No clerk shall go out of the kingdom without
giving security that he will do nothing to the prejudice of the king or nation.
giving security that he will do nothing to the prejudice of the king or nation.
Edmund Burke
To the son of Stephen all his private
possessions were secured.
Thus ended this tedious and ruinous civil war.
Stephen survived it near two years; and now, finding himself more secure as the lawful tenant than he had been as the usurping proprietor of the crown, he
no longer governed on the maxims of necessity. He
made no new attempts in favor of his family, but
spent the remainder of his. reign in correcting the
disorders which arose from his steps in its commencement, and in healing the wounds of so long and cruel a war. Thus he left the kingdom in peace to his
successor, but his character, as it is usual where
party is concerned, greatly disputed. Wherever
? ? ? ? 394 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
his natural dispositions had room to exert themselves, they appeared virtuous and princely; but
the lust to reign, which often attends great virtues,
was fatal to his, frequently hid them, and always rendered them suspected.
CHAPTER VI.
REIGN OF HENRY II.
THE death of Stephen left an undisputed
succession for the first time since the death
of Edward the Confessor. Henry, descended equally
from the Norman Conqueror and the old English
kings, adopted by Stephen, acknowledged by the
barons, united in himself every kind of title. It
was grown into a custom for the king to grant a
charter of liberties on his accession to the crown.
Henry also granted a charter of that kind, confirming that of his grandfather; but as his situation was very different from that of his predecessors, his charter was different,- reserved, short, dry, conceived in general terms, - a gift, not a bargain. And, indeed,
there seems to have been at that juncture but little
occasion to limit a power which seemed not more
than sufficient to correct all the evils of an unlimited
liberty. Henry spent the beginning of his reign in
repairing the ruins of the royal authority, and in restoring to the kingdom peace and order, along with its ancient limits; and he may well be considered as
the restorer of the English monarchy. Stephen had
sacrificed the demesne of the crown, and many of its
rights, to his subjects; and the necessity of the times
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 395
obliged both that prince and the Empress Matilda to
purchase, in their turns, the precarious friendship of
the King of Scotland by a cession of almost all the
country north of the Humber. But'Henry obliged
the King of Scotland to restore his acquisitions, and
to renew his homage. He took the same methods
with his barons. Not sparing the grants of his
mother, he resumed what had been so lavishly
squandered by both of the contending parties, who,
to establish their claims, had given away almost
everything that made them valuable. There never
was a prince in Europe who better understood the
advantages to be derived from its peculiar constitution, in which greater acquisitions of dominion are made by judicious marriages than by success in war:
for, having added to his patrimonial territories of Anjou and Normandy the Duchy of Guienne by his own marriage, the male issue of the Dukes of Brittany
failing, he took the opportunity of marrying A. . 11m.
his third son, Geoffrey, then an infant,. to
the heiress of that important province, an infant also;
and thus uniting by so strong a link his northern to
his southern dominions, he possessed in his own name,
or in those of his wife and son, all that fine and extensive country that is washed by the Atlantic Ocean, from Picardy quite to the foot of the Pyrenees.
Henry, possessed of such extensive territories, and
aiming at further acquisitions, saw with indignation
that the sovereign authority in all of them, especially
in England, had been greatly diminished. By his
resumptions he had, indeed, lessened the greatness
of several of the nobility. He had by force of arms
reduced those who forcibly held the crown lands,
and deprived them of their own estates for their
? ? ? ? 396 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
rebellion. He demolished many castles, those perpetual resources of rebellion and disorder. ,But the great aim of his policy was to break the power of
the clergy, which each of his predecessors, since Edward, had alternately strove to raise and to depress, - at first in order to gain that potent body to their
interests, and then to preserve them in subjection
to the authority which they had conferred. The
clergy had elected Stephen; they had deposed Stephen, and. elected Matilda; and in the instruments which they used on these- occasions they affirmed
in themselves a general right of electing the kings
of England. Their share both in the elevation and
depression of that prince showed that they possessed
a power inconsistent with the safety and dignity
of the state. The immunities which they enjoyed
seemed no less prejudicial to the civil economy,and the rather, as, in the confusion of Stephen's
reign, many, to protect themselves from the prevailing violence of the time, or to sanctify their own disorders, had taken refuge in the clerical character.
The Church was never so full of scandalous persons, who, being accountable only in the ecclesiastical courts, where no crime is punished with death, were
guilty of every crime. A priest had about this time
committed a murder attended with very aggravating circumstances. The king, willing at once to
restore order and to depress the clergy, laid hold
of this favorable opportunity to convoke the cause to
his own court, when the atrociousness of the crime
made all men look with an evil eye upon the claim
of any privilege which might prevent the severest
justice. The nation in general seemed but little
inclined to controvert so useful a regulation with
so potent a prince.
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF. ENGLISH HISTORY. 397.
Amidst this general acquiescence one man was
found bold enough to oppose him, who for: eight
years together embroiled all his affairs, poisoned his
satisfactions, endangered his dominions, and at length
in his death triumphed over all the power and policy
of this wise and potent monarch. This was Thomas
a-Becket, a man memorable for the great glory and
the bitter reproaches he has met with from posterity.
This person was the son of a respectable citizen of
London. He was bred to the study of the civil and
canon law, the education then used to qualify a man
for. public affairs, in which he soon made a distinguished figure. By the royal favor and his own abilities, he rose, in a rapid succession through several considerable employments, from an office under the
sheriff of London, to be High Chancellor of the kingdom. In this high post. he showed a spirit as elevated; but it was rather a military spirit than that
of the. gownman, - magnificent to excess in his living and appearance, and. distinguishing himself in
the tournaments and other martial sports of that age
with much ostentation of courage and expense. The
king, who. favored him greatly, and expected a suitable return, on the vacancy, destined Becket, yet a
layman, to the see of. Canterbury, and hoped to find
in him. a warm promoter of the_ reformation he intended. Hardly a priest, he was made the
A. D. 1162.
first prelate in the kingdom. But no sooner. .
was he invested. with the clerical character than the
whole tenor of his conduct was seen to change all at
once: of his pompous retinue a. few plain servants
only remained; a monastic temperance regulated his
table; and his life, in all respects formed to the most
rigid austerity,- seemed. to prepare him for that supe
? ? ? ? 398 ABRIDGMENT OP ENGLISH HISTORY.
riority he was resolved to assume, and the conflicts he
foresaw he must. undergo in this attempt.
It will not be unpleasing to pause a moment at this
remarkable period, ill order to view in what consisted
that greatness of the clergy, which enabled them to
bear so very considerable a sway in all public affairs,
what foundations supported the weight of so vast a
power, - whence it had its origin, -- what was the
nature, and what the ground, of the immunities they
claimed, - that we may the more fully enter into this
important controversy, and- may not judge, as some
have inconsiderately done, of the affairs of those
times by ideas taken from the present manners and
opinions.
It is sufficiently known, that the first Christians,
avoiding the Pagan tribunals, tried most even of their
civil causes before the bishop, who, though he had
no direct coercive power, yet, wielding the sword
of excommunication, had wherewithal to enforce the
execution of his judgments. Thus the bishop had
a considerable sway in temporal affairs, even before
he was owned by the temporal power. But the Emperors no sooner became Christian than, the idea of profaneness being removed from the secular tribunals, the causes of the Christian laity naturally passed to that resort where those of the generality
had been before. But the reverence for the bishop
still remained, and the remembrance of his former
jurisdiction. It was not thought decent, that he,
who had been a judge in his own court, should become a suitor in the court of another. The body of the clergy likewise, who were supposed to have
no secular concerns for which they could litigate,
and removed by their character from all suspicion
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 399
of violence, were left to be tried by their own ecclesiastical superiors. This was, with a little variation, sometimes in extending, sometimes in restraining the
bishops' jurisdiction, the condition of things whilst
the Roman Empire subsisted. But though their immunities were great and their possessions ample, yet, living under an absolute form of government, they
were powerful only by influence. No jurisdictions
were annexed to their lands; they had no place in
the senate; they were no order in the state.
