§ 33. THE MARTYRDOM OF THOMAS BECKET. 141
private room and sat on his bed, talking to his friends, John of Salisbury, William Fitz-Stephen, and Edward Grim. He was then still in full vigor, being in the fifty-third year of his age, retaining his dignified aspect and the lustre of his large eyes.
At about four that afternoon, the knights went to the archbishop's palace, leaving their weapons behind, and con cealing their coats of mail by the ordinary cloak and gown. They demanded from him, in the name of the king, the ab solution of the excommunicated bishops and courtiers. He refused, and referred them to the pope, who alone could ab solve them. He declared: " I will never spare a man who vio lates the canons of Rome or the rights of the Church. My spirituals I hold from God and the pope; my temporals, from the king. Render unto Csesar the things that are Csesar's, and unto God the things that are God's." The knights said, "You speak in peril of your life." Becket replied: "Come ye to murder me in my own house ? You cannot be more ready to kill me than I am to die. You threaten me in vain ; were all the swords in England hanging over my head, you could not terrify me from my obedience to God and my lord the pope. I defy you, and will meet you foot to foot in the battle of the Lord." During the altercation, Becket lost command over his fiery temper. His friend, John of Salisbury, gently censured him for his exasperating tone. The knights quitted the room and called their men to arms.
A few minutes before five the bell tolled for vespers. Urged by his friends, the archbishop, with his cross carried before him, went through the cloisters to the cathedral. The service had begun, the monks were chanting the psalms in the choir, the church was filled with people, when two boys rushed up the nave and created a panic by announcing that armed men were breaking into the cloister. The attendants of Becket, who had entered the church, shut the door and urged him to move into the choir for safety. " Away, you
142 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1123-1198.
cowards ! " lie said, " by virtue of your obedience, I command you not to shut the door ; the church must not be turned into a fortress." He was evidently prepared and eager for martyrdom. He himself reopened the door, and dragged the excluded monks into the building, exclaiming, "Come in, come in — faster, faster!" The monks and priests were terrorstricken and fled in every direction, to the recesses and sidechapels, to the roof above, and the crypt below. Three only remained faithful, — Canon Robert of Merton, Chaplain William Fitz-Stephen, and the clerk Edward Grim.1 One of the monks confesses that he ran with clasped hands up the steps as fast as his feet would carry him.
Becket proceeded to the high altar and archiepiscopal chair, in which he and all his predecessors from time imme morial had been enthroned. There, no doubt, he wished to gain the crown of martyrdom. It was now about five in the winter evening; the shades of night were gathering, and the lamps on the altars shed only a dim light in the dark cathe dral. The tragedy which followed was finished in a few minutes.
In the meantime the knights, clad in mail which covered their faces up to their eyes, and with drawn swords, followed by a motley group of ruffians, provided with hatchets, rushed into the cathedral and shouted : " Where is the traitor ? Where is the archbishop ?" 2 Becket replied, descending the steps of the altar and facing his enemies, " Behold me, no traitor, but a priest of God ! " They again demanded the absolution of the bishops and his surrender to the king's justice. " I cannot do otherwise than I have done," he said, and turning to Fitz-Urse, who was armed with a sword and an axe, he added ; " Reginald, you have received many
1 Modern writers are in the habit of calling him a monk, and so he may have been. In the contemporary narratives he is called simply "clerk." Abbott, I. 42 sq.
2 See Abbott, I. 89 sqq., on the words used, and Becket's reply.