Moreover, the part of the country on this side, as far as the river Shannon, which forms the boundary between the three eastern parts of the island and the fourth or western part, should be protected by strongly fortified castles built in different places. And further, in the meantime, let all the country beyond the Shannon, including Connaught and part of Munster, be subjected to annual tributes [from the native princes], except the city of Limerick, which should by all means be recovered and occupied by the English. For it would be better, far better, to begin with building fortresses on suitable situations, proceeding by degrees to construct them, than to erect a great number at once, in a variety of places, at great distance from each other, where they would be entirely disconnected, and could afford no mutual aid in time of need.

23. THE MURDER OF BECKET (1170).

Grim is a man who owes his reputation to a solitary event. Few details of his life are known beyond that he was a native of Cambridge and a Master of Arts. He went to Canterbury shortly before Becket's death and could not have grown intimate with the archbishop. Yet he saw the tragedy and shared the danger. He remained at the victim's side till severely wounded, and has ever since been prominent in pictures of the scene. His Life of St. Thomas is not of much value except for the circumstances with which the author was personally connected. SOURCE.-Vita S. Thomae. Edward Grim (fl. 1170-1177). Text in Materials for the History of Archbishop Becket. Rolls Series, vol. ii., p. 430. Trans. Rev. W. H. Hutton. London, 1889.

When the monks had entered the church, already the four knights1 followed behind with rapid strides. With them was

a certain subdeacon, armed with malice like their own, Hugh, fitly surnamed for his wickedness, Mauclerc, who showed no reverence for God or the saints, as the result showed. When the holy archbishop entered the church, the monks stopped vespers which they had begun and ran to him, glorifying God that they saw their father, whom they had heard was dead, alive and safe. They hastened, by bolting the doors of the

1 Reginald Fitz-Urse, Hugh de Morville, Richard Brito, and William de Tracy.

But

church, to protect their shepherd from the slaughter. the champion, turning to them, ordered the church doors to be thrown open, saying, "It is not meet to make a fortress of the house of prayer, the church of Christ: though it be not shut up it is able to protect its own; and we shall triumph over the enemy rather in suffering than in fighting, for we came to suffer, not to resist". And straightway they entered the house of peace and reconciliation with swords sacrilegiously drawn, causing horror to the beholders by their very looks and the clanging of their arms.

All who were present were in tumult and fright, for those who had been singing vespers now ran hither to the dreadful sight.

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Inspired by fury the knights called out, "Where is Thomas Becket, traitor to the king and realm?" As he answered not they cried out the more furiously, "Where is the archbishop?" At this, intrepid and fearless, as it is written, "The just, like a bold lion, shall be without fear," he descended from the stair where he had been dragged by the monks in fear of the knights, and in a clear voice answered, I am here, no traitor to the king, but a priest. Why do ye seek me?" And whereas he had already said that he feared them not, he added, "So I am ready to suffer in His name, Who redeemed me by His Blood be it far from me to flee from your swords, or to depart from justice". Having thus said, he turned to the right, under a pillar, having on one side the altar of the blessed Mother of God and ever Virgin Mary, on the other that of S. Benedict the Confessor: by whose example and prayers, having crucified the world with its lusts, he bore all that the murderer could do with such constancy of soul as if he had been no longer in the flesh. The murderers followed him; "Absolve," they cried, "and restore to communion those whom you have excommunicated, and restore their powers to those whom you have suspended". He answered: "There has been no satisfaction, and I will not absolve them ". "Then you shall die," they cried, "and receive what you deserve." "I am ready," he replied, "to die for my Lord, that in my blood the Church may obtain liberty and peace. But in the name of Almighty God, I forbid you to hurt my people whether clerk or lay." Thus piously and thoughtfully, did the noble martyr provide that no one near him should be hurt or the innocent be brought to death, whereby his glory should be dimmed as he hastened to Christ. Thus did it become the martyr-knight to follow in the footsteps of his Captain and Saviour Who when the wicked

