B E C K E T. 



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Becket. turned for answer, that it belonged not to the king 

 V ' to inform him whom he should absolve, and whom lie 

 should excommunicate. Henry, perceiving the error 

 into which he had fallen, in preferring Becket to a 

 situation which presented such a wide field for his 

 ambition, was nevertheless resolved to persist in his 

 purpose, and to counteract, by every means, the in- 

 creasing influence and power of the clergy. In the 

 Constitutions of Clarendon, which were drawn up for 

 this purpose, the powers of the church are clearly de- 

 fined, and by them ecclesiastics of every denomination 

 arc reduced to a due submission to the laws of their 

 country. At a general council held at Clarendon, 2.5th 

 January HSi, all the bishops, with Becket himself, 

 set their seals to these constitutions, and promised 

 with an oath, legally, with good faith, and without 

 fraud or reserve, to observe them. But the refusal 

 of Pope Alexander to ratify these laws, so hostile to 

 ecclesiastical supremacy, furnished Becket with an 

 excuse for withdrawing his assent ; and he obtained 

 a bull from his Holiness to relieve him from the obli- 

 gation of his oath. An open rupture now ensued 

 between Henry and the primate, which was prose- 

 cuted on both sides with equal rancour and obstina- 

 cy. But as this dispute, with its consequences, in- 

 volves in it a considerable portion of English history, 

 we shall refer for a particular developement of it to 

 that article, and confine ourselves at present to the 

 more prominent incidents in the life and character of 

 Becket. By a most violent and arbitrary prosecution 

 on the part of Henry, Becket was compelled to leave 

 the kingdom. He was received on the continent as a 

 persecuted disciple of the cross, and was treated with 

 great respect and kindness by Louis VII. of France, 

 and Pope Alexander III., the latter of whom ap- 

 pointed him a residence in the abbey of Potigny in 

 Burgundy. From thence he fulminated excommuni- 

 cations against the ministers and chief confidents of 

 Henry, and all who should adhere to the constitutions 

 of Clarendon. He even threatened to excommunicate 

 the king himself, and was prevented only by the in- 

 terposition of Louis. After six years of irritation 

 and animosity, an accommodation was brought about 

 by means of Alexander and the king of France, when 

 Becket was restored to his dignity and privileges. 

 On his return to England, he was received with 

 the highest veneration by the populace, who cele- 

 brated his entrance into Southwark with hymns of 

 joy and acclamations. But this accommodation was 

 immediately succeeded by fresh aggressions on the 

 part of Becket. Scarcely was he reinstated in power, 

 than lie began to launch his spiritual thunders, and 

 issued sentence of excommunication against all the 

 prelates who had assisted in the coronation of the 

 young king. When Henry was informed of this pro- 

 ceeding, he could not restrain his indignation ; and in 

 an unguarded moment, he was heard to express a wish 

 that some one would deliver him from his troublesome 

 adversary. Four barons, touched with the feelings 

 of their master, departed with a determination either 

 to compel the archbishop to submission, or to put him 

 to death. They hastened to Canterbury, and found 

 Becket at vespers in the church of St Benedict. They 

 commanded him in the name of Henry, to absolve the 

 excommunicated prelates, which they accompanied 



with reproaches and threats. But he courageously 

 refusing to listen to their remonstrances, and haughtily 

 defying their vengeance, they cleft his skull as he 

 kneeled at the altar, and scooping out his brains with 

 the points of their swords, they scattered them over 

 the pavement of the church. Thus fell Thomas a 

 Becket, the most undaunted champion of papal su- 

 premacy, on the 29th December 1170, in the 52d 

 year of his age. 



What were the principles upon which Becket 

 acted, whether from a love of power, or from a con- 

 scientious regard to the duties of his office, it is 

 difficult to determine. That hypocrisy entered in- 

 to his character, the sudden change in his con- 

 duct leaves us little room to doubt ; but to what 

 period of his life it ought to be attached, whether 

 before or after his accession to the primacy, may 

 be disputed. In that age of superstition, every ec- 

 clesiastic was brought up with the highest ideas 

 of the supremacy of the church ; and we cannot 

 suppose that Becket, who had been a disciple of 

 archbishop Theobald, and who had spent a part of 

 his life at the court of Rome, would be wanting in 

 zeal for its interests. From the high favour in which he 

 stood both with Theobald and his sovereign, he could 

 not but look with confidence to the see of Canter- 

 bury ; and his appearing to take little interest in 

 ecclesiastical affairs, and to acquiesce in all those 

 measures which Henry meditated for abridging the 

 powers of the clergy, was, in all probability, the mask 

 which he assumed for securing the object of his am- 

 bition ; for if we may believe liis biographers, though 

 he entered into all the gallantries of a luxurious 

 court, he remained constantly temperate and invincibly 

 chaste. Immediately upon his exaltation, however, the 

 mask was thrown aside, and it was then that he ap- 

 peared in his real character, as the champion of the 

 church and the defender of its rights. How far he 

 acted in conformity with the dictates of popery ; whe- 

 ther his errors were of judgment or of will ; and what 

 degree of moral turpitude ought to be affixed to his 

 conduct, we leave our readers to determine. His 

 predecessor had set him the example of opposition to 

 his sovereign, and there were many in that age, who, 

 had they possessed the abilities, the courage, or the 

 persevering inflexibility of a Becket, would have act- 

 ed the same part. We mean not, however, by what 

 we have said, either to justify his measures, or the 

 manner in which they were pursued (though the un- 

 warrantable prosecutions of Henry might palliate in 

 some degree his inveterate obstinacy.) But " in 

 passing judgment upon the characters of men," says 

 our elegant historian Robertson, " we ought to try 

 them by the principles and maxims of their own age, 

 not by those of another." When we reprobate 

 Becket, then, our censure must extend to the church 

 of which he was a member, and to the prejudices of 

 his times, which ranked him with the most illustrious 

 martyrs, and cherished his memory with the most 

 superstitious veneration. Becket possessed abilities 

 which entitled him to the high station which he 

 attained, and which claim our admiration and re- 

 aped : but his ingratitude to his master, his ambition, 

 and his overbearing arrogance, expose him to our 

 severest reprehension ; and we cannot but lament 



Beckc:. 



