their case before the Pope at Sens, where
John of Salisbury, Becket’s emissary, had already been winning him
friends. The King’s embassy entreated that legates might be sent
to finish the case in England. But Alexander, although the Peter’s
Pence from England were absolutely necessary to him, refused their
request. Upon receipt of this information, the King drove abroad
all friends and dependants of the Archbishop, who had succeeded
meanwhile in getting a favourable reception from Alexander. Till
1170 he remained abroad, carrying on his struggle with the King.
[Sidenote: But Henry refuses to oppose Alexander.]
Of course, during that time Henry could not afford to let his
other business rest. But it is the quarrel with the Archbishop
which gives its complexion to the history of those years. In
1165 the Pope was enabled to return to Italy, but Frederick of
Germany, still refusing to acknowledge him, at an Assembly at
Wurtzburg caused Cardinal Guido to be elected under the title of
Pascal III. in the place of Octavian, who was just dead. Henry
seized the opportunity. He had already forbidden all intercourse
between England and the Pope, and he now despatched an embassy,
headed by John of Oxford and Richard of Winchester, to attempt to
act in consort with Frederick. This was in reply to a demand on
the part of the Emperor, who had sent his chancellor, Reginald
of Cologne, to ask for two of Henry’s daughters in marriage,
the one for his son, the other for Henry the Lion of Saxony.
The ambassadors declared that there were fifty bishops ready to
accept the anti-pope. However, matters did not reach this point:
Alexander still temporized. The clergy of England were very averse
to deserting the legitimate Pope, and the old policy of the Norman
kings had yet a strong hold upon Henry.
[Sidenote: Meanwhile he attacks Wales, and secures Brittany. 1166.]
[Sidenote: Becket excommunicates his enemies.]
Meanwhile, leaving the quarrel in abeyance, he again invaded
Wales, again without much success. He was more successful in
the following year in his designs on Brittany. “He dealt,” says
the Chronicler,[27] “with the nobles of the district of Le Mans
according to his pleasure, and the region of Brittany, and with
their castles....” A treaty of marriage between his son Geoffrey,
and Constance, the daughter of Conan of Brittany and Richmond,
having been entered into, this Earl made a grant to him of the
whole of Brittany, with the exception of Guingamp, which had
descended to him from his grandfather. The King received the
homage of all the barons of Brittany at Thouars. Thence he came
to Rennes, and by taking possession of that city, the capital
of Brittany, he became lord of the whole duchy. While thus
triumphing, he received news that Becket, weary of the Pope’s
procrastination, had gone to the Church at Vezelay, and there,
after explaining the Constitutions of Clarendon, had excommunicated
John of Oxford, Richard of Ilchester, and Richard de Lucy, the
King’s Counsellors, and Joscelin of Balliol, and Ranulph de Broc,
who had entered into possession of his confiscated estates. This
step caused considerable anxiety, and the bishops and abbots of
England met and appealed to the Pope, thus postponing the execution
of the excommunication. The Archbishop, in reply, bid them carry
the excommunication at once into effect, and at the same time
excommunicated Godfrey Ridel, the Archdeacon of Canterbury, for
not remitting to him the income of his see. In anger, the King
threatened to expel from England the whole Cistercian order, as a
punishment for allowing the Archbishop to dwell in their monastery.
To avoid this, Becket withdrew to Sens.
[Sidenote: The Pope temporizes.]
The appeal however went on, and, to the surprise of every one,
the Pope, who had perhaps been bribed, at length appointed
legates to examine the dispute. In 1167, John of Oxford, the
King’s ambassador, came home in triumph, declaring that the
excommunications had been removed. Naturally therefore Becket
dreaded the approach of the legates. By means of his influence
with the French many obstacles were thrown in their way, and as a
fresh declaration that his views were unchanged, he excommunicated
Gilbert of London. At length the legates obtained meetings both
with Becket and Henry. In neither instance were they satisfactory.
