storm of thunder and rain burst over Canterbury, and the night fell in thick darkness " upon the scene of the dreadful deed. The crowd was every instant increased by the multitudes flocking in from the town on the tidings of the events. There was still at that moment, as in his lifetime, a strong division of feeling-horror was expressed, not at the murder, but at the sacrilege; and Grim overheard even one of the monks declare that the primate had paid a just penalty for his obstinacy, and was not to be lamented as a martyr. Others said, "He wished to be king, and more than king — let him be king, let him be king." y At last, however, the cathedral was cleared, and the gates shut; and for a time the body lay entirely deserted. It was not till the night had quite closed in that Osbert, the chamberlain of the archbishop, entered with a light, found the corpse lying on its face, and cut off a piece of his shirt to bind up the frightful gash on the head. The doors of the cathedral were again opened, and the monks returned to the spot. Then, for the first time, they ventured to give way to their grief, and a loud lamentation resounded through the stillness of the night. When they turned the body with its face upwards, all were struck by the calmness and beauty of the countenance; a smile still seemed to play on the features the color on the cheeks was fresh-and the eyes were closed as if in sleep. The top of the head, wound round with Osbert's shirt, was bathed in blood, but the face was marked only by one faint streak that crossed the nose from the right temple to the left cheek.b Underneath the body they found the axe which Fitzurse had thrown down, and a small irou hammer, brought apparently to force open the door; close by were lying the two fragments of Le Bret's broken sword, and the archbishop's cap, which had been struck off in the beginning of the fray. All these they carefully preserved. The blood, which with the brains were scattered over the pavement, they collected and placed in vessels; and as the enthusiasm of the hour increased, the bystanders, who already began to esteem him a martyr, cut off pieces of their clothes to dip in the blood, and anointed their eyes with it. The cloak and outer pelisse, which were rich with sanguinary stains, were given to the poor a proof of the imperfect apprehension as yet entertained of the value of these relics, which a few years afterwards would have been literally worth their weight in gold, and which were then sold for some trifling sum. After tying up the head with clean linen, and fastening the cap over it, they placed to the body on a bier, and carried it up the successive flights of steps which led from the transept through the choir -"the glorious choir," as it was called, "of Conrad" the high altar, in front of which they laid it down. The night was now far advanced, but the choir was usually lighted—and probably, therefore, on this great occasion - by a chandelier with twenty-four wax tapers. Vessels were placed underneath the body to catch any drops of blood that might fall, and the monks sat weeping around. The aged Robert, canon of Merton, the earliest friend and instructor of Becket, and one of the three who had remained with him to the last, consoled them by a narration of the austere life of the martyred prelate, which hitherto had been only known to himself, as the confessor of the ascetic dignitary, and to Brun the valet. In proof of it he thrust his hand under the garments and showed the monk's habit and haircloth shirt which he wore next his skin. This was the one thing wanted to raise the enthusiasm of the bystanders to the highest pitch. Up to that moment there had been a jealousy of the elevation of the gay chancellor to the Archbishopric of Canterbury. The primacy involved the abbacy of the cathedral monastery, and the primates therefore had been, with two exceptions, always chosen from the monks. The fate of these two had, we are told, weighed heavily on Becket's mind. One was Stigand, the last Saxon archbishop, who ended his life in a dungeon, after the Conquest; the other was Elsey, who had been appointed in opposition to Dunstan, and who, after having triumphed over his predecessor Odo by dancing on his grave, was overtaken by a violent snow-storm in passing the Alps, and, in spite of the attempts to resuscitate him by plunging his feet in the bowels of his horse, was miserably frozen to death. It now for the first time appeared that Becket, though not formally a monk, had virtually become one by his secret austerities. The transport of the fraternity, on finding that he had been one of themselves, was beyond all bounds. They burst at once into thanksgivings, which resounded through the choir; fell on their knees; kissed the hands and feet of the corpse, and called him by that name of Saint Thomas's by which he was so long known to the European world. At the sound of the shout of joy there was a general rush to the choir, to see the saint in sackcloth who had hitherto been known as the chancellor in purple and fine linen. A new enthusiasm was kindled by the spectacle; Arnold, a monk, d Benedict, 69. Roger, 168; Garnier, 76, 10. f Garnier, 45. Herbert, 327. h Fitzstephen, 308; Gervase, Chron., 1416. who was goldsmith to the monastery, was they carried it, and in that venerable vault sent back, with others, to the transept to proceeded to their mournful task, assisted by collect in a basin any vestiges of the blood the Abbot of Boxley and the Prior of Dover, and brains, now become so precious; and who had come to advise with the archbishop benches were placed across the spot, to pre-about the vacancy of the Priory at Cuntervent its being desecrated by the footsteps