From the settlement of the Northern nations the
clergy must be considered in another light. The
Barbarians gave them large landed possessions; and
by giving them land, they gave them jurisdiction,
which, according to their notions, was inseparable
from it. They made them an order in the state;
and as all the orders had their privileges, the clergy
had theirs, and were no less steady to'preserve and
ambitious to extend them. Our ancestors, having
united the Church dignities to the secular dignities
of baronies, had so blended the ecclesiastical with
the temporal power in the same persons that it
became almost impossible to separate them. The
ecclesiastical was, however, prevalent in this composition, drew to it the other, supported it, and was supported by it. But it was not the devotion only,
but the necessity of the times, that raised the clergy
to the excess of this greatness. The' little learning
which then subsisted remained wholly in their hands.
Few among the laity could even read; consequently
the clergy alone were proper for public affairs. They
were the statesmen, they were the lawyers; from
them were often taken the bailiffs of the seigneurial
courts, sometimes the sheriffs of counties, and almost
? ? ? ? 400 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
constantly the justiciaries of the kingdom. * The Norman kings, always jealous of their order, were always
forced to employ them. In abbeys the law was studied; abbeys were the palladiums of the public liberty by the cusody of the royal charters and most of the records. Thus, necessary to the great by their
knowledge, venerable to the poor by their hospitality,
dreadful to all by the power of excommunication, the
character of the clergy was exalted above everything
in the state; and it could no more be otherwise in
those days than it is possible it should be so in ours.
William the Conqueror made it one principal point
of his politics to reduce the clergy; but all the steps
he took in it were not equally well calculated to answer this intention. When he subjected the Church
lands to military service, the clergy complained bitterly, as it lessened their revenue: but I imagine it did
not lessen their power in proportion; for by this regulation they came, like other great lords, to have their
military vassals, who owed them homage and fealty;
and this rather increased their consideration amongst
so martial a people. The kings who succeeded him,
though they also aimed at reducing the ecclesiastical
power, never pursued their scheme on a great or
legislative principle. They seemed rather desirous of
enriching themselves by the abuses in the Church
than earnest to correct them. One day they plundered
and the next day they founded monasteries, as their
rapaciousness or their scruples chanced. to predominate; so that every attempt of that. kind, having rather
the air of tyranny than reformation, could never be
heartily approved or seconded by the body of the
people.
* Seld. Tithes, p. 482.
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 401
The bishops Inust always be considered in the
double capacity of clerks and barons. Their courts,
therefore, had a double jurisdiction: over-the clergy
and laity of their diocese for the cognizance of crimes
against ecclesiastical law, and over the vassals of their
barony as lords paramount. But these two departments, so different in their nature, they frequently confounded, by making use of the spiritual weapon
of excommunication to enforce the judgments of
both; and this sentence, cutting off the party from
the common society of mankind, lay equally heavy on
all ranks: for, as it deprived the lower sort of the.
fellowship of their equals and the protection of their
lord, so it deprived the lord of the services of his
vassals, whether he or they lay under the sentence. .
This was one of the grievances which the king proposed to redress.
As some sanction of religion is mixed with almost
every concern of civil life, and as the ecclesiastical
court took cognizance of all religious matters, it drew
to itself not only all questions relative to tithes and
advowsons, but whatever related to marriages, wills,
the estate of intestates, the breaches of oaths and
contracts, -in a word, everything which did not
touch life or feudal property.
The ignorance of the bailiffs in lay courts, who
were only possessed of some feudal maxims and the
traditions of an uncertain custom, made this recourse
to the spiritual courts the more necessary, where they
could judge with a little more exactness by the lights
of the canon and civil laws.
This jurisdiction extended itself by connivance, by
necessity, by custom, by abuse, over lay persons and,
affairs. But the immunity of the clergy from lay cogVOL. VII. 26
? ? ? ? 402 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
nizances was claimed, not onlly as a privilege essential
to the dignity of their order, supported by the canons,
and countenanced by the Roman law, but as a right
confirmed by all the ancient laws of England.
Christianity, coming into England out of the bosom
of the Roman Empire, brought along with it all those
ideas of immunity. The first trace we can find of
this exemption from lay jurisdiction in England is
in the laws of Ethelred;* it is more fully established
in those of Canute; t but in the code of Henry I. it is
twice distinctly affirmed. t -This immunity from the
secular jurisdiction, whilst it seemed to encourage
acts of violence in the clergy towards others, encouraged also the violence of others against them. The
murder of a clerk could not be punished at this time
by death; it was against a spiritual person, an offence
wholly spiritual, of which the secular courts took no
sort of cognizance. In the Saxon times two circumstances made such an exemption less a cause of jealousy: the sheriff sat with the bishop, and the spiritual jurisdiction was, if not under the control, at least
under the inspection of the lay officer; and then, as
neither laity nor clergy were capitally punished for
any offence, this privilege did not create so invidious
and glaring a distinction between them. Such was
the power of the clergy, and such the immunities,
which the king proposed to diminish.
Becket, who had punished the ecclesiastic for his
* LL. Ethelred. Si presbyter homicida fieret, &c.
t LL. Cnuti, 38, De Ministro Altaris Homicida. Idem, 40, De
Ordinato Capitis reo.
t LL. H. I. 57, De Querela Vicinorum; and 56 [66? ]. De Ordi
nato qui Vitam forisfaciat, in Feed. Alured. et Guthurn. , apud Spel
Concil. 376, 1st vol. ; LL. Edw. et Guthurn. , 3, De Correctione Ordi.
natorum.
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 403
crime by ecclesiastical law, refused to deliver him over
to the secular judges for further punishment, on the
principle of law, that no man ought to be twice questioned for the same offence. The king, pro- A. D. 1164.
voked at this opposition, summoned a council of the barons and bishops at Clarendon; and here,
amongst others of less moment, the following were
unanimously declared to be the ancient prerogatives
of the crown. And it is something remarkable, and
certainly makes much for the honor of their moderation, that the bishops and abbots who must have composed so large and weighty a part of the great council seem not only to have made no opposition to regulations which so remarkably contracted their jurisdiction, but even seem to have forwarded them.
1st. A clerk accused of any crime- shall appear in
the king's court, that it may be judged whether he
belongs to ecclesiastical or secular cognizance. If
to the former, a deputy shall go into the bishop's
court to observe the trial; if the clerk be convicted,
he shall be delivered over to the king's justiciary to
be punished.
2nd. All causes concerning presentation, all causes concerning Frankalmoign, all actions concerning
breach of faith, shall be tried in the king's court.
3rd. The king's tenant in capite shall not be excommunicated without the king's license.
4th.
No clerk shall go out of the kingdom without
giving security that he will do nothing to the prejudice of the king or nation. And all appeals shall be
tried at home.
These are the most material of the Constitutions or
Assizes of Clarendon, famous for having been the first
legal check given to the power of the clergy in Eng
? ? ? ? 404 ABRIDGMENT OF'ENGLISH HISTORY.
land. To give these constitutions the greater weight,
it was thought proper that they should be confirmed
by a bull from the Pope. By this step the king
seemed to doubt the entireness of his own authority
in his dominions; and by calling in foreign aid when
it served: his purpose, he gave it a force and a sort of
legal sanction when it came to be employed against
himself. But as: no negotiation had prepared the
Pope in favor of laws designed in reality to abridge
his own power, it was no wonder that he rejected
them with indignation. Becket, who had not been
prevailed on to accept them but with infinite reluctance, was no sooner apprised of the Pope's disapprobation than he openly declared his own; he did penance in the humblest manner for: his former
acquiescence, and resolved to make amends for it by
opposing the new constitutions with the utmost zeal.
In this disposition the king saw that the Archbishop
might be more easily ruined than humbled, and his
ruin was resolved. Immediately a number of suits,
on various pretences, were commenced against him, in
every one of which he was sure to be foiled; but these
making no deadly blow at his fortunes, he was called
to account for thirty thousand pounds which he: was
accused of having embezzled during his chancellorship. It was in vain that he pleaded a full acquittance from the king's son, and Richard de Lucy, the guardian and justiciary:of the kingdom, on his resignation of the seals; he saw it was already determined
against him. Far from yielding under these repeated,
blows, he raised still higher the ecclesiastical pretensions, now become necessary to his own protection.
