Imágenes de página
PDF
ePub

he

[ocr errors]

may so rule by Thy guidance, that he shall not govern in pride, nor abuse his power; " and in the other, that he may "apprehend right, and discern justice," the whole ceremony concludes.

But while Aquitaine resounded with joyful gratulation, in England and in Normandy great dissatisfaction prevailed :-the king's seventh year of bitter contest with his haughty archbishop had commenced, and his eldest son, to whom he had given but the empty title of king, began very naturally to murmur at his studied exclusion from all real power. Nor were other indications wanting, that the storm which his evil passions had for so many years been raising, was at length about to burst on the head of Plantagenet; but, with that pertinacity which he seems to have inherited from both father and mother, he determined by no concessions, by no cautious management, to endeavour to avert it.

The conduct and the character of that celebrated man, whose consecrated name superseded that of the Virgin in the first cathedral of the land, and to whose shrine half the monarchs of Europe pressed with gifts and oblations-Becket—although belonging rather to the political history of England than to the biography of her queens, are yet, from the numerous illustrations which they afford of the spirit and manners of the twelfth century, too important to be passed over, without at least a cursory notice; while the tale of his parents, as related by Brompton, is so romantic, that it seems rather to belong to the lay of the minstrel, than to the Monkish Chronicle.

Gilbert à Becket was a goldsmith, rich and pros

perous, one of the chief men of London, and held in high estimation by all. But Gilbert was more proud of his Christian name than of his civic prerogatives; and thus when half Europe poured forth her enthusiastic population, at the summons of Peter the hermit, upon the shores of Asia, Gilbert quitted his native land, and set forth to fight the Paynim. But sincere devotion will not always command success, and Gilbert à Becket fell prisoner into the hands of his foemen. He was sold as a slave, and, after various vicissitudes, became the property of an emir (a soldan, said the popular version of the tale,) who treated him with great kindness. Nor was the emir the only one who felt pity for the desolate stranger; his fair daughter Mathildis, Paynim though she were, loved the soldier of the cross; and when, at length, the emir set Gilbert à Becket free, because he pined for his native land, the fair Paynim was overwhelmed with sorrow. Meanwhile Gilbert returned to England; and Mathildis at length determined to set forth in search of that western land, whither the young stranger had gone. She knew nought of that land, save that it was toward the west; two words were all her English vocabulary, and they were, "London," and "Gilbert;" but Heaven watched over the voyage of the beautiful Paynim, and she arrived safely in London. There she stood on the steps of Queenhithe, a stranger in a strange land; and when the marvelling crowd pressed around and questioned her, the only answers were "London," and "Gilbert." Unable to discover more, they determined to convey her to the

bishop; when, passing along the Poultry, Gilbert à Becket himself, attracted by the crowd, came forth from his house, and joyfully recognized the fair Mathildis. He led her home, caused her to be baptized, and married her; and the chapel of St. Thomas of Acre, which for many centuries occupied the site of Gilbert à Becket's house, was believed by our forefathers to indicate both the port whence the fair Paynim set sail, and the saint that watched over her journey.

Such is the wild but pleasing legend which gave to the English archbishop a Saracen mother;-a story, which, as Mr. Turner well remarks, "might be classed with tales of romance; but that, after the crusades commenced, human life became a romance, and society was full of wild enterprize and improbable incidents."

The education of this celebrated man commenced at Merton; it was completed at Paris; and he was then placed in the palace of the archbishop Theobald, where he distinguished himself by qualities which seemed to point him out rather for the honours of knighthood than for the service of the church. While in deacon's orders, he made more than one campaign in France, and took three castles deemed impregnable, and gave proof of his personal courage by dismounting with his lance a French knight in single combat. This military taste, although disapproved by the stricter class of ecclesiastics, was yet by no means so anomalous in one dedicated to the service of the church in those days, as it would appear in the present age. During the

whole of the 12th century, belligerent churchmen were by no means uncommon characters; and during the late contests of Stephen and the empress, even "the bishops-the bishops themselves! I blush to say it," remarks the author of Gesta Stephani,

many bound in iron, and completely furnished with arms, were accustomed to mount their war horses, and participate in the prey." But to archbishop Theobald, his patron, these warlike propensities were most distasteful; for Theobald had been a scholar of the illustrious school of Bec, and since his high appointment had laboured unceasingly in the cause of learning; and to him also had England been indebted for the introduction of the study of civil law;-Vaccarius, the abbot of Bec, having at his solicitation come over to England, to read lectures on the Pandects. It is probable, therefore, that his patron's attachment to this branch of science, induced Becket to proceed to the continent, and commence the study of civil law at the very fountain head-the university of Bologna. On his introduction by his patron to the king, his splendid fortunes commenced, and his rise to the chancellorship was so rapid that, but for his acknowledged talents, it would have excited much ill will. In the discharge of this office, the favourite of the sovereign distinguished himself by his wise and popular measures; he induced the parliament to banish the Flemish mercenaries, to encourage the return of those English whom the late distresses had driven from the land, persuaded the king to destroy the castles, and vigorously to preserve the internal peace

of the country. So grateful were these salutary measures to the people, that Becket at this period enjoyed the singular good fortune of being alike the favourite of the king and of his subjects.

His style of living is recorded by his biographers to have been most splendid; and their notices afford us some curious pictures of his times. Vessels of gold and silver in the utmost profusion decked his table; every delicacy and foreign variety had a place in his banquets; the first nobles of the kingdom were his accustomed guests; and his array, when he rode abroad, was so magnificent, that his palfrey, almost weighed down by his ponderous silver trappings, was said to have "carried a treasure in his bit alone." A minute account has been handed down of the almost-royal state in which on one occasion he proceeded to France on an embassy. First, came two hundred boys, singing English songs; next, hounds in couples, with their attendants; then, his huge waggons (said to have been each drawn by three horses, and having a fierce mastiff chained beneath); these contained his wines, plate, chapel, chamber, and kitchen furniture; then the sumpter horses, then the esquires of his knights, bearing shields, and leading their war-steeds; then armour-bearers, pages, falconers and their birds, and cupbearers; next, the knights, riding two and two; then the clergy, also two and two; then the great officers of his household; and, lastly, Becket. Nor was this universal favourite unfitted by personal appearance to form the chief attraction of this long-drawn procession; his tall and commanding figure, his noble

« AnteriorContinuar »