of bury. A discussion seems to have taken the crowd. This perhaps was the moment place whether the body should be washed, that the great ardor of the citizens first began according to the usual custom, which ended for washing their hands and eyes with the in their removing the clothes for the purpose blood. One instance of its application gave The mass of vestments in which he was wrapt rise to a practice which became the distin- is almost incredible, and appears to have guishing characteristic of all the subsequent been worn chiefly for the sake of warmth, and pilgrimages to the shrine. A citizen of Can- in consequence of his naturally chilly temterbury dipped a corner of his shirt in the perament. First, there was the large brown blood, went home, and gave it, mixed in mantle, with white fringes of wool below water, to his wife, who was paralytic, and this there was a white surplice, and again. who was said to have been cured. This sug- below this a white fur garment of lamb's gested the notion of mixing the blood with wool. Next these were two short woollen water, which, endlessly diluted, was kept in pelisses, which were cut off with knives and innumerable vials, to be distributed to the pil-given away, and under these the black cowled grims; and thus, as the palm' was a sign of garment of the Benedictine order, and the a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and a scallop-shirt without sleeves or fringe that it might shell of a pilgrimage to Compostella, so a vial or bottle became the mark of a pilgrimage to Canterbury.1 not be visible on the outside. The lowermost covering was the haircloth, which had been made of unusual roughness, and within the haircloth was the warning letter he had received on the night of the 27th. The exist ence of the penitential garb had been pointed out on the previous night by Robert of Merton; but, as they proceeded in their task, their admiration increased. The haircloth encased the entire body, down to the knees; the hair drawers," as well as the rest of the dress, being covered on the outside with linen, that it might escape observation; and the whole so fastened together as to admit of be ing readily taken off for his daily scourgings, of which yesterday's portion was still appar Thus passed the night; and it is not surprising that in the red glare of an Aurora Borealis, which, after the stormy evening, lighted up the midnight sky, the excited populace, like that at Rome after the murder of Rossi, should fancy that they saw the blood of the martyr go up to heaven; or that, as the wax-lights sank down in the cathedral, and the first streaks of the gray winter morning broke through the stained windows of Conrad's choir, the monks who sat round the corpse should imagine that the right arm of the dead man was slowly raised in the sign of the cross, as if to bless his faithful fol-ent in the stripes on his body. Such austerlowers." ity had hitherto been unknown to English Early in the next day a rumor or a mes- saints, and the marvel was increased by the sage came to the monks that Robert de Broc sight-to our notions so revolting-of the forbade them to bury the body among the innumerable vermin with which the hairtombs of the archbishops, and that he threat cloth abounded-boiling over with them, as ened to drag it out, hang it on a gibbet, tear one account describes it, like water in a it with horses, cut it to pieces, or throw it simmering caldron. At the dreadful specinto some pond or sink to be devoured by tacle all the enthusiasm of the previous night swine or birds of prey, as a fit portion for the revived with double ardor. They looked at corpse of his master's enemy. "Had St. each other in silent wonder: then exclaimed, Peter so dealt with the king," he said, "by" See, see what a true monk he was, and we the body of St. Denys, if I had been there I would have driven my sword into his skull." They accordingly closed the doors, which apparently had remained open through the night to admit the populace, and determined to bury the corpse in the crypt. Thither knew it not ;" and burst into alternate fits of weeping and laughter, between the sorrow of having lost such a head, and the joy of having found such a saint. The discovery of so much mortification, combined with the more prudential reasons for hastening the funeral, induced them to abandon the thought of washing a corpse already, as it was thought, sufficiently sanctified, and they at once proceeded to lay it out for burial. - Over the haircloth, linen shirt, monk's cowl, and linen hose, they put first the dress in which he was ordained, and which he had himself desired to be preserved namely, the alb, super-humeral, chrismatic, mitre, stole, and mapula; and, over these, according to the usual custom in archiepiscopal funerals, the archbishop's insignia, namely, the tunic, dalmatic, chasuble, the pall with its pins, the chalice, the gloves, the ring, the sandals, and the pastoral staff. all of which being probably kept in the treasury of the cathedral, were accessible at the moment. Thus arrayed he was laid by the monks amongst whom was the Chronicler Gervase in a new marble sarcophagus f which stood in the ancient crypt, immediately at the back of the shrine of the Virgin, between the altars of St. Augustine and St. John the Baptist. The remains of the blood and brains were placed outside the tomb, and the doors of the crypt closed against all entrance.m No mass was said over the archbishop's grave; for from the moment that armed men had entered, the church was supposed to have been desccrated; the pavement of the cathedral was taken up; the bells ceased to ring; the walls were divested of their hangings; the crucifixes