Direct Proof of the Murder wanting. 107 



It is not single passages which alone leave this impression, 

 but still more the cumulative force of the evidence. The fact 

 that all were gainers by his death, and the general abhorrence of 

 the tyrant, are in themselves strong reasons. Not one, but all 

 parties were bound together against him by the strongest of 

 covenants — hatred. The marked and bitter pro^jhecies, which 

 would not have been uttered were not their fulfilment ensured, 

 — the suspicious silence on all important points, — the pretended 

 dreams and omens, — the abandonment of the body, — the want 

 of any inquiry into the cause of death,— the connection between 

 the Church party and Anselm with Henry I., and Anselm's 

 connection again with Tiril, all serve to show the depth and 

 darkness of the plot. 



His life throws the best light on his death. Read by it, 

 by the extortions and atrocities which he committed, by the 

 universal hatred in which he was held, the conclusion is inevit- 

 able. Years of violence were the prelude to a violent end. 

 The many failures in open revolt seem only to have taught the 

 lesson of greater caution. And treachery at last succeeded, 

 \vhere plain courage had so often failed. 



Direct proof of the murder cannot be had, and must not be 

 expected. Every one was interested in keeping that a secret 

 by which all alike profited. To have declared it, would have 

 covered the Crown with disgrace, and stained the hands of the 

 Church. 



Their own absurdities and contradictions form the best 

 refutation of the common accounts. In details they are irre 

 concilable with each other. According to one, the King was 

 alone with Tiril ; to another, with all his attendants. One 

 narrative declares that the arrow glanced from a boar, a second 

 from a stag, a third from a tree. Even if we accept them, then 



r 2 i07 



