§ 30. THE PEACE OF VENICE. 119
ciples maintained the conflict with Barbarossa. He supported Thomas a Becket in his memorable conflict with Henry II. In 1181 he laid the interdict upon Scotland because of the refusal of its king, William, to acknowledge the canonical election of John to the see of St. Andrews. Upon Louis VII. of France he conferred the Red Rose for the support he had received from that sovereign in the days of his early exile. He presided over the Third Lateran Council and prepared the way for the crusade against the Cathari and Albigenses.
His aged and feeble successor, Lucius III., was elected, Sept. 1, 1181, by the cardinals alone. The Romans, deprived of their former share in the election, treated him with bar barous cruelty; they captured twenty or twenty-six of his partisans at Tusculum, blinded them, except one, crowned them with paper mitres inscribed with the names of cardi nals, mounted them on asses, and forced the priest whom they had spared to lead them in this condition to " Lucius, the wicked simoniac." He died in exile at Verona where he held an important synod.
It is a remarkable fact that some of the greatest popes — as Gregory VII., Urban II., Innocent II., Eugene III., Adrian IV., Alexander III., and three of his successors — could not secure the loyalty of their own subjects, and were besieged in Rome or compelled to flee. Adrian IV. said to his countryman and friend, John of Salisbury, " Rome is not the mother, but the stepmother of the Churches." The Romans were always fluctuating between memories of the old republic and memories of the empire ; now setting up a consul, a senator, a tribune ; now welcoming the German emperor as the true Augustus Caesar ; now loyal to the pope, now driving him into exile, and ever selling themselves to the highest bidder. The papal court was very consistent in its principles and aims, but as to the choice of means for its end it was subject to the same charge of avarice and venality,
120 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1123-1198.
whether at Rome or in exile. Even Thomas Becket, the stanchest adherent of Alexander III., indignantly rebuked the cardinals for their love of gold.
Emperor Frederick survived his great rival nearly ten years, and died by drowning in a little river of Asia Minor, 1190, while marching on the third crusade.
Barbarossa was a man of middle size, bright countenance, fair complexion, yellow hair and reddish beard, a kind friend and placable enemy, strictly just, though often too severe, liberal in almsgiving, attentive to his religious duties, happy in his second marriage, of the noblest type of mediaeval chiv alry, the greatest sovereign of the twelfth century, a hero in fact and a hero in romance.1 He came into Italy with the sword of Germany in one hand and the Justinian code in the other, but failed in subduing the political independence of the Lombard cities, and in his contest with the spiritual power of Alexander. The German imagination has cherished his memory in song and story, placing him next in rank to Charles the Great among the Roman emperors, exaggerating his virtues, condoning his faults, which were those of his age, and hoping for his return to restore the unity and power of Germany.
§ 31. Thomas Becket and Henry II. of England.
For the extensive Becket literature, see ROBERTSON, in " The Contemporary Review," 1866, I. (Jan.) 270-278, andULYSSE CHEVALIER, in his Repertoire des sources historiques du Moyen Age (Paris, 1886), s. v. "Thomas," fol. 2207-2209.
I. SOURCES : —
* Materials for the History of Thomas a Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury. Edited by JAMES CRAIGIE ROBERTSON (Canon of Canterbury, d. 1882) and J. BRIGSTOCKE SHEPPARD, LL.D. London, 1875-1885, 7 vols. This magnificent work is part of a series of Rerum Britannic. Medii Aevi Scriptores, or " Chronicles and Memorials of Great Britain and Ire-
1 Rahewin, in his Gesta Friderici, IV. 86, gives an animated descrip tion of Frederick's appearance, habits, dress, achievements, etc. He calls him the best of emperors.