were veiled; the altars stripped, as in Passion week; and the services were conducted without chanting P in the chapter-house. This desolution continued till the next year, when Odo the Prior, with the monks, took advantage of the arrival of the Papal legates, who came to make full inquiry into the murder, to request their influence with the bishops to procure a reconsecration. The task was intrusted to the Bishops of Exeter and Chester; and on the 21st of December, the Feast of St. Thomas the Apostle, 1171, Bartholomew, Bishop of Exeter, again celebrated mass, and preached a sermon on the text, "For the inultitude of the sorrows that I had in my heart, thy comforts have refreshed my soul." r Fitzstephen; Benedict, 70; Matt. Paris, 104. d Garnier, 77. n Grim, 82; Anon. Passio Tertia, 156; Anon. Passio Quinta, 178. f Grim, 82; Benedict, 70; Gorvase, Chron., 1417. g Benedict, 70; Addit. ad Alan., 377; Matt. Paris, 104. Fitzstophon, 309; Gervase, Act. Pont., 1673. Alan. 338; Fitzstephen, 311; M. Paris, 105; Garnier, 75. The arrangements of this part of the crypt were altered within the next fifty years; but the spot is still ascertainable. Within three years the popular enthusiasm was confirmed by the highest authority of the Church. In 1172 legates were sent by Alexander III. to investigate the alleged miracles, and they carried back to Rome the tunic stained with blood, and a piece of the pavement on which the brains were scatteredrelics which were religiously deposited in the Basilica of Sta. Maria Maggiore. In 1173 a Council was called at Westminster to hear letters read from the Pope, authorizing the invocation of the martyr as a saint. All the bishops who had opposed him were present, and, after begging pardon for their offence,' expressed their acquiescence in the decision of the Pope. In the course of the same year he was regularly canonized, and the 29th of December was set apart as the Feast of St. Thomas of Canterbury. A wooden altar, which remained unchanged through the subsequent alterations and increased magnificence of the cathedral, was erected on the site of the murder, and in front of the ancient stone wall of St. Benedict's Chapel. It was this which gave rise to the mistaken tradition, repeated in books, in pictures, and in sculptures, that the prelate was slain whilst praying at the altar." It remained till the time of Erasmus, who saw it, with the fragments of Le Bret's sword placed upon it, from which it derived its name of the "Altare ad punctum ensis." The crypt in which the body had been laid so hastily and secretly became the most sacred spot in the church, and, even after the "translation" of the relics, in 1220, to the upper church, continued to be known down to the time of the Reformation as "Becket's Tomb,” and was visited by pilgrims with a reverence only second to that with which they regarded the shrine itself. The history of this shrine is a distinct chapter in the eventful story. It remains for us now to follow the fate of the murderers. On the night of the deed the four knights rode to Saltwood, leaving Robert de Broc in possession of the palace, whence, as we have seen, he brought or sent the threatening message to the monks on the be visited with no other penalty than excommorning of the 30th. They vaunted their munication. That they should have performed deeds to each other, and it was then that a pilgrimage to Palestine is in itself not imTracy claimed the glory of having wounded John of Salisbury. The next day they rode forty miles to one of the archiepiscopal palaces, and ultimately proceeded to Knaresborough Castle, a royal fortress then in the possession of Hugh de Moreville, where they remained for a year. y From this moment they disappear for a time in the black cloud of legend with which the monastic historians have enveloped their memory. Dogs, it was pretended, refused to eat the crumbs that fell from their table. Struck with remorse, they went to Rome to receive the sentence of Pope Alexander III., and by him were sent to expiate their sins in the Holy Land. Moreville, Fitzurse, and so the story continues after three years' fighting, died, and were buried, according to some accounts, in front of the church of the Holy Sepulchre; according to others, in front of the church of Montenegro, with an inscription over their graves Brito Hic jacent miseri qui martyrisaverunt Tracy alone, it was said, was never able to accomplish his vow. The crime of having struck the first blow b was avenged by the winds of heaven, which always drove him back. He was at last seized at Cosenza in Apulia with a dreadful disorder, which caused him to tear his flesh from his bones, and there he died miserably, after having made his confession to the bishop of the place. His fate was long remembered among his descendants in Gloucestershire, and gave rise to the distich that The Tracys Have always the wind in their faces.c Such is the legend. The real facts are curiously at variance with it, and show how little trust can be placed in this entire class of medieval traditions. By a singular reciprocity the principle for which Becket had contended that priests should not be subjected to the secular courts-prevented the trial of a layman for the murder of a priest by any other than a clerical tribunal. The consequence was, that the perpetrators of what was thought the most heinous crime since the Crucifixion could y Brompton, 1064; Diceto, 557. 