sought Him said: If ye seek Me, let these go their way Then they laid sacrilegious hands on him, pulling and dragging him that they might kill him outside the Church, or carry him away a prisoner, as they afterwards confessed. But when he could not be forced away from the pillar, one of them pressed on him and clung to him more closely. Him he pushed off calling him "pander," and saying, "Touch me not, Reginald; you owe me fealty and subjection, you and your accomplices act like madmen". The knight, fired with terrible rage at this severe repulse, waved his sword over the sacred head. "No faith," he cried, "nor subjection do I owe you against my fealty to my lord the king." Then the unconquered martyr seeing the hour at hand which should put an end to this miserable life and give him straightway the crown of immortality promised by the Lord, inclined his neck as one who prays, and joining his hands he lifted them up, and commended his cause and that of the Church to God, to S. Mary, and to the blessed martyr Denys. Scarce had he said the words than the wicked knight fearing lest he should be rescued by the people and escape alive, leapt upon him suddenly and wounded this lamb who was sacrificed to God, on the head, cutting off the top of the crown which the sacred unction of the chrism had dedicated to God; and by the same blow he wounded the arm of him who tells this. For he, when the others, both monks and clerks, fled, stuck close to the sainted archbishop and held him in his arms till the one he interposed was almost severed. Behold the simplicity of the dove, the wisdom of the serpent, in the martyr who opposed his body to those who struck that he might preserve his head, that is his soul and the Church, unharmed, nor would he use any forethought against those who destroyed the body whereby he might escape. O worthy shepherd, who gave himself so boldly to the wolves that his flock might not be torn. Because he had rejected the world, the world in wishing to crush him unknowingly exalted him. Then he received a second blow on the head but still stood firm. At the third blow he fell on his knees and elbows, offering himself a living victim, and saying in a low voice, "For the name of Jesus and the protection of the Church I am ready to embrace death". Then the third knight inflicted a terrible wound as he lay, by which the sword was broken against the pavement, and the crown which was large was separated from the head; so that the blood white with the brain and the brain red with blood, dyed the surface of the virgin mother Church with the life and death of the confessor and martyr in

the colours of the lily and the rose. The fourth knight prevented any from interfering so that the others might freely perpetrate the murder. As to the fifth, no knight but that clerk who had entered with the knights, that a fifth blow might not be wanting to the martyr who was in other things like to Christ, he put his foot on the neck of the holy priest and precious martyr, and, horrible to say, scattered his brains and blood over the pavement, calling out to the others: "Let us away, knights; he will rise no more".

24. THE BURNING AND REBUILDING OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL (1174).

Its

St. Augustine made Canterbury the ecclesiastical capital of England, and Becket's murder made its shrine the most popular resort of English pilgrims. Canterbury has a third distinction which can worthily be ranked with those just mentioned. The choir of its cathedral set the fashion of Gothic architecture in England. The pointed style of building was not an accidental discovery. Gothic grew out of the round arch, or Romanesque, style which preceded it, by a steady process. origin can be traced to the Île de France, where it was occupying the notice of architects when the fire at Canterbury occurred. The monk Gervase was a sad witness of this conflagration, and has preserved the mood of his brethren under their dire loss. It is impossible to reprint more than the beginning of his narrative, by reason of the length to which it runs. But even a fragment will reveal the degree of pride and affection which was then felt for a noble cathedral.

SOURCE.-Tractatus de Combustione et Réparatione Cantuariensis Ecclesiae. Gervase of Canterbury (fl. 1188). Rolls Series, vol. i., p. 3. Trans. Rev. R. Willis in The Architectural History of Canterbury Cathedral. London, 1845. P. 2.

1. The Conflagration.

In the year of grace one thousand one hundred and seventyfour, by the just but occult judgment of God, the church of Christ at Canterbury was consumed by fire, in the forty-fourth year from its dedication, that glorious choir, to wit, which had

been so magnificently completed by the care and industry of Prior Conrad.1

Now the manner of the burning and repair was as follows. In the aforesaid year, on the nones of September, at about the ninth hour, and during an extraordinarily violent south wind, a fire broke out before the gate of the church, and outside the walls of the monastery, by which three cottages were half destroyed. From thence, while the citizens were assembling and subduing the fire, cinders and sparks carried aloft by the high wind, were deposited upon the church, and being driven by the fury of the wind between the joints of the lead, remained there amongst the half rotten planks, and shortly glowing with increasing heat, set fire to the rotten rafters; from these the fire was communicated to the larger beams and their braces, no one yet perceiving or helping. For the well-painted ceiling below, and the sheet-lead covering above, concealed between them the fire that had arisen within.

Meantime the three cottages, whence the mischief had arisen, being destroyed, and the popular excitement having subsided, everybody went home again, while the neglected church was consuming with internal fire unknown to all. But beams and braces burning, the flames rose to the slopes of the roof; and the sheets of lead yielded to the increasing heat and began to melt. Thus the raging wind, finding a freer entrance, increased the fury of the fire; and the flames beginning to show themselves, a cry arose in the church-yard: "See! see! the church is on fire ".

Then the people and the monks assemble in haste, they draw water, they brandish their hatchets, they run up the stairs, full of eagerness to save the church, already, alas! beyond their help. But when they reach the roof and perceive the black smoke and scorching flames that pervade it throughout, they abandon the attempt in despair, and thinking only of their own safety, make all haste to descend.

And now that the fire had loosened the beams from the pegs that bound them together, the half-burnt timbers fell into the choir below upon the seats of the monks; the seats consisting of a great mass of wood-work, caught fire, and thus the mischief grew worse and worse. And it was marvellous, though sad, to behold how that glorious choir itself fed and assisted the fire that was destroying it. For the flames multiplied by this mass of timber, and extending upwards full fifteen cubits, scorched

1 Dedicated 1130,