He refused to answer to the charge, and appealed to
the Pope, to whom alone he seemed to acknowledge
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 405
any real subjection. A great ferment ensued on~ this
appeal. The courtiers advised that he should be
thrown into prison, and that his temrporalities should
be seized. The bishops, willing to reduce Becket
without reducing their own order, proposed to accuse
him before the Pope, and to pursue him to degradation. Some of his friends pressed him to give up his
cause; others urged him to resign his dignity. The
king's servants threw out menaces against his life.
Amidst this general confusion of passions and councils, whilst every one according to his interests expected the event with much anxiety, Becket, in the disguise of a monk, escaped out of the nation, and threw himself into the arms of the King of France.
Henry was greatly alarmed at this secession, which
put the Archbishop out of his power, but left him in
full possession of all his ecclesiastical weapons. An
embassy was immediately dispatched to Rome, in
order to accuse Becket;. but as Becket pleaded the
Pope's own cause before the Pope himself, he obtained an easy victory over the king's ambassadors.
Henry, on the other hand. , took. every measure to
maintain his authority: he did everything worthy
of an able politician, and of. a king tenacious of his
just authority. He likewise took measures not only
to humble Becket, but also to lower that chair whose
exaltation had an ill influence on the throne: for he
encouraged the Bishop of London: to revive a claim to
the primacy;. and thus, by making the, rights of the
see at. least dubious, he hoped -to render future prelates. . more cautious in the exercise. of them. He
inhibited, under the penalty of high treason, all ecclesiastics from going out of his dominions without
license, or:any emissary of the Pope's or Archbishop's
? ? ? ? 406 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
from entering them with letters of excommunication
or interdict. And that he might not supply arms
against himself, the Peter-pence were collected with
the former care, but detained, in the royal treasury,
that matter might be left to. Rome both for hope and
fear. In the personal treatment of Becket all the
proceedings were full of anger, and by an unnecessary and unjust severity greatly discredited both the cause and character of the king; for he stripped of
their goods and banished all the Archbishop's kindred, all who were in any sort connected with him, without the least regard to sex, age, or condition.
In the mean time, Becket, stung with these affronts,
impatient of his banishment, and burning with all
the fury and the same zeal which had occasioned it,
continually threatened the king with the last exertions of ecclesiastical power; and all things were thereby, and by the absence and enmity of the head
of the English Church, kept in great confusion.
During this unhappy contention several treaties
were set on foot; but the disposition of all the parties who interested themselves in this quarrel very much protracted a determination in favor of either
side. With regard to Rome, the then Pope was Alexander the Third, one of the wisest prelates who
had ever governed that see, and the most zealous for
extending its authority. However, though incessantly solicited by Becket to excommunicate the king and to lay the kingdom under an interdict, he was unwilling to keep pace with the violence of that enraged bishop. Becket's view was single; but the Pope had
many things to consider: an Antipope then subsisted, who was strongly supported by the Emperor; and Henry had actually entered into a negotiation with
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 407
this Emperor and this pretended Pope. On the other
hand, the king knew that the lower sort of people in
England were generally affected to the Archbishop,
and much under the influence of the clergy. He
was therefore fearful to drive the Pope to extremities by wholly renouncing his authority. These dispositions in the two principal powers made way for several conferences leading to peace. But for a long
time all their endeavors seemed rather to inflame than
to allay the quarrel. Whilst the king, steady in assertilng his rights, remembered with bitterness the
Archbishop's opposition, and whilst the Archbishop
maintained the claims of the Church with an haughtiness natural to him, and which was only augmented
by his sufferings, the King of France appeared sometimes to forward, sometimes to perplex the negotiation: and this duplicity seemed to be dictated by the situation of his affairs. He was desirous of nourishing a quarrel which put so redoubted a vassal on the
defensive; but he was also justly fearful of driving
so powerful a prince to forget that lie was a vassal.
All parties, however, wearied at length with a contest
by which all were distracted, and which in its issue
promised nothing favorable to any of them, yielded at
length to an accommodation, founded rather on an
oblivion and silence of past disputes than on the settlement of terms for preserving future tranquillity.
Becket returned in a sort of triumph to his see.
Many of the dignified clergy, and not a few of the
barons, lay under excommunication for the share
they had in his persecution; but, neither broken by
adversity nor softened by good fortune, he relented
nothing of his severity, but referred them all for their
absolution to the Pope. Their resentments were re
? ? ? ? 408 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
vived with additional bitterness; new affronts were
offered to the Archbishop, which brought on new
excommunications and interdicts. The contention
thickened on all sides, and things seemed running
precipitately to the'former dangerous extremities,
when the account of these contests was brought,
with much aggravation against Becket, to the ears of
the king, then in Normandy, who, foreseeing a new
series of troubles, broke out in a violent passion of
grief and anger, --" I have no friends, or I had not
so long been insulted by this haughty priest! " Four
knights who attended near his person, thinking that
the complaints of a king are orders for revenge, and
hoping a reward equal to the importance and even
guilt of the service, silently departed; and passing
with great diligence into England, in a short time
they arrived at Canterbury. They entered the cathedral; they fell on the Archbishop, just on the point
of celebrating divine service, and with repeated blows
of their clubs they beat him to the ground, they broke
his skull in pieces, and covered the altar with his
blood and brains.
The horror of this barbarous action, ina. D. 1171.
creased by the sacredness of the person who
suffered and of the place where it was committed,
diffused itself on all sides with incredible rapidity.
The clergy, in whose cause he fell, equalled him to
the most holy martyrs; compassion for his fate made
all men forget his faults; and the report of frequent
miracles at his tomb sanctified his cause and character, and threw a general odium on the king. What became of the murderers is uncertain: they were neither protected by the king nor punished by the laws, for the reason we have not long since mentioned
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 409
The king with infinite difficulty extricated himself
from the consequences of this murder, which threatened, under the Papal banners, to arm. all Europe against him; nor was he absolved, but by renouncing the most material parts of the Constitutions of Clarendon, by purging himself upon oath of the murder of Becket, by doing a very humiliating penance at his tomb to expiate the rash words which had
given occasion to his death, and by engaging to furnishl a large sum of money for the relief of the IIoly Land, and taking the cross himself as soon as his
affairs should admit it. The king probably thought
his freedom from the haughtiness of Becket cheaply purchased by these condescensions: and without question, though Becket might have been justifiable,
perhaps even laudable, for his steady maintenance
of the privileges which his Church and his order
had acquired by the care of his predecessors, and of
which he by his place was the depository, yet the
principles upon which he supported these privileges,
subversive of all good government, his extravagant
ideas of Church power, the schemes he meditated,
even to his death, to extend it yet further, his violent
and unreserved attachment to the Papacy, and that
inflexible spirit which. all his virtues rendered but the
more dangerous, made his death as advantageous, at
that time, as the means by which it was effected were
sacrilegious and detestable.
Between the death of Becket and the king's absolution he resolved on the execution of a design by which he reduced under his dominion a country not
more separated from the -rest of Europe by its situation than by the laws, customs, and way of life of the inhabitants: for the people of Ireland, with no differ
? ? ? ? 410 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
ence but that of religion, still retained the native
manners of the original Celtse. The king had meditated this design from the very beginning of his reign,
and had obtained a bull from the then Pope, Adrian
the Fourth, an Englishman, to authorize the attempt.
He well knew, from the internal weakness and advantageous situation of this noble island, the easiness
and importance of such a conquest. But at this particular time he was strongly urged to his engaging
personally in the enterprise by two other powerful
motives. For, first, the murder of Becket had bred
very ill humors in his subjects, the chiefs of whom,
always impatient of a long peace, were glad of any
pretence for rebellion; it was therefore expedient,
and serviceable to the crown, to find an employment
abroad for this spirit, which could not exert itself
without being destructive at home. And next, as he
had obtained the grant of Ireland from the Pope,
upon condition of subjecting it to Peter-pence, he
knew that the speedy performance of this condition
would greatly facilitate his recovering the good graces
of the court of Rome. Before we give a short narrative of the reduction of Ireland, I propose to lay open
to the reader the state of that kingdom, that we may
see what grounds Henry had to hope for success in
this expedition.
