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CHAP.
III.

Just esti

mate of his

of Christ. The unfounded charges brought against him a Northampton, and the unjust pecuniary demands then made upon him, with the threats of personal outrage, rendered it necessary for him to seek an asylum on the Continent, to appeal to foreign nations, and to put himself under the protection of the common Father of Christians. While at Pontigny, Sens, and at Rome, he was always willing to make any personal sacrifice for reconciliation, so that the cause of religion was safe; but the King, under pretence of guarding his royal dignity, was still bent on prosecuting his scheme for annihilating the influence of the clergy, which nothing but the heroic courage of one man hindered him from accomplishing. The conditions solemnly ratified at Fereitville the King was the first to violate. The excommunication of the three prelates was in strict accordance with the canon law, which was parcel of the law of the land, and Becket's only chance, either of personal safety or of preserving the liberties of the country, was then to enforce the rights which clearly belonged to his office and to his order. His martyrdom must be considered one of the most splendid that has occurred since the propagation of the gospel to edify Christians, for, not ignorant of what was prepared for him, and being able at any time, by a slight concession, to avert his fate, he braved the assassins whom he could not withstand, and he received the deadly wounds they inflicted upon him with a constancy which could only have proceeded from a fervent faith in the promises of revelation, and the immediate aid of its divine Author.

Setting aside exaggeration, and miracle, and religious precharacter. judice, I must confess I am inclined to think that this last view of Becket is not only the more merciful, but the more just. I cannot doubt his sincerity, and almost all will agree that he believed himself to be sincere. Let us consider the sudden effect of the touch of the mitre on men of honour in our own time. It must be remembered that by the same ardour and enthusiasm he was led to put on a coat of mail and engage in single combat with a stalwart knight, and afterwards to wear a shirt of hair and to submit to the discipline of the whip. If he bore implacable resentment, he showed inflexible resolution in the support of what

e considered a good cause, willingly submitting to poverty, CHAP. xile, and death itself.

III.

Both sides concur in ascribing to him brilliant talents, Result. great acquirements, and delightful manners, which captivated alike king and commonalty.

Becket

race.

Some have lately thought they discovered in Becket a Whether patriot who took up the cause of the Saxons, and quarrelled champion with the Normans in trying to obtain justice for his country- of Saxon men; but although he is celebrated for his impartiality to both races while Chancellor, I can find nothing political in his subsequent disputes, which appear to me to have been purely between the civil and spiritual authorities, and not between race and race.

letters.

We can best judge him by the large collection of his Becket's letters which have come down to us. In these, although we should in vain look for the classical style and delicate raillery of Erasmus, we find a vigour, an earnestness, and a reach of thought quite unexampled in the productions of the age in which he lived. Making us familiar with him, they explain to us the extraordinary ascendency which he acquired over the minds of mankind.*

See Fitzstephen, Hoveden, Quadrologus, Lord Lyttelton's History of Henry II., Thierry's History of the Norman Conquest, Epist. Sanc. Thom. It is said that many letters of à Becket never before published, have been lately discovered in different repositories on the Continent, and are shortly to be given to the world.

26350B

CHAPTER IV.

CHAP.
IV.

Obscure Chancellors after Becket.

Chancellor
JOHN.

A. D. 1173.

CHANCELLORS FROM THE RESIGNATION OF

TO THE DEATH OF HENRY II.

THOMAS à BECKET

THE history of the Great Seal during the reign of Henry II. is left in a state of great uncertainty from the time when it was resigned in 1162 by Thomas à Becket till it was delivered in 1181 to Geoffrey Plantagenet, the King's natural son. In this interval there were very powerful chief justiciaries, Richard de Luci, and Robert Earl of Leicester; and they probably rendered the office of Chancellor for the time of little consequence. However, we find the names of several who are said to have held it.

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First, "JOANNES Cancellarius*" occurs; but of this John we know not the surname, nor what other dignity he ever attained. Next comes RODOLPHUS de Warnavilla, of whom we only know that when he was appointed he was archdeacon of Rohan. † The third is WALTER de Constantiis, who was made Bishop of Ely. Although the last is supposed to have been at one time Chancellor to the King, it would appear that in the year 1175 he only held the Great Seal as a deputy, if we may judge from the account given us by Hoveden of an embassy to the Earl of Flanders, in which he was joined with the famous Ranulphus de Glanvil, afterwards Chief Justiciary, and the earliest writer on the Law of England. On this occasion he is described as "Vice-cancellarius."+ What share any of these Chancellors had in the stirring events of the time, the framing of the Constitutions of Clarendon, the deadly controversy with Becket, - the conquest of Ireland, -the war with Scotland, -the feudal

-

* Spel. Gloss. 109.

