The King, while the threatened sentence of excom munication was hanging over him, in order to secure the throne in his family, had associated with him his son Prince Henry in the royalty ; and the ceremony of coronation was performed by Roger, Archbishop of York. This proceeding gave great offence to Becket, who pretended, that, as Archbishop of Canto bury, he had the sole right of officiating in such a ceremony. Ile therefore resolved to be revenged on the authors of this affront. The promise of Henry to have the cere mony renewed by the prelate, would not satisfy his vin dictive disposition ; and when on his arrival in England, he met Roger and the Bishops of London and Salis bury, who were on their way to join the king in Nor mandy, he intimated to the former the sentence of sus pension, and to the two bishops that of excommunica tion, which at his instance had been passed upon them by the Pope. He was assured of support from Rome; and as he knew that his person and dignity were ve nerated by the people, he proceeded with the more cou rage to humble his enemies. He made a solemn pro gress through Kent, with all the splendour and magni licence of a sovereign pontiff. 'Wherever he passed, he was received with the shouts and acclamations of the populace ; and men of all ranks celebrated his trium phal entrance into Southwark with hymns of joy. He then issued sentence of excommunication against some of the principal nobility, who had assisted at the young Prince's coronation, or who had been active in the per secution of the exiled clergy This haughty and vio lent conduct was no sooner reported to Henry by the degraded prelates, who implored his protection from the vengeance of their oppressor, than he was so exas perated, as to hint a wish that some one would deliver him from the aggressions of this audacious priest. The words were scarcely spoken, when four gentlemen of his household, Hugh de Moreville, Richard Britt), 'Wil liam De Traci, and Reginald Fitz-Urse, resolved to avenge their monarch's wrongs, and secretly proceeded to England. They were no sooner gone, than their de sign was suspected, when the king immediately dis patched a messenger after them, charging them to at tempt nothing against the life of the primate. But be fore the messenger could overtake them, the deed was done, and Becket was no more. The assassins had found the prelate in the archiepiscopal palace, and, load ing him with menaces and reproaches, followed him to St Benedict's church, where he went to hear vespers, and murdered him before the altar. The account of this transaction filled Henry with sorrow and conster nation. He knew that he would be held up by his ene mies as the murderer of the Archbishop, and would be exposed to the hatred and detestation of his subjects, who would regard Becket as a saint and a martyr. In terdicts and excommunications he had reason to dread, would be the consequences of this event, and though totally ignorant of the fact, yet in vain would lie plead his innocence, if the church should think him guilty. Ilis grief was consequently poignant and sincere. He secluded himself in his apartment, and for three days refused all kinds of food and sustenance. When he was recalled from his solitude by the intreatics of his cour tiers, his first step was to convince the Pope of his inno cence ; and, for this purpose, a splendid embassy was immediately dispatched to Rome, to make all submis sion to his Holiness. The name of Henry was received by the sacred college with every expression of horror and execration; and the indignation of Alexander could only be appeased, by the ambassadors asserting, upon oath, the innocence of their master, and engaging that he would submit himself entirely to the judgment of the Pope. '['he dreaded punishment was thus averted, and the trial of his conduct, in the murder of the pri mate, was committed to the cardinals Albert and Theo din, who were appointed legates, and ordered to proceed to Normandy for that purpose.
In the mean time, Henry, with a view to divert the at tention of his people from this subject, undertook the conquest of Ireland. He had received a grant of this country from Pope Adrian III., and subdued it with such rapidity, that in a few months he received the submis sion of the whole island: (See IRELAND.) But he was recalled from this conquest by the arrival of the legates in Normandy, who had become impatient of his delay in appearing before them. At the first conference, he found their demands so exorbitant, that the negotiation was broken off; and as the time for taking advantage of Bec ket's murder was now past, they found themselves mulct' the necessity of lowering their terms, when an accom modation was at last happily effected.
Henry having regained the favour of the church, and established tranquillity throughout his extensive domi nions, was regarded as the most powerful potentate of Europe. A numerous family gave' lustre, and promis ed stability to his throne, and he looked forward to a peaceful and happy reign. But his happiness was but short-lived. His eldest son Henry, who had married Margaret, daughter of the French king, had been ap pointed his father's successor in the kingdom of Eng land, the duchy of Normandy, and the counties of Anjou, Maine, and Touraine ; Richard was invested kr the duchy of Guienne, and county of Puictou ; Geoffrey inherited the duchy of Brittany in right of his wife; aid Ireland was destined for John. These arrangements were in tended to prevent all jealousy among his sops, and per petuate the greatness of his family. But he found his government disturbed, and his life imbittered, by those very sons whose fortunes he had been so anxious to es• tablish. Young Henry, who was brave, affable, but as piring and ambitious, being instigated by the king of France, desired his father to resign to him the imme diate possession either of England or Normandy. On his receiving a direct refusal, he fled to Louis, and pre pared to enforce, by arms, what was denied to his re quest. He was soon after joined by his brothers Richard and Geoffrey, who had been incited to rebAion by their mother Queen Eleanor; and who had al: o demanded the government of those territories which had been assign ed them. This unnatural combination was openly en couraged and supported by Louis, who engaged the chief vassals of his crown by oath to adhere to the cause of young Henry; and this prince in return bound him self never to desert his French allies. William, king of Scotland, with the Counts of Flanders, Boulogne, Blois, and En, also entered into the confederacy, and a plan was projected for a general invasion of Henry's domi nions. In this emergency, Henry at first had recourse to the court of Rome, to reduce his undutiful children to obedience, and he procured from the Pope the ex communication of his enemies ; but this produced very little effect, and he was at last compelled to take up arms in his own defence. Ilis licentious barons, how ever, were in general in favour of the young Princes, whose government they knew would be less vigilant and severe than that of their father, and consequently many of them, particularly the Earls of Chester and Leicester, openly declared against their sovereign. Surrounded on every side by enemies, he sought assistance from the or Cottoreaux, a tribe of lawless banditti, who had long disturbed the tranquillity of the continen tal states by their depredations, and who proffered their swords to those who would most freely pay- them. With twentv thousand of these, and a few faithful nobles, Hen ry proceeded to the relief of Verneiiil, which had been invested by the enemy. The garrison had engaged to capitulate, if not relieved within three days. On the third day the English army appeared in sight, when Lou is, dreading an attack, insidiously demanded a conference, to settle the articles of a general peace. Henry readily consented ; but Louis in the meanwhile obliged the gar rison to surrender according to agreement, and, having set fire to the place, began to retire with his army. Hen ry, enraged at such treachery, fell upon the retreating army, and put them to the rout. He then crushed the insurgents in Brittany, and, while victorious, renewed the negotiations. At a conference with the king of 'France, held between Trie and Gisors, Henry beheld, with sorrow, his three sons in the retinue of his enemy; but anxious to bring them to obedience, he proposed to them the most liberal terms. He insisted on retaining the sovereign authority in all his dominions, but offered to henry half the revenues of England, with some places of surety in that kingdom; or, if he chose to reside in Normandy, half the revenues of that duchy, with all those of Anjou. To Richard, he made a similar offer in Guienne; and he promised to resign all Brittany in fa vour of Geoffrey. These advantageous offers, however, were rejected; and Henry was recalled to England by an invasion of the Scots.