Ireland is about half as large as England. In the
temperature of the climate there is little difference,
other than that more rain falls; as the country is
more mountainous, and exposed full to the westerly
wind, which, blowing from the Atlantic Ocean, prevails during the greater part of the year. This moisture, as it has enriched the country with large and frequent rivers, and spread out a number of fair and
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 411
magnificent lakes beyond the proportion of other pla.
ces, has on the other hand incumbered the island
with an uncommon multitude of bogs and morasses;
so that in general it is less praised for corn than pasturage, in which no soil is more rich and luxuriant.
Whilst it possesses these internal means of wealth, it
opens on all sides a great number of ports, spacious
and secure, and by their advantageous situation inviting to universal commerce. But on these ports,
better known than those of Britain in the time of the
Romans, at this time there were few towns, scarce
any fortifications, and no trade that deserves to be
mentioned.
The people of Ireland lay claim to a very extravagant antiquity, through a vanity common to all nations. The accounts which are given by their ancient chronicles of their first settlements are gernerally tales confuted by their own absurdity. The settlement of the greatest consequence, the best authenticated, and from which the Irish deduce the
pedigree of the best families, is derived from Spain:
it was called Clan Milea, or the descendants of Milesius, and Kin Scuit, or the race of Scyths, afterwards
known by the name of Scots. The Irish historians,
suppose this race descended from a person called
Gathel, a Scythian by birth, an Egyptian by education, the contemporary and friend of the prophet
Moses. But these histories, seeming clear-sighted in
the obscure affairs of so blind an antiquity, instead
of passing for treasuries of ancient facts, are regarded
by the judicious as modern fictions. In cases of this
sort rational conjectures are more to be relied on
than improbable relations. It is most probable that
Ireland was first peopled from Britain. The coasts
? ? ? ? 412 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
of these countries are in some places in sight of each
other. The language, the manners, and religion of the
most ancient inhabitants of both are nearly the same.
The Milesian colony, whenever it arrived in Ireland,
could have made no great change in the manners
or language; as the ancient Spaniards were a branch
of the Celtse, as well as the old inhabitants of Ireland. . The Irish language is not different from that
of all other nations, as Temple and Rapin, from ignorance. of it, have asserted; on the contrary, many
of its words bear a remarkable resemblance not only
to those of the Welsh and Armoric, but also to the
Greek and Latin. Neither is the figure of the letters very different from the vulgar character, though
their order is not the same with. :that of other nations, nor the names, which are taken from the Irish
proper names of. several. species of trees: a circumstance which, notwithstanding their similitude to the
Roman. letters, argues a different original and great
antiquity. The Druid discipline anciently flourished
in that island. In the fourth century it fell down before the preaching of St. Patrick. Then the Christian religion was embraced and cultivated with an uncommon. zeal, which displayed itself in the number and consequence of the persons who in all parts
embraced the: contemplative life. This mode of life,
and the situation of Ireland, removed from the horror of those devastations which shook the rest of
Europe, made it a refuge for learning, almost extinguished everywhere:else. Science flourished in
Ireland during the seventh and eighth centuries.
The' same cause which destroyed; it in other countries
also destroyed it there. The:Danes, then pagans,
made themselves masters of: the island, after a long
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF:ENGLISH HISTORY. 413
and wasteful war, in which: they destroyed the sciences along with the monasteries in which they were
cultivated. By as destructive a war they were at
length expelled; but neither their ancient science
nor repose returned to the Irish,: who, falling into
domestic distractions as soon as they were freed from
their foreign enemies, sunk quickly into a state of
ignorance, poverty, and barbarism, which must have
been very great, since it exceeded that of the rest
of Europe. The disorders in the Church were equal
to those in the civil economy, and -furnished to the
Pope a plausible pretext for giving Henry a commission to conquer the kingdom, in order to reform it.
The Irish were divided into a number of tribes or
clans, each clan forming within itself a separate government. It was ordered- by a chief, who was not
raised to that dignity either by election or by the ordinary course of descent, but as the eldest and worthiest of the blood of the deceased lord. This order of succession, called Tanistry, was said to have been
invented in the Danish troubles, lest the tribe,: during
a minority, should have been endangered for want of
a sufficient leader. It was probably much more ancient: but it was, however, attended with very great
and pernicious inconveniencies, as it was obviously an
affair of difficulty to determine who should be called
the worthiest of the blood; and a door being always
left open for ambition, this order introduced a greater mischief than it was intended to remedy. Almost
every tribe, besides its contention with the neighboring tribes, nourished faction and discontent within; itself. The chiefs we speak of were in general called Tierna, or Lords, and those of more consideration
Riagh, or Kings. Over these were placed five kings
? ? ? ? 414 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
more eminent than the rest, answerable to the five
provinces into which the island was anciently divided. These again were subordinate to one head, who
was called Monarch of all Ireland, raised to that power by election, or, more properly speaking, by violence.
Wfhilst the dignities of the state were disposed of
by a sort of election, the office of judges, who were
called Brehons, the trades of mechanics, and even
those arts which we are apt to consider as depending principally on natural genius, such as poetry and
music, were confined in succession to certain races:
the Irish imagining that greater advantages were to
be derived from an early institution, and the affection
of parents desirous of perpetuating the secrets of
their art in their families, than from the casual efforts
of particular fancy and application. This is much in
the strain of the Eastern policy; but these and many
other of the Irish institutions, well enough calculated
to preserve good arts and useful discipline, when these
arts came to degenerate, were equally well calculated
to prevent all improvement and to perpetuate corruption, by infusing an invincible tenaciousness of ancient customs. The people of Ireland were much more addicted to
pasturage than agriculture, not more from the quality of their soil than from a remnant of the Scythian
manners. They had but few towns, and those not
fortified, each clan living dispersed over its own territory. The few walled towns they had lay on the
sea-coast; they were built by the Danes, and held
after they had lost their conquests in the inland
parts: here was carried on the little foreign trade
which the island then possessed.
The Irish militia was of two kinds: one called
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 415
kerns, which were foot, slightly armed with a long
knife or dagger, and almost naked; the other, galloglasses, who were horse, poorly mounted, afnd generally
armed only with a battle-axe. Neither horse nor foot
made much use of the spear, the sword, or the bow.
With indifferent arms, they had still worse discipline.
In these circumstances, their natural bravery, which,
though considerable, was not superior to that of their
invaders, stood them in little stead.
Such was the situation of things in Ireland, when
Dermot, King of Leinster, having violently carried
away the wife of one of the neighboring petty sovereigns, Roderic, King of Connaught and Monarch of
Ireland, joined with the injured husband to punish
so flagrant an outrage, and with their united forces
spoiled Dermot of his territories, and obliged him to
abandon the kingdom. The fugitive prince,. 1167.
not unapprised of Henry's designs upon his
country, threw himself at his feet, implored his protection, and promised to hold of him, as his feudatory,
the sovereignty he should recover by his assistance.
Henry was at this time at Guienne. Nothing could
be more agreeable to him than such an incident; but
as his French dominions actually lay under an interdict, on account of his quarrel with Becket, and all
his affairs, both at home and abroad, were in a troubled and dubious situation, it was not prudent to remove his person, nor venture any considerable body of his forces on a distant enterprise. Yet not willing
to lose so favorable an opportunity, he warmly reconimended the cause of Dermot to his regency in England, permitting and encouraging all, persons to arm in his favor: a permission, in this age of enterprise,
greedily accepted by many; but the person who
? ? ? ? 416 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
brought the most assistance to it, and indeed gave
a form and spirit to the whole design, was Richard,
Earl of Strigul, commonly known by the name of
Strongbow. Dermot, to confirm in his interest this
potent and warlike peer, promised him his daughter
in marriage, with the reversion of his crown.
The beginnings of so great an enterprise were
formed with a very slender force. Not four hundred
D. 1169 men landed near Wexford: they took the
town by storm. When reinforced, they did
not exceed twelve hundred; but, being joined with
three thousand men by Dermot, with an incredible
rapidity of success they reduced Waterford, Dublin,
Limerick, the only considerable cities in Ireland. By
the novelty of their arms they had obtained some
striking advantages in their first engagements; and
by these advantages they attained a superiority of
opinion over the Irish, which every success increased.
