[24] It is not quite clear how soon after the accession of Henry the appointment of the chancellor took place. I should incline to the earlier date, A. D. 1155.
[25] Fitz-Stephen, p. 187.
[26] P. 196.
[27] Edward Grim, p. 12.
[28] John of Salisbury denies that he sanctioned the rapacity of the king, and urges that he only yielded to necessity. Yet his exile was the just punishment of his guilt. "Tamen quia eum ministrum fuisse iniquitatis non ambigo, jure optimo taliter arbitror puniendum ut eo potissimum puniatur auctore, quem in talibus Deo bonorum omnium auctori præferebat.... Sed esto; nunc pœnitentiam agit, agnoscit et confitetur culpam pro ea, et si cum Saulo quandoque ecclesiam impugnavit, nunc, cum Paulo ponere paratus est animam suam."—Bouquet, p. 518.
[29] Fitz-Stephen, p. 193.
[30] Theobald died April 18, 1161. Becket was ordained priest and consecrated on Whitsunday, 1162.
[31] Yet Theobald, according to John of Salisbury, designed Becket for his successor,—
"hunc (i. e. Becket Cancellarium) successurum sibi sperat et orat,
Hic est carnificum qui jus cancellat iniquum,