BECKET'S DEATH (1171).
Source.—Roger de Hoveden, Vol. I., pp. 335, 336. Bohn's Libraries. G. Bell & Sons.
Hardly had the father been residing one month in his see, when lo! on the fifth day of the feast of the Nativity of our Lord, there came to Canterbury four knights, or rather sworn satellites of Satan, whose names were as follows: William de Tracy, Hugh de Morville, Richard Briton, and Reginald Fitz-Urse, men of families remarkable for their respectability, but destined, by their daring to commit so enormous a crime, to blemish the glories of knighthood and the honours of their ancestors with perpetual ignominy. Accordingly, these persons made their way into the presence of the archbishop, and, as nothing salutary was the object of their message, in the malice they had conceived they omitted pronouncing any salutation, and addressed him in an insolent and haughty manner. Threats were exchanged on both sides and threat was answered with threat.
Now, the archbishop, with meekness and self-possession, had gone before them to the choir of the church, the monks having entreated, nay, forced him, on account of the solemnity of the season, to perform the service at vespers. When he perceived these armed men behind him, in the middle of the cloisters, it might have been expected that their own malignant feelings would have warned them to leave the church; but, neither did reverence for the solemn occasion dissuade them from their crime, nor the innocence of the patriarch prevent them from shedding his blood. Indeed, so entirely had their shameless determination to perpetrate the crime taken possession of them and blinded them, that they neither regarded the disgrace to their knighthood, nor took account of any danger. Therefore, following the archbishop with headlong and heedless steps, with drawn swords, they entered the church, and furiously cried aloud: "Where is this traitor?" After which, no one making answer, they repeated, "Where is the archbishop?" Upon this he, the confessor, and, shortly to be, the martyr in the cause of Christ, being sensible that under the first name he was falsely charged, and that, by virtue of his office, the other belonged to him, came down from the steps to meet them, and said: "Behold, here am I," showing such extraordinary presence of mind, that neither his mind seemed agitated by fear, nor his body by trepidation.
On this the knights instantly laid hands on him and seized him, that, for the perpetration of their design, they might drag him out of the church, but were unable so to do. The archbishop, on seeing his murderers with drawn swords, after the manner of one in prayer, bowed his head, uttering these as his last words: "To God and to Saint Mary, and to the Saints, the patrons of this church, and to Saint Denis, I commend myself and the cause of the Church." After this, amid all these tortures, this martyr, with unconquerable spirit and admirable constancy, uttered not a word or cry, nor heaved a sigh, nor lifted his arm against the smiter; but, bowing his head, which he had exposed to their swords, held it unmoved until the deed was completed.