Before the effect of this first impression had time to. .
possessions were secured.
Thus ended this tedious and ruinous civil war.
Stephen survived it near two years; and now, finding himself more secure as the lawful tenant than he had been as the usurping proprietor of the crown, he
no longer governed on the maxims of necessity. He
made no new attempts in favor of his family, but
spent the remainder of his. reign in correcting the
disorders which arose from his steps in its commencement, and in healing the wounds of so long and cruel a war. Thus he left the kingdom in peace to his
successor, but his character, as it is usual where
party is concerned, greatly disputed. Wherever
? ? ? ? 394 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
his natural dispositions had room to exert themselves, they appeared virtuous and princely; but
the lust to reign, which often attends great virtues,
was fatal to his, frequently hid them, and always rendered them suspected.
CHAPTER VI.
REIGN OF HENRY II.
THE death of Stephen left an undisputed
succession for the first time since the death
of Edward the Confessor. Henry, descended equally
from the Norman Conqueror and the old English
kings, adopted by Stephen, acknowledged by the
barons, united in himself every kind of title. It
was grown into a custom for the king to grant a
charter of liberties on his accession to the crown.
Henry also granted a charter of that kind, confirming that of his grandfather; but as his situation was very different from that of his predecessors, his charter was different,- reserved, short, dry, conceived in general terms, - a gift, not a bargain. And, indeed,
there seems to have been at that juncture but little
occasion to limit a power which seemed not more
than sufficient to correct all the evils of an unlimited
liberty. Henry spent the beginning of his reign in
repairing the ruins of the royal authority, and in restoring to the kingdom peace and order, along with its ancient limits; and he may well be considered as
the restorer of the English monarchy. Stephen had
sacrificed the demesne of the crown, and many of its
rights, to his subjects; and the necessity of the times
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 395
obliged both that prince and the Empress Matilda to
purchase, in their turns, the precarious friendship of
the King of Scotland by a cession of almost all the
country north of the Humber. But'Henry obliged
the King of Scotland to restore his acquisitions, and
to renew his homage. He took the same methods
with his barons. Not sparing the grants of his
mother, he resumed what had been so lavishly
squandered by both of the contending parties, who,
to establish their claims, had given away almost
everything that made them valuable. There never
was a prince in Europe who better understood the
advantages to be derived from its peculiar constitution, in which greater acquisitions of dominion are made by judicious marriages than by success in war:
for, having added to his patrimonial territories of Anjou and Normandy the Duchy of Guienne by his own marriage, the male issue of the Dukes of Brittany
failing, he took the opportunity of marrying A. . 11m.
his third son, Geoffrey, then an infant,. to
the heiress of that important province, an infant also;
and thus uniting by so strong a link his northern to
his southern dominions, he possessed in his own name,
or in those of his wife and son, all that fine and extensive country that is washed by the Atlantic Ocean, from Picardy quite to the foot of the Pyrenees.
Henry, possessed of such extensive territories, and
aiming at further acquisitions, saw with indignation
that the sovereign authority in all of them, especially
in England, had been greatly diminished. By his
resumptions he had, indeed, lessened the greatness
of several of the nobility. He had by force of arms
reduced those who forcibly held the crown lands,
and deprived them of their own estates for their
? ? ? ? 396 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
rebellion. He demolished many castles, those perpetual resources of rebellion and disorder. ,But the great aim of his policy was to break the power of
the clergy, which each of his predecessors, since Edward, had alternately strove to raise and to depress, - at first in order to gain that potent body to their
interests, and then to preserve them in subjection
to the authority which they had conferred. The
clergy had elected Stephen; they had deposed Stephen, and. elected Matilda; and in the instruments which they used on these- occasions they affirmed
in themselves a general right of electing the kings
of England. Their share both in the elevation and
depression of that prince showed that they possessed
a power inconsistent with the safety and dignity
of the state. The immunities which they enjoyed
seemed no less prejudicial to the civil economy,and the rather, as, in the confusion of Stephen's
reign, many, to protect themselves from the prevailing violence of the time, or to sanctify their own disorders, had taken refuge in the clerical character.
The Church was never so full of scandalous persons, who, being accountable only in the ecclesiastical courts, where no crime is punished with death, were
guilty of every crime. A priest had about this time
committed a murder attended with very aggravating circumstances. The king, willing at once to
restore order and to depress the clergy, laid hold
of this favorable opportunity to convoke the cause to
his own court, when the atrociousness of the crime
made all men look with an evil eye upon the claim
of any privilege which might prevent the severest
justice. The nation in general seemed but little
inclined to controvert so useful a regulation with
so potent a prince.
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF. ENGLISH HISTORY. 397.
Amidst this general acquiescence one man was
found bold enough to oppose him, who for: eight
years together embroiled all his affairs, poisoned his
satisfactions, endangered his dominions, and at length
in his death triumphed over all the power and policy
of this wise and potent monarch. This was Thomas
a-Becket, a man memorable for the great glory and
the bitter reproaches he has met with from posterity.
This person was the son of a respectable citizen of
London. He was bred to the study of the civil and
canon law, the education then used to qualify a man
for. public affairs, in which he soon made a distinguished figure. By the royal favor and his own abilities, he rose, in a rapid succession through several considerable employments, from an office under the
sheriff of London, to be High Chancellor of the kingdom. In this high post. he showed a spirit as elevated; but it was rather a military spirit than that
of the. gownman, - magnificent to excess in his living and appearance, and. distinguishing himself in
the tournaments and other martial sports of that age
with much ostentation of courage and expense. The
king, who. favored him greatly, and expected a suitable return, on the vacancy, destined Becket, yet a
layman, to the see of. Canterbury, and hoped to find
in him. a warm promoter of the_ reformation he intended. Hardly a priest, he was made the
A. D. 1162.
first prelate in the kingdom. But no sooner. .
was he invested. with the clerical character than the
whole tenor of his conduct was seen to change all at
once: of his pompous retinue a. few plain servants
only remained; a monastic temperance regulated his
table; and his life, in all respects formed to the most
rigid austerity,- seemed. to prepare him for that supe
? ? ? ? 398 ABRIDGMENT OP ENGLISH HISTORY.
riority he was resolved to assume, and the conflicts he
foresaw he must. undergo in this attempt.
It will not be unpleasing to pause a moment at this
remarkable period, ill order to view in what consisted
that greatness of the clergy, which enabled them to
bear so very considerable a sway in all public affairs,
what foundations supported the weight of so vast a
power, - whence it had its origin, -- what was the
nature, and what the ground, of the immunities they
claimed, - that we may the more fully enter into this
important controversy, and- may not judge, as some
have inconsiderately done, of the affairs of those
times by ideas taken from the present manners and
opinions.
It is sufficiently known, that the first Christians,
avoiding the Pagan tribunals, tried most even of their
civil causes before the bishop, who, though he had
no direct coercive power, yet, wielding the sword
of excommunication, had wherewithal to enforce the
execution of his judgments. Thus the bishop had
a considerable sway in temporal affairs, even before
he was owned by the temporal power. But the Emperors no sooner became Christian than, the idea of profaneness being removed from the secular tribunals, the causes of the Christian laity naturally passed to that resort where those of the generality
had been before. But the reverence for the bishop
still remained, and the remembrance of his former
jurisdiction. It was not thought decent, that he,
who had been a judge in his own court, should become a suitor in the court of another. The body of the clergy likewise, who were supposed to have
no secular concerns for which they could litigate,
and removed by their character from all suspicion
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 399
of violence, were left to be tried by their own ecclesiastical superiors. This was, with a little variation, sometimes in extending, sometimes in restraining the
bishops' jurisdiction, the condition of things whilst
the Roman Empire subsisted. But though their immunities were great and their possessions ample, yet, living under an absolute form of government, they
were powerful only by influence. No jurisdictions
were annexed to their lands; they had no place in
the senate; they were no order in the state.
