A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



or jTijOoo.* On Saturday the king demanded nothing less than an account 

 of the revenues of all sees, abbacies, baronies and other honours, of which, 

 while he was chancellor, Becket, had had charge during vacancies." At the 

 crisis of his misfortunes the archbishop was seized with sharp and sudden 

 illness, but on Tuesday, i 3 October, recovered, and after celebrating the mass 

 of St. Stephen (with the introit ' Princes did sit and speak against me ') ^ he 

 took with him the Host, as if he were going on his last journey and would 

 need the ' Viaticum,' * and rode down to the castle, the gates of which were 

 barred as soon as he had entered.^ His archiepiscopal cross he bore himself 

 in spite of his suffragans, and evidently prepared to resist to the uttermost the 

 temporal power. The arguments of the archbishop of York were rejected 

 with a ' Hence, Satan.' ^ Presently the bishops and nobles were summoned to 

 confer with the king, who sat in an inner apartment, and Becket was left almost 

 alone with his faithful attendants, William FitzStephen and Herbert of 

 Bosham.* 



On being informed by the bishops that their chief intended to appeal 

 against them to Rome, and that he had forbidden them to sit any more in 

 judgment upon him, the king sent a final message by the lay lords to the 

 archbishop, asserting that his attitude was contrary both to his general 

 allegiance to the crown and to his specific promise at Clarendon, and that 

 one of the constitutions" allowed bishops to attend all trials in the king's 

 court except when a death sentence was to be pronounced. The message 

 concluded with the question whether he would stand by the judgment of that 

 court upon his financial administration as chancellor. The archbishop, how- 

 ever, not only remained obdurate, but now formally appealed to the pope.^" 

 When the nobles reported this answer, the bishops likewise appealed to the 

 same authority against their chief." Thereupon the king required the lay 

 lords to pass judgment, the bishops being permitted to withdraw, but when 

 Robert earl of Leicester came forth to announce the sentence of condemnation 

 for perjury and treason, Becket refused to listen, insisting that he could not be 

 judged by a lay court, and, amid the insults of bystanders, left the hall.^* 

 Taking Herbert of Bosham up behind him^^ he rode back to St. Andrew's, where 

 he was awaited by an admiring throng who eagerly besought his blessing.** 

 Being now deserted by a large portion of his retinue, which included over 

 forty secular and regular clergy, besides knights and squires,*^ he entertained a 

 number of the poor at supper," during which the thought of flight was 

 suggested." Becket ordered his bed to be laid in the priory chapel, but just 

 before dawn he escaped by the north gate of the town and rode to Lincoln,'* 

 whence he travelled southward to Sandwich and crossed to Flanders " on his 

 way to the pope, who was then at Sens. Meanwhile, some of the bishops and 

 others had left Northampton for the same destination on behalf of the king.^* 

 On arrival they were not very sympathetically received,** but Becket, who 



' Material! for Hist, of Thomas Becket (Rolls Ser.), iii, 52-4, 296-9. 



* Ibid. 299. ' Ibid, iii, 56, 300-4. ' Ibid. 305. 

 ' Ibid, iv, 46. ' Ibid, iii, 57, 305. ' Ibid, i, 35. 



* Ibid, iii, 58-9, 306-8. As they were eye-witnesses it is mainly on their description of the trial that 

 this brief account is based. 



' Materials for Hist, of Thomas Becket (Rolls Ser.), i, 21, §x. 



'" Ibid, iii, 62-4. " Ibid. 66, 308. "Ibid. 67-8, 309-10. 



" Ibid. 68. " Ibid, iv, 52. " Ibid, iii, 311; iv, 45. 



'" Ibid, i, 40 ; iv, 52. " Ibid, iii, 312. '* Ibid, iv, 53-4. 



" Ibid. 55 ; ii, 399-400. " Ibid, iii, 72. " Ibid. 73, 335. 