2 Brompton, 1064. a Baronius, xix. 399. The legend hardly aims at probabilities. What the "Church of the Black Mountain" may be we know not; but any one who knows anything of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre will remember that its front is, and always must have been, a square of public resort to all the pilgrims of the world, where no tombs either of murderer or saint could have ever been placed. bPrimus percussor," Baronius, xix., p. 339. Foss' Judges, i. 279, 280. probable, but they seem before long to have setshire, he made over, half to the knights of St. John the year after the murder, probably in expiation the other half to his brother Robert, who built the chapel of Willeton.kk The descendants of the family lingered for a long time in the neighborhood under the same name, successively corrupted into Fitzour, Fishour, and Fisher. The family of Bret or Brito was carried on through his daughter Maud, who gave lands to the Priory of St. Thomas, at Woodspring, and his granddaughter Alice, who in 1238 continued the benefaction, in the hope that the intercession of the glorious martyr might never be wanting to her and her children."1 66 n But the great expiation still remained. The king had gone from Bur to Argenton, a town situated on the high table-land of southern Normandy. There the news first reached him, and he instantly shut himself up for three days, refused all food except milk of almonds, rolled himself in sackcloth and ashes, vented his grief in frantic lamentations, and called God to witness that he was in no way responsible for the archbishop's death, unless that he loved him too little. He continued in this solitude for five weeks, neither riding, nor transacting public business, but exclaiming again and again, "Alas! alas! that it ever happened." P The figures of the murderers may be seen in representations of the martyrdom, which, on walls, or in painted windows, or ancient The French King, the Archbishop of Sens, frescoes, have survived the attempted exter- and others, had meanwhile written to the mination of all the monuments of the traitor Pope denouncing Henry in the strongest lanBecket by King Henry VIII. Sometimes guage as the murderer, and calling for venthree, sometimes four, are given, but always geance upon his head. What all expected so far faithful to history, that Moreville is was an excommunication of the king, and an stationed aloof from the massacre. Two ves- interdict of the kingdom. Henry, as soon as tiges of such representations still remain in he was roused from his retirement, sent off as Canterbury Cathedral. One is a painting on envoys to Rome the Archbishop of Rouen, the a board, now greatly defaced, and kept near Bishop of Worcester, and others of his courtthe tomb of King Henry IV., over which it iers, to avert the dreaded penalties by anformerly stood. It is engraved in Carter's nouncing his submission. The Archbishop Ancient Sculptures, and, through the help of of Rouen returned on account of illness, and the engraving, the principal figures can still Alexander III., who occupied the Papal See, be dimly discerned. There is the common and who after long struggles with his rival had mistake of making the archbishop kneel at at last got back to Rome, refused to receive the altar, and representing Grim as the bearer the rest. He was, in fact, in the eyes of of the cross. The knights are carefully dis- Christendom, not wholly guiltless himself, in tinguished from one another. Fitzurse, with consequence of the lukewarmness with which two bears on his coat-for they are usually he had fought Becket's fights; and it was discriminated by their armorial bearings-is believed that he, like the king, had shut himdepicted as inflicting the fatal stroke. Bret, self up on hearing the news as much from with boars' heads, and Tracy, in red and remorse as from grief. At last, by a bribe yellow armor, appear each to have already of 500 marks, an interview was effected on dealt a blow. Moreville, distinguished by fleurs-de-lis, stands apart, and on the ground lies the cap of their victim stained with blood. The other is a sculpture over the south porch, where Erasmus states that he saw the figures of the three murderers," with their names of Tuscus, Fuscus, and Berrus," underneath. These figures have disappeared; and it is as difficult to imagine where they could have stood, as it is to explain the origin of the names they bore; but in the portion which remains there is a representation of an altar surmounted by a crucifix, placed between figures of St. John and the Virgin, and marked as the altar of the martyrdom" altare ad punctum ensis " - by sculptured fragments of a sword, which lie at its foot.m kk Collinson's Somersetshire, iii. 487. I Collinson's Somersetshire, iii. 543. mPerhaps the most singular deviation from historical truth in the pictorial representations of the murder is to be found in the modern altar-piece of the church of St. Thomas, which forms the chapel of the English College at Rome. The saint is represented in a monastic garb on his knees before the altar of a Roman Basilica; and behind him are the the heights of ancient Tusculum—not yet superseded by the modern Frascati. Two cardinals, Theodore Bishop of Portus, and Albert Chancellor of the Papal See, were sent to Normandy to receive the royal penitent's submission, and an excommunication was pronounced against the murderers on Maundy Thursday, which is still the usual day for the delivery of Papal maledictions. The worst of the threatened evils- excommunication and interdict were thus avoided; but Henry still felt so insecure, that he crossed over to England, ordered all the ports to be strictly guarded to prevent the admission of the fatal document, and refused to see any one who was the bearer of letters." It was during this short stay that he visited for the last time the old Bishop of Winchester, Henry three knights, in complete classical costume, brand- P Vita Quadrip., 146. |