From the settlement of the Northern nations the
clergy must be considered in another light. The
Barbarians gave them large landed possessions; and
by giving them land, they gave them jurisdiction,
which, according to their notions, was inseparable
from it. They made them an order in the state;
and as all the orders had their privileges, the clergy
had theirs, and were no less steady to'preserve and
ambitious to extend them. Our ancestors, having
united the Church dignities to the secular dignities
of baronies, had so blended the ecclesiastical with
the temporal power in the same persons that it
became almost impossible to separate them. The
ecclesiastical was, however, prevalent in this composition, drew to it the other, supported it, and was supported by it. But it was not the devotion only,
but the necessity of the times, that raised the clergy
to the excess of this greatness. The' little learning
which then subsisted remained wholly in their hands.
Few among the laity could even read; consequently
the clergy alone were proper for public affairs. They
were the statesmen, they were the lawyers; from
them were often taken the bailiffs of the seigneurial
courts, sometimes the sheriffs of counties, and almost
? ? ? ? 400 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
constantly the justiciaries of the kingdom. * The Norman kings, always jealous of their order, were always
forced to employ them. In abbeys the law was studied; abbeys were the palladiums of the public liberty by the cusody of the royal charters and most of the records. Thus, necessary to the great by their
knowledge, venerable to the poor by their hospitality,
dreadful to all by the power of excommunication, the
character of the clergy was exalted above everything
in the state; and it could no more be otherwise in
those days than it is possible it should be so in ours.
William the Conqueror made it one principal point
of his politics to reduce the clergy; but all the steps
he took in it were not equally well calculated to answer this intention. When he subjected the Church
lands to military service, the clergy complained bitterly, as it lessened their revenue: but I imagine it did
not lessen their power in proportion; for by this regulation they came, like other great lords, to have their
military vassals, who owed them homage and fealty;
and this rather increased their consideration amongst
so martial a people. The kings who succeeded him,
though they also aimed at reducing the ecclesiastical
power, never pursued their scheme on a great or
legislative principle. They seemed rather desirous of
enriching themselves by the abuses in the Church
than earnest to correct them. One day they plundered
and the next day they founded monasteries, as their
rapaciousness or their scruples chanced. to predominate; so that every attempt of that. kind, having rather
the air of tyranny than reformation, could never be
heartily approved or seconded by the body of the
people.
* Seld. Tithes, p. 482.
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 401
The bishops Inust always be considered in the
double capacity of clerks and barons. Their courts,
therefore, had a double jurisdiction: over-the clergy
and laity of their diocese for the cognizance of crimes
against ecclesiastical law, and over the vassals of their
barony as lords paramount. But these two departments, so different in their nature, they frequently confounded, by making use of the spiritual weapon
of excommunication to enforce the judgments of
both; and this sentence, cutting off the party from
the common society of mankind, lay equally heavy on
all ranks: for, as it deprived the lower sort of the.
fellowship of their equals and the protection of their
lord, so it deprived the lord of the services of his
vassals, whether he or they lay under the sentence. .
This was one of the grievances which the king proposed to redress.
As some sanction of religion is mixed with almost
every concern of civil life, and as the ecclesiastical
court took cognizance of all religious matters, it drew
to itself not only all questions relative to tithes and
advowsons, but whatever related to marriages, wills,
the estate of intestates, the breaches of oaths and
contracts, -in a word, everything which did not
touch life or feudal property.
The ignorance of the bailiffs in lay courts, who
were only possessed of some feudal maxims and the
traditions of an uncertain custom, made this recourse
to the spiritual courts the more necessary, where they
could judge with a little more exactness by the lights
of the canon and civil laws.
This jurisdiction extended itself by connivance, by
necessity, by custom, by abuse, over lay persons and,
affairs. But the immunity of the clergy from lay cogVOL. VII. 26
? ? ? ? 402 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
nizances was claimed, not onlly as a privilege essential
to the dignity of their order, supported by the canons,
and countenanced by the Roman law, but as a right
confirmed by all the ancient laws of England.
Christianity, coming into England out of the bosom
of the Roman Empire, brought along with it all those
ideas of immunity. The first trace we can find of
this exemption from lay jurisdiction in England is
in the laws of Ethelred;* it is more fully established
in those of Canute; t but in the code of Henry I. it is
twice distinctly affirmed. t -This immunity from the
secular jurisdiction, whilst it seemed to encourage
acts of violence in the clergy towards others, encouraged also the violence of others against them. The
murder of a clerk could not be punished at this time
by death; it was against a spiritual person, an offence
wholly spiritual, of which the secular courts took no
sort of cognizance. In the Saxon times two circumstances made such an exemption less a cause of jealousy: the sheriff sat with the bishop, and the spiritual jurisdiction was, if not under the control, at least
under the inspection of the lay officer; and then, as
neither laity nor clergy were capitally punished for
any offence, this privilege did not create so invidious
and glaring a distinction between them. Such was
the power of the clergy, and such the immunities,
which the king proposed to diminish.
Becket, who had punished the ecclesiastic for his
* LL. Ethelred. Si presbyter homicida fieret, &c.
t LL. Cnuti, 38, De Ministro Altaris Homicida. Idem, 40, De
Ordinato Capitis reo.
t LL. H. I. 57, De Querela Vicinorum; and 56 [66? ]. De Ordi
nato qui Vitam forisfaciat, in Feed. Alured. et Guthurn. , apud Spel
Concil. 376, 1st vol. ; LL. Edw. et Guthurn. , 3, De Correctione Ordi.
natorum.
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 403
crime by ecclesiastical law, refused to deliver him over
to the secular judges for further punishment, on the
principle of law, that no man ought to be twice questioned for the same offence. The king, pro- A. D. 1164.
voked at this opposition, summoned a council of the barons and bishops at Clarendon; and here,
amongst others of less moment, the following were
unanimously declared to be the ancient prerogatives
of the crown. And it is something remarkable, and
certainly makes much for the honor of their moderation, that the bishops and abbots who must have composed so large and weighty a part of the great council seem not only to have made no opposition to regulations which so remarkably contracted their jurisdiction, but even seem to have forwarded them.
1st. A clerk accused of any crime- shall appear in
the king's court, that it may be judged whether he
belongs to ecclesiastical or secular cognizance. If
to the former, a deputy shall go into the bishop's
court to observe the trial; if the clerk be convicted,
he shall be delivered over to the king's justiciary to
be punished.
2nd. All causes concerning presentation, all causes concerning Frankalmoign, all actions concerning
breach of faith, shall be tried in the king's court.
3rd. The king's tenant in capite shall not be excommunicated without the king's license.
4th.
No clerk shall go out of the kingdom without
giving security that he will do nothing to the prejudice of the king or nation. And all appeals shall be
tried at home.
These are the most material of the Constitutions or
Assizes of Clarendon, famous for having been the first
legal check given to the power of the clergy in Eng
? ? ? ? 404 ABRIDGMENT OF'ENGLISH HISTORY.
land. To give these constitutions the greater weight,
it was thought proper that they should be confirmed
by a bull from the Pope. By this step the king
seemed to doubt the entireness of his own authority
in his dominions; and by calling in foreign aid when
it served: his purpose, he gave it a force and a sort of
legal sanction when it came to be employed against
himself. But as: no negotiation had prepared the
Pope in favor of laws designed in reality to abridge
his own power, it was no wonder that he rejected
them with indignation. Becket, who had not been
prevailed on to accept them but with infinite reluctance, was no sooner apprised of the Pope's disapprobation than he openly declared his own; he did penance in the humblest manner for: his former
acquiescence, and resolved to make amends for it by
opposing the new constitutions with the utmost zeal.
In this disposition the king saw that the Archbishop
might be more easily ruined than humbled, and his
ruin was resolved. Immediately a number of suits,
on various pretences, were commenced against him, in
every one of which he was sure to be foiled; but these
making no deadly blow at his fortunes, he was called
to account for thirty thousand pounds which he: was
accused of having embezzled during his chancellorship. It was in vain that he pleaded a full acquittance from the king's son, and Richard de Lucy, the guardian and justiciary:of the kingdom, on his resignation of the seals; he saw it was already determined
against him. Far from yielding under these repeated,
blows, he raised still higher the ecclesiastical pretensions, now become necessary to his own protection.
