§ 32. THE ARCHBISHOP AND THE KING. 137
and committed him to the hospitable care of the abbot of Pontigny, a Cistercian monastery about twelve leagues dis tant from Sens. Here Becket lived till 1166, like a stern monk, on pulse and gruel, slept on a bed of straw, and sub mitted at midnight to the flagellation of his chaplain, but occasionally indulged in better diet, and retained some of his former magnificence in his surroundings. His sober friend, John of Salisbury, remonstrated against the profuse expen diture.
Becket proceeded to the last extremity of pronouncing, in the church of Vezelay, on Whitsuntide, 1166, the sentence of excommunication on all the authors and defenders of the Constitutions of Clarendon. He spared the king, who then was dangerously ill, but in a lower tone, half choked with tears, he threatened him with the vengeance of God, and his realm with the interdict. He announced the sentence to the pope and all the clergy of England, saying to the latter, "Who presumes to doubt that the priests of God are the fathers and masters of kings, princes, and all the faithful ? "
The wrath of Henry knew no bounds. He closed the ports of England against the bearers of the instrument of excommunication, threatening them with shameful mutila tion, hanging, and burning. He procured the expulsion of Becket from Pontigny, who withdrew to a monastery near the archiepiscopal city of Sens. He secured through his ambassadors several concessions from Alexander, who was then in exile at Benevento. The pope was anxious to retain the support of the king, and yet he wrote soothing letters to Becket, assuring him that the concessions were to be only temporary. Becket answered with indignation, and de nounced the papal court for its venality and rapacity. " Your gold and silver," he wrote to the cardinals, " will not deliver you in the day of the wrath of the Lord."
The king now determined to use the permission received
138 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1123-1198.
from the pope several years before, but afterwards revoked,1 and have his son crowned by Roger, archbishop of York. This humiliating infringement upon the rights of the primate stirred Becket's blood afresh. He repeated his excommuni cation. Like Gregory VII., he applied the words, " Cursed is he that refraineth his sword from blood," to the spiritual weapon. He even commanded the bishops of England to lay the whole kingdom under interdict and to suspend the offices of religion (except baptism, penance, and extreme unction), unless the king should give full satisfaction before the feast of purification, Nov. 2, 1170. 2
These extreme measures were not without effect. Several bishops began to waver and change from the king's cause to that of the archbishop. The king himself was alarmed at the menace of the interdict. The pope pursued his tempo rizing policy, and counselled concessions by both parties.
The king and the archbishop suddenly made peace in a respectful personal interview at Fretteville (Freteval), a castle between Tours and Chartres, July 22, 1170. Henry said nothing about the Clarendon Constitutions, but made the offer that Becket should crown his daughter-in-law (the daughter of the king of France), and should on that occa sion repeat the coronation of his son. Becket laid the blame on the shoulders of Henry's counsellors, and showed modera tion and prudence. The king did not offer the kiss of peace, nor did the archbishop demand it.
But while Becket was willing to pardon the king, he
1 See the pope's letter to the archbishop of York in the " Materials," vol. VI. 206 sq., and Robertson's note; also Reuter, II. 683 sq. The letter is not in the Vatican, but in other MSS., and is admitted as genuine by Jaffe". It was probably written in the beginning of 1170, when Alexander was hard pressed by Barbarossa in the siege of Rome. See the other letters on the subject in " Materials," VII. 257, 305 sqq., 399.
2 In 1169 Henry proposed to marry one of his daughters to the young king of Sicily, and to give a sum of money to the cities of the Lombard League for the erection of fortifications, provided they would influence Alexander to depose or transfer Becket. See Stubbs, ed. of Hoveden, II. xci sq.