Becket refused to withdraw the convenient words “saving our order,”
and Henry would hear of no half measures. However, their temper was
on the whole conciliatory, and they removed the excommunications
conditionally. This friendly feeling on the part of the Pope
was still further shown by his suspending the Archbishop for a
time from the exercise of his office. In fact, the Pope had just
been driven from Rome by Barbarossa, and Henry’s support was
indispensable to him. All this made no difference to Becket, who,
on Palm Sunday, repeated his excommunications, and contrived at
length to get them smuggled over into England, where, with striking
effect, Gilbert of London was suddenly suspended in the midst of
the celebration of mass in his own church.
[Sidenote: Critical position of Henry.]
The political difficulties under which Henry was at this time
struggling may have given fresh courage to the Archbishop, for,
both during 1167 and 1168, there was war with Louis of France
and with his other neighbours. The Count of Flanders was even
threatening a descent on England, while the Counts of Marche,
Angoulême, and Limousin, counting on the succour of the French,
were laying waste Henry’s southern dominions. This difficulty he
left in the hands of his General, Count Patrick of Salisbury, while
he himself was called upon to suppress disturbances in Brittany.
His fortunes were indeed at a very low ebb. In presence of these
difficulties, Henry found it necessary to lower his tone; a
peace with his enemies was patched up at Montmirail. There too a
commission from the Pope awaited him, and he found himself obliged
to consent virtually to the demands of Becket. As however he
refused to give his refractory Archbishop the kiss of peace, which
was regarded as the only sure sign of reconciliation, the quarrel
was not yet terminated. Although the point at issue was a small
one, both parties continued obstinate.
[Sidenote: Coronation of Young Henry. June 14, 1170.]
[Sidenote: Finding this step unpopular, Henry submits.]
[Sidenote: Becket ventures to return to England.]
[Sidenote: His death. Dec. 29, 1170.]
Henry, determined to show his authority, caused his son Henry to be
crowned in England by the Archbishop of York. This was a distinct
invasion of the rights of the Archbishop of Canterbury, for the
coronation was performed in the southern province. It produced so
great an outcry, that Henry felt he had gone too far, especially
as he had neglected to have Henry’s wife, the French princess,
crowned with him, which Louis regarded as a great insult. With this
feeling against him, Henry consented to a meeting at Fretheval, and
there yielded what was required of him, embracing the Archbishop,
raising him from the ground, when he knelt before him, and holding
his stirrup for him to remount. The quarrel seemed ended, but some
slight delays occurred before Becket could return to England, and
more than one warning message was sent to him that England was no
safe place for him. When he demanded a safe conduct from Henry, it
did not promise any true reconciliation that John of Oxford was
sent as his escort. He ventured however, but found the feeling in
England, among the laity at all events, very strong against him,
and was bidden to withdraw to his city of Canterbury. Although
conscious of the power of his enemies, he continued his obstinate
course, excommunicated the Archbishop of York, De Broc, and other
lay holders of the property of the See, whom he found it difficult
to dispossess. When the King heard of this conduct, the anger which
had been boiling within him, but which circumstances had obliged
him to suppress, broke loose, and he accused his courtiers of
caring nothing for him since they suffered this audacious priest
to live. Four knights took him at his word, hurried across to
England, collected followers among his enemies, and proceeding to
Canterbury, demanded the immediate removal of the excommunication.
The monks in terror hurried the Archbishop to the Cathedral, and
wished to shut the doors, believing him then in safe sanctuary,
but he would not allow any sign of weakness. Headed by the
knights, the armed mob broke in, still demanded the removal of the
excommunication, were still refused, and killed him at the altar.
The outcry which rose throughout Europe told Henry that he had lost
his cause. He at once declared himself innocent, refused food, took
on him all the outward signs of penitence, and despatched a mission
to exculpate him at the court of the Pope. Though Alexander was
very angry, he was persuaded to send legates for a formal inquiry.
Henry did not await their coming, but as a means of employment and
retirement, proceeded to carry out an intention he had long had of
conquering Ireland.
[Sidenote: Henry retires to the invasion of Ireland.]
[Sidenote: Condition of Ireland.]
[Sidenote: Invasion by Strongbow. 1169.]
[Sidenote: Henry himself invades Ireland. 1171.]
[Sidenote: Irish Church adopts Romish discipline. 1172.]