He refused to answer to the charge, and appealed to
the Pope, to whom alone he seemed to acknowledge
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 405
any real subjection. A great ferment ensued on~ this
appeal. The courtiers advised that he should be
thrown into prison, and that his temrporalities should
be seized. The bishops, willing to reduce Becket
without reducing their own order, proposed to accuse
him before the Pope, and to pursue him to degradation. Some of his friends pressed him to give up his
cause; others urged him to resign his dignity. The
king's servants threw out menaces against his life.
Amidst this general confusion of passions and councils, whilst every one according to his interests expected the event with much anxiety, Becket, in the disguise of a monk, escaped out of the nation, and threw himself into the arms of the King of France.
Henry was greatly alarmed at this secession, which
put the Archbishop out of his power, but left him in
full possession of all his ecclesiastical weapons. An
embassy was immediately dispatched to Rome, in
order to accuse Becket;. but as Becket pleaded the
Pope's own cause before the Pope himself, he obtained an easy victory over the king's ambassadors.
Henry, on the other hand. , took. every measure to
maintain his authority: he did everything worthy
of an able politician, and of. a king tenacious of his
just authority. He likewise took measures not only
to humble Becket, but also to lower that chair whose
exaltation had an ill influence on the throne: for he
encouraged the Bishop of London: to revive a claim to
the primacy;. and thus, by making the, rights of the
see at. least dubious, he hoped -to render future prelates. . more cautious in the exercise. of them. He
inhibited, under the penalty of high treason, all ecclesiastics from going out of his dominions without
license, or:any emissary of the Pope's or Archbishop's
? ? ? ? 406 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
from entering them with letters of excommunication
or interdict. And that he might not supply arms
against himself, the Peter-pence were collected with
the former care, but detained, in the royal treasury,
that matter might be left to. Rome both for hope and
fear. In the personal treatment of Becket all the
proceedings were full of anger, and by an unnecessary and unjust severity greatly discredited both the cause and character of the king; for he stripped of
their goods and banished all the Archbishop's kindred, all who were in any sort connected with him, without the least regard to sex, age, or condition.
In the mean time, Becket, stung with these affronts,
impatient of his banishment, and burning with all
the fury and the same zeal which had occasioned it,
continually threatened the king with the last exertions of ecclesiastical power; and all things were thereby, and by the absence and enmity of the head
of the English Church, kept in great confusion.
During this unhappy contention several treaties
were set on foot; but the disposition of all the parties who interested themselves in this quarrel very much protracted a determination in favor of either
side. With regard to Rome, the then Pope was Alexander the Third, one of the wisest prelates who
had ever governed that see, and the most zealous for
extending its authority. However, though incessantly solicited by Becket to excommunicate the king and to lay the kingdom under an interdict, he was unwilling to keep pace with the violence of that enraged bishop. Becket's view was single; but the Pope had
many things to consider: an Antipope then subsisted, who was strongly supported by the Emperor; and Henry had actually entered into a negotiation with
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 407
this Emperor and this pretended Pope. On the other
hand, the king knew that the lower sort of people in
England were generally affected to the Archbishop,
and much under the influence of the clergy. He
was therefore fearful to drive the Pope to extremities by wholly renouncing his authority. These dispositions in the two principal powers made way for several conferences leading to peace. But for a long
time all their endeavors seemed rather to inflame than
to allay the quarrel. Whilst the king, steady in assertilng his rights, remembered with bitterness the
Archbishop's opposition, and whilst the Archbishop
maintained the claims of the Church with an haughtiness natural to him, and which was only augmented
by his sufferings, the King of France appeared sometimes to forward, sometimes to perplex the negotiation: and this duplicity seemed to be dictated by the situation of his affairs. He was desirous of nourishing a quarrel which put so redoubted a vassal on the
defensive; but he was also justly fearful of driving
so powerful a prince to forget that lie was a vassal.
All parties, however, wearied at length with a contest
by which all were distracted, and which in its issue
promised nothing favorable to any of them, yielded at
length to an accommodation, founded rather on an
oblivion and silence of past disputes than on the settlement of terms for preserving future tranquillity.
Becket returned in a sort of triumph to his see.
Many of the dignified clergy, and not a few of the
barons, lay under excommunication for the share
they had in his persecution; but, neither broken by
adversity nor softened by good fortune, he relented
nothing of his severity, but referred them all for their
absolution to the Pope. Their resentments were re
? ? ? ? 408 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
vived with additional bitterness; new affronts were
offered to the Archbishop, which brought on new
excommunications and interdicts. The contention
thickened on all sides, and things seemed running
precipitately to the'former dangerous extremities,
when the account of these contests was brought,
with much aggravation against Becket, to the ears of
the king, then in Normandy, who, foreseeing a new
series of troubles, broke out in a violent passion of
grief and anger, --" I have no friends, or I had not
so long been insulted by this haughty priest! " Four
knights who attended near his person, thinking that
the complaints of a king are orders for revenge, and
hoping a reward equal to the importance and even
guilt of the service, silently departed; and passing
with great diligence into England, in a short time
they arrived at Canterbury. They entered the cathedral; they fell on the Archbishop, just on the point
of celebrating divine service, and with repeated blows
of their clubs they beat him to the ground, they broke
his skull in pieces, and covered the altar with his
blood and brains.
The horror of this barbarous action, ina. D. 1171.
creased by the sacredness of the person who
suffered and of the place where it was committed,
diffused itself on all sides with incredible rapidity.
The clergy, in whose cause he fell, equalled him to
the most holy martyrs; compassion for his fate made
all men forget his faults; and the report of frequent
miracles at his tomb sanctified his cause and character, and threw a general odium on the king. What became of the murderers is uncertain: they were neither protected by the king nor punished by the laws, for the reason we have not long since mentioned
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 409
The king with infinite difficulty extricated himself
from the consequences of this murder, which threatened, under the Papal banners, to arm. all Europe against him; nor was he absolved, but by renouncing the most material parts of the Constitutions of Clarendon, by purging himself upon oath of the murder of Becket, by doing a very humiliating penance at his tomb to expiate the rash words which had
given occasion to his death, and by engaging to furnishl a large sum of money for the relief of the IIoly Land, and taking the cross himself as soon as his
affairs should admit it. The king probably thought
his freedom from the haughtiness of Becket cheaply purchased by these condescensions: and without question, though Becket might have been justifiable,
perhaps even laudable, for his steady maintenance
of the privileges which his Church and his order
had acquired by the care of his predecessors, and of
which he by his place was the depository, yet the
principles upon which he supported these privileges,
subversive of all good government, his extravagant
ideas of Church power, the schemes he meditated,
even to his death, to extend it yet further, his violent
and unreserved attachment to the Papacy, and that
inflexible spirit which. all his virtues rendered but the
more dangerous, made his death as advantageous, at
that time, as the means by which it was effected were
sacrilegious and detestable.
Between the death of Becket and the king's absolution he resolved on the execution of a design by which he reduced under his dominion a country not
more separated from the -rest of Europe by its situation than by the laws, customs, and way of life of the inhabitants: for the people of Ireland, with no differ
? ? ? ? 410 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
ence but that of religion, still retained the native
manners of the original Celtse. The king had meditated this design from the very beginning of his reign,
and had obtained a bull from the then Pope, Adrian
the Fourth, an Englishman, to authorize the attempt.
He well knew, from the internal weakness and advantageous situation of this noble island, the easiness
and importance of such a conquest. But at this particular time he was strongly urged to his engaging
personally in the enterprise by two other powerful
motives. For, first, the murder of Becket had bred
very ill humors in his subjects, the chiefs of whom,
always impatient of a long peace, were glad of any
pretence for rebellion; it was therefore expedient,
and serviceable to the crown, to find an employment
abroad for this spirit, which could not exert itself
without being destructive at home. And next, as he
had obtained the grant of Ireland from the Pope,
upon condition of subjecting it to Peter-pence, he
knew that the speedy performance of this condition
would greatly facilitate his recovering the good graces
of the court of Rome. Before we give a short narrative of the reduction of Ireland, I propose to lay open
to the reader the state of that kingdom, that we may
see what grounds Henry had to hope for success in
this expedition.