+ Ib. Or. Jur. 3.

Et ad audiendum inde responsum comitis (Flandriæ) misit Walterum de Constantiis, VICE-CANCELLARIUM suum et Ranulphum de Glanvilla. Hoveden, P. ii. p. 561. n. 10.

subjection of that country on the capture of William the Scottish King, and the continued disputes and wars between Henry and his sons, we shall never learn.

It is the fashion of historians down to a much later era, to ascribe all the acts of government, even those connected with legislation and domestic administration, to the autocracy of the nominal chief of the state; but the most active sovereign could only in general have the merit of selecting good counsellors and taking good advice; and if our sovereigns would sometimes lose credit, they might as often be relieved from obloquy, by a disclosure of the share which each minister had in the measures of their reign.

CHAP.

IV.

PLANTA

GENET,

and educa

tion.

We now come to another Chancellor, whose origin, career, GEOFFREY and character are well known to history. In the year 1181 Henry delivered the Great Seal to GEOFFREY, his son by Chancellor. the fair Rosamond.* Of all his progeny, legitimate or illegitimate, this was his favourite. The boy was tenderly reared His birth at Court, and as he displayed lively parts, great pains were taken with his education. He could not have a regular appanage, as if he had been a son of the Queen, but it was thought that an ample provision might be made for him in the Church. While yet a youth he was appointed archdeacon A bishop. of Lincoln, and while in the 20th year of his age, by royal mandate he was elected bishop of that see. For a considerable time, under favour of a papal dispensation, he enjoyed the temporalities, without having been consecrated bishop, or even admitted into holy orders. A rebellion breaking out in 1174, he raised a large military force, took several castles, displayed great personal prowess, and was of essential service in reducing the insurgent Barons to subjection.

When Henry was raising an army to repel an invasion of the Scots, Geoffrey joined him, and brought, under his own banner, 140 knights raised in his bishopric, with many more men-at-arms, well mounted and accoutred. The King received him with much joy, and said in the hearing of a great multitude of persons who were present at their meeting,"My other sons, by their conduct, have proved themselves

Orig. Jur. 1. Spel. Gloss. 109.

His mili

tary exploits.

CHAP.
IV.

Receives

bastards, but this alone has shown himself to be really my true and legitimate son."

Though as a soldier Geoffrey obtained great reputation, he was very deficient in his duty as a churchman, and after being seven years a bishop, he still refused to become a priest. At last, in the year 1181, Pope Alexander III. sent a mandate to Richard, Archbishop of Canterbury, requiring the Primate to compel him by ecclesiastical censures no longer to defer what could not without scandal be any longer dispensed with, or to renounce his election to the bishopric of Lincoln.

The slender restraints then imposed on ecclesiastical dignitaries weighed with him little, but to priestly tonsure and tunics he would not submit; and as in spite of all remonstrance he persisted in sincerely saying, "Nolo episcopari,"-so the see was declared vacant and bestowed on another. This was not from any levity of character or love of idleness, for Geoffrey had applied himself diligently to study, and had made considerable progress in the civil and canon law. By way of indemnity Great Seal. for his loss, the office of Chancellor was conferred upon him. Even in those days such an appointment must have been Chancellor, considered a very glaring job, the young man notwithstanding his talents and acquirements, being entirely without experience, and the custody of the Great Seal having important judicial duties annexed to it. Nevertheless, he is said to have dedicated himself to business in a very exemplary manner, and to have given considerable satisfaction to the public.

His conduct as

A doubt exists how long he remained in the office. Some accounts represent him as holding it during the remaining eight years of his father's reign*, while there are notices of three others having during this interval been in possession of the Great Seal,-NIGEL, Bishop of Ely†, WALTER de Bidunt, and the before-mentioned WALTER de Constantiis. Perhaps the authorities may be reconciled by supposing that these merely assisted as Vice chancellors, while Geoffrey remained Chancellor, enjoying the dignity and emoluments of the office

This opinion is espoused by Lord Lyttelton in his History of Henry II. † Cart. 5 Ed. 3. m. 1. Lel. Coll. vol. i. p. 38.

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