PART II.

CENT. The consequences of this inflexible resistance XII. were fatal to the haughty prelate, for he was, soon after his return into England, assassinated before the altar, while he was at vespers in his cathedral, by four persons, who certainly did not commit this act of violence without the king's knowledge and connivance [t]. This event produced

warm

[] This assertion is, in our opinion, by much too strong. It can only be founded upon certain indiscreet and passionate expressions, which the intolerable insolence and frenetic obstinacy of BECKET drew from HENRY in an unguarded moment, when, after having received new affronts, notwithstanding the reconciliation he had effected with so much trouble and condescension, he expressed himself to this purpose: Am I not unhappy, shat, among the numbers, who are attached to my interests, and employed in my service, there is none possessed of spirit enough to resent the affronts which I am constantly receiving from a miserable priest? These words, indeed, were not pronounced in vain. Four gentlemen of the court, whose names were Fitz Urse, Tracy, Britton, and Morville, murdered BECKET in his chapel, and thus performed, in a licentious and criminal manner, an action which the laws might have commanded with justice. But it is extremely remarkable, that, after the murder, the assassins were afraid they had gone too far, and durst not return to the king's court, which was then in Normandy; but retired, at first, to Knaresborough in Yorkshire,which belonged to Morville, from whence they repaired to Rome for absolution, and being admitted to penance by ALEXANDER III. were sent, by the orders of that pontif, to Jerusalem, and passed the remainder of their lives upon the Black Mountain in the severest acts of austerity and mortification. All this does not look as if the king had been deliberately concerned in this murder, or had been expressly consented to it. On the contrary, various circumstances concur to prove that HENRY was entirely innocent of this murder. Mr HUME mentions particularly one, which is worthy of notice. The king, suspecting the design of the four gentlemen above mentioned, by some menacing expressions they had dropt, "dispatched (says Mr HUME) a messenger after them, charg

ing them to attempt nothing against the person of the primate. "But these orders came too late." See his History of England, vol. i. p. 294. RAPIN THOYRAS, History of England; COLLIER'S Ecclesiastical History of England, vol. i. p. 370. The authors which Dr MOSHEIM refers to for an account of this matter are as follow: GUILIEL. STEPHANIDE, Historia Thome Cantuariensis in SPARKS Scriptores rerum Anglicarum, published

XII. PART II.

warm debates between the king of England and c EN T. the Roman pontif, who gained his point so far as to make the suppliant monarch undergo a severe course of penance in order to expiate a crime of which he was considered as the principal promoter, while the murdered prelate was solemnly enrolled in the highest rank of saints and martyrs in the year 1173 [u].

III. contri

confirm the

church, and

authority.

XIII. It was not only by force of arms, but Alexander also by uninterrupted efforts of dexterity and ar-butes by tifice, by wise councils and prudent laws, that prudent ALEXANDER III. maintained the pretended rights councils to of the church, and extended the authority of the privileges Roman pontifs. For, in the third council of the of the Lateran, held at Rome, A. D. 1179, the follow- to extend ing decrees, among many others upon different the papal subjects, were passed by his advice and authority: Ist, That in order to put an end to the confusion and dissensions which so often accompanied the election of the Roman pontifs, the right of election should not only be vested in the cardinals alone, but also that the person, in whose favour two-thirds of the college of cardinals voted, should be considered as the lawful and duly elected pontif. This law is still in force; it was therefore from the time of ALEXANDER that the election of the pope acquired that form which it still retains, and by which not only the people, but also the Roman clergy, are excluded entirely from all share in the honour of conferring that

important

published in folio at London in the year 1723.-CHRISP. LUPI Epistolæ et vita Thomae Cantaur.-Epistolæ Alexandri III. Luidovici VII. Henrici II. in hac causa ex MSS. Vaticano, Bruxelles 1682. 2 vol. 4to.-NATALIS ALEXANDER, Select. Histor. Eccles. Capitib. Sac. xii. Diss. x. p. 833.-THOME STAPLETONI Tres Thomæ, seu res gestæ Thomæ Apostoli. S. Thoma Cantuariensis, et Thomæ Mori, Colon. 1612. in 8vo.

[u] BOULAY, Histor. Academ, Paris. tom. ii. p. 328. et De Die Festo ejus, p. 397. DOM. COLONIA, Histoire Litteraire de la Ville de Lyon, tem. i. p. 249.

XII.

CEN T. important dignity. 2dly, A spiritual war was dePART II. Clared against Heretics, whose numbers increasing considerably about this time, created much disturbance in the church in general, and infested, in a more particular manner, several provinces in France, which groaned under the fatal dissensions that accompanied the propagation of their errors [w]. 3dly, The right of recommending and nominating to the saintly order was also taken away from councils and bishops, and canonization was ranked among the greater and more important causes, the cognizance of which belonged to the pontif alone [x]. To all this we must not forget to add, that the power of erecting new kingdoms, which had been claimed by the pontifs from the time of GREGORY VII. was not only assumed, but also exercised by ALEXANDER in a remarkable instance; for, in the year 1179, he conferred the title of king, with the ensigns of royalty, upon ALPHONSO I. duke of Portugal, who, under the pontificate of LUCIUS II. had rendered his province tributary to the Roman see [y].