Ireland is about half as large as England. In the
temperature of the climate there is little difference,
other than that more rain falls; as the country is
more mountainous, and exposed full to the westerly
wind, which, blowing from the Atlantic Ocean, prevails during the greater part of the year. This moisture, as it has enriched the country with large and frequent rivers, and spread out a number of fair and
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 411
magnificent lakes beyond the proportion of other pla.
ces, has on the other hand incumbered the island
with an uncommon multitude of bogs and morasses;
so that in general it is less praised for corn than pasturage, in which no soil is more rich and luxuriant.
Whilst it possesses these internal means of wealth, it
opens on all sides a great number of ports, spacious
and secure, and by their advantageous situation inviting to universal commerce. But on these ports,
better known than those of Britain in the time of the
Romans, at this time there were few towns, scarce
any fortifications, and no trade that deserves to be
mentioned.
The people of Ireland lay claim to a very extravagant antiquity, through a vanity common to all nations. The accounts which are given by their ancient chronicles of their first settlements are gernerally tales confuted by their own absurdity. The settlement of the greatest consequence, the best authenticated, and from which the Irish deduce the
pedigree of the best families, is derived from Spain:
it was called Clan Milea, or the descendants of Milesius, and Kin Scuit, or the race of Scyths, afterwards
known by the name of Scots. The Irish historians,
suppose this race descended from a person called
Gathel, a Scythian by birth, an Egyptian by education, the contemporary and friend of the prophet
Moses. But these histories, seeming clear-sighted in
the obscure affairs of so blind an antiquity, instead
of passing for treasuries of ancient facts, are regarded
by the judicious as modern fictions. In cases of this
sort rational conjectures are more to be relied on
than improbable relations. It is most probable that
Ireland was first peopled from Britain. The coasts
? ? ? ? 412 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
of these countries are in some places in sight of each
other. The language, the manners, and religion of the
most ancient inhabitants of both are nearly the same.
The Milesian colony, whenever it arrived in Ireland,
could have made no great change in the manners
or language; as the ancient Spaniards were a branch
of the Celtse, as well as the old inhabitants of Ireland. . The Irish language is not different from that
of all other nations, as Temple and Rapin, from ignorance. of it, have asserted; on the contrary, many
of its words bear a remarkable resemblance not only
to those of the Welsh and Armoric, but also to the
Greek and Latin. Neither is the figure of the letters very different from the vulgar character, though
their order is not the same with. :that of other nations, nor the names, which are taken from the Irish
proper names of. several. species of trees: a circumstance which, notwithstanding their similitude to the
Roman. letters, argues a different original and great
antiquity. The Druid discipline anciently flourished
in that island. In the fourth century it fell down before the preaching of St. Patrick. Then the Christian religion was embraced and cultivated with an uncommon. zeal, which displayed itself in the number and consequence of the persons who in all parts
embraced the: contemplative life. This mode of life,
and the situation of Ireland, removed from the horror of those devastations which shook the rest of
Europe, made it a refuge for learning, almost extinguished everywhere:else. Science flourished in
Ireland during the seventh and eighth centuries.
The' same cause which destroyed; it in other countries
also destroyed it there. The:Danes, then pagans,
made themselves masters of: the island, after a long
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF:ENGLISH HISTORY. 413
and wasteful war, in which: they destroyed the sciences along with the monasteries in which they were
cultivated. By as destructive a war they were at
length expelled; but neither their ancient science
nor repose returned to the Irish,: who, falling into
domestic distractions as soon as they were freed from
their foreign enemies, sunk quickly into a state of
ignorance, poverty, and barbarism, which must have
been very great, since it exceeded that of the rest
of Europe. The disorders in the Church were equal
to those in the civil economy, and -furnished to the
Pope a plausible pretext for giving Henry a commission to conquer the kingdom, in order to reform it.
The Irish were divided into a number of tribes or
clans, each clan forming within itself a separate government. It was ordered- by a chief, who was not
raised to that dignity either by election or by the ordinary course of descent, but as the eldest and worthiest of the blood of the deceased lord. This order of succession, called Tanistry, was said to have been
invented in the Danish troubles, lest the tribe,: during
a minority, should have been endangered for want of
a sufficient leader. It was probably much more ancient: but it was, however, attended with very great
and pernicious inconveniencies, as it was obviously an
affair of difficulty to determine who should be called
the worthiest of the blood; and a door being always
left open for ambition, this order introduced a greater mischief than it was intended to remedy. Almost
every tribe, besides its contention with the neighboring tribes, nourished faction and discontent within; itself. The chiefs we speak of were in general called Tierna, or Lords, and those of more consideration
Riagh, or Kings. Over these were placed five kings
? ? ? ? 414 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
more eminent than the rest, answerable to the five
provinces into which the island was anciently divided. These again were subordinate to one head, who
was called Monarch of all Ireland, raised to that power by election, or, more properly speaking, by violence.
Wfhilst the dignities of the state were disposed of
by a sort of election, the office of judges, who were
called Brehons, the trades of mechanics, and even
those arts which we are apt to consider as depending principally on natural genius, such as poetry and
music, were confined in succession to certain races:
the Irish imagining that greater advantages were to
be derived from an early institution, and the affection
of parents desirous of perpetuating the secrets of
their art in their families, than from the casual efforts
of particular fancy and application. This is much in
the strain of the Eastern policy; but these and many
other of the Irish institutions, well enough calculated
to preserve good arts and useful discipline, when these
arts came to degenerate, were equally well calculated
to prevent all improvement and to perpetuate corruption, by infusing an invincible tenaciousness of ancient customs. The people of Ireland were much more addicted to
pasturage than agriculture, not more from the quality of their soil than from a remnant of the Scythian
manners. They had but few towns, and those not
fortified, each clan living dispersed over its own territory. The few walled towns they had lay on the
sea-coast; they were built by the Danes, and held
after they had lost their conquests in the inland
parts: here was carried on the little foreign trade
which the island then possessed.
The Irish militia was of two kinds: one called
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 415
kerns, which were foot, slightly armed with a long
knife or dagger, and almost naked; the other, galloglasses, who were horse, poorly mounted, afnd generally
armed only with a battle-axe. Neither horse nor foot
made much use of the spear, the sword, or the bow.
With indifferent arms, they had still worse discipline.
In these circumstances, their natural bravery, which,
though considerable, was not superior to that of their
invaders, stood them in little stead.
Such was the situation of things in Ireland, when
Dermot, King of Leinster, having violently carried
away the wife of one of the neighboring petty sovereigns, Roderic, King of Connaught and Monarch of
Ireland, joined with the injured husband to punish
so flagrant an outrage, and with their united forces
spoiled Dermot of his territories, and obliged him to
abandon the kingdom. The fugitive prince,. 1167.
not unapprised of Henry's designs upon his
country, threw himself at his feet, implored his protection, and promised to hold of him, as his feudatory,
the sovereignty he should recover by his assistance.
Henry was at this time at Guienne. Nothing could
be more agreeable to him than such an incident; but
as his French dominions actually lay under an interdict, on account of his quarrel with Becket, and all
his affairs, both at home and abroad, were in a troubled and dubious situation, it was not prudent to remove his person, nor venture any considerable body of his forces on a distant enterprise. Yet not willing
to lose so favorable an opportunity, he warmly reconimended the cause of Dermot to his regency in England, permitting and encouraging all, persons to arm in his favor: a permission, in this age of enterprise,
greedily accepted by many; but the person who
? ? ? ? 416 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
brought the most assistance to it, and indeed gave
a form and spirit to the whole design, was Richard,
Earl of Strigul, commonly known by the name of
Strongbow. Dermot, to confirm in his interest this
potent and warlike peer, promised him his daughter
in marriage, with the reversion of his crown.
The beginnings of so great an enterprise were
formed with a very slender force. Not four hundred
D. 1169 men landed near Wexford: they took the
town by storm. When reinforced, they did
not exceed twelve hundred; but, being joined with
three thousand men by Dermot, with an incredible
rapidity of success they reduced Waterford, Dublin,
Limerick, the only considerable cities in Ireland. By
the novelty of their arms they had obtained some
striking advantages in their first engagements; and
by these advantages they attained a superiority of
opinion over the Irish, which every success increased.
Before the effect of this first impression had time to. .