XIV.

[w] See NATALIS ALEXANDER, Select. Histor. Eccles. Capit. Sec. xii. Diss. ix. p. 819. where he treats particularly concerning this council.-See also tom. vi. part II. Conciliorum HARDUINI, p. 1671.

Dr MOSHEIM, as also SPANHEIM and FLEURY, call this the 3d council of Lateran, whereas other historians mention eight preceding councils held in the Lateran, viz. Those of the years 649, 864, 1105, 1112, 1116, 1123, 1139, 1167. Our author has also attributed to this council of 1179, decrees that probably belong to a later period.

[x] See what has been observed already, under the xth century, concerning the election of the popes, and the canonization of saints.

[] BARONIUS, Annal. ad A. 1179.-INNOCENTII III. Epistola Lib. ep. xlix. p. 54. tom. i. ed. Baluzian.

ALPHONSO had been declared, by his victorious army, king of Portugal, in the year 1136, in the midst of the glorious exploits he had performed in the war against the Moors; so that ALEXANDER III. did no more than confirm this title by an arrogant bull, in which he treats that excellent prince as his vassal.

PART II.

sors.

XIV. Upon the death of ALEXANDER, UBALD, C E N T. bishop of Ostia, otherwise known by the name of XII. LUCIUS III. was raised to the pontificate, A. D. 1181, by the suffrages of the cardinals alone, in His succesconsequence of the law mentioned in the preceding section. The administration of this new pontif was embittered by violent tumults and seditions; for he was twice driven out of the city by the Romans, who could not bear a pope that was elected in opposition to the ancient custom, without the knowledge and consent of the clergy and the people. In the midst of these troubles he died at Verona in the year 1185, and was succeeded by HUBERT CRIVELLI, bishop of Milan, who assumed the title of URBAN III. and without having transacted any thing worthy of mention during his short pontificate, died of grief in the year 1187, upon hearing that SALADIN had made himself master of Jerusalem. The pontificate of his successor ALBERT [x], whose papal denomination was GREGORY VIII. exhibited still a more striking instance of the fragility of human grandeur; for this pontif yielded to fate about two months after his elevation. He was succeeded by PAUL, bishop of Preneste, who filled the papal chair above three years under the title of CLEMENT III. and departed this life, A. D. 1191, without having distinguished his ghostly reign by any memorable achievement, if we except his zeal for draining Europe of its treasures and inhabitants by the publication of new crusades. CELESTINE III. [a] makes a more shining figure in history than the pontifs we have been now mentioning; for he thundered his excommunications against the emperor HENRY VI. and LEOPOLD,

duke

[*] This prelate, before his elevation to the papacy, was bishop of Benevento, and chancellor of the Roman church.

[a] Whose name was HYACINTH, a native of Rome, and a cardinal deacon.

ART II.

PA

CEN T. duke of Austria, on account of their having seized XII. and imprisoned RICHARD I. king of England, as he was returning from the Holy Land; he also subjected to the same malediction ALPHONSO X. king of Gallicia and Leon, on account of an incestuous marriage into which that prince had entered, and commanded PHILIP AUGUSTUS, king of France, to re-admit to the conjugal state and honours INGELBURG his queen, whom he had divorced for reasons unknown; though this order, indeed, produced but little effect [b]. But the most illustrious and resolute pontif, that filled the papal chair during this century, and whose exploits made the greatest noise in Europe, was LOTHARIUS, Count of Segni, cardinal deacon, otherwise known by the name of INNOCENT III. The arduous undertakings and bold atchievements of this eminent pontif, who was placed at the head of the church in the year 1198, belong to the history of the following century.

XV. If, from the series of pontifs that ruled the church in this century, we descend to the other ecclesiastical orders, such as the bishops, priests, and deacons, the most disagreeable objects will be exhibited to our view. The unanimous voice of the historians of this age, as well as the laws and decrees of synods and councils, declare loudly the gross ignorance, the odious frauds, and the flagitious crimes, that reigned among the different ranks and orders of the clergy now mentioned. It is not therefore at all surprising, that the monks, whose rules of discipline obliged them to a regular method of living, and placed them out of the way of many temptations to licentiousness, and occasions of sinning to which the episcopal

and

[b] It was in consequence of the vigorous and terrible proceedings of INNOCENT III. that the re-union between PHILIP and INGELBURG was acomplished. See L' Histoire de France, par l'Abbé VELLY, tom. 1. p. 367, 368, 369.