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1
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
Essentials of Systems Analysis and Design, 5e (Valacich/George/Hoffer)
Chapter 6 Structuring System Requirements: Process Modeling
1) A data-flow diagram (DFD) is a graphical tool that allows analysts to illustrate the flow of
data in an information system.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 154
2) Logic modeling graphically represents the processes that capture, manipulate, store, and
distribute data between a system and its environment and among components within a system.
Answer: FALSE
3) Data-flow diagramming is one of several structured analysis techniques used to increase
software development productivity.
Answer: TRUE
4) Structured analysis techniques, such as data-flow diagramming, can help companies avoid
misunderstanding how existing systems will have to work with the new system and incorrect
specifications for necessary data, forms, and reports.
Answer: TRUE
5) A primitive level data-flow diagram is the first deliverable produced during requirements
structuring.
Answer: FALSE
6) Data-flow diagrams illustrate important concepts about data and their relationships.
Answer: FALSE
7) Data-flow diagrams evolve from the more general to the more detailed as current and
replacement systems are better understood.
Answer: TRUE
8) A data flow represents data in motion, moving from one place in the system to another.
Answer: TRUE
9) On a data-flow diagram, a check and payment coupon mailed to the company is represented as
a data store.
Answer: FALSE

2
10) A course schedule request would be represented on a data-flow diagram as a data-flow.
Answer: TRUE
11) Assume shipment data are entered into a logbook once shipments are received at the
company's warehouse; the logbook is represented on a data-flow diagram as a sink.
Answer: FALSE
12) Assume your local veterinarian records information about each of his patients on patient
medical history forms; the collection of medical history forms is represented on a data-flow
diagram as a data store.
Answer: TRUE
13) The calculation of a student's grade is represented on a data-flow diagram as a data flow.
Answer: FALSE
14) The determination of which items are low in stock is represented on a data-flow diagram as a
process.
Answer: TRUE
15) Sources and sinks are internal to the system.
Answer: FALSE
16) When constructing data-flow diagrams, you should show the interactions that occur between
sources and sinks.
Answer: FALSE
17) The data a sink receives and often what data a source provides are fixed.
Answer: TRUE
18) A Web site's customer is represented as a source on a data-flow diagram.
Answer: TRUE
19) On a data-flow diagram, an arrow represents an action, such as calculating an employee's
pay.
Answer: FALSE

3
20) On a data-flow diagram, a diamond represents a process.
Answer: FALSE
21) On a data-flow diagram, a rectangle with the right vertical line missing represents a data
store.
Answer: TRUE
22) A context diagram shows the scope of the organizational system, system boundaries, external
entities that interact with the system, and the major information flows between entities and the
system.
Answer: TRUE
23) Context diagrams have only one process labeled "P-1."
Answer: FALSE
24) Because the system's data stores are conceptually inside the one process, no data stores
appear on a context diagram.
Answer: TRUE
25) A level-0 diagram is a data-flow diagram that represents a system's major processes, data
flows, and data stores at a high level of detail.
Answer: TRUE
26) Assume Process 7.4 produces a data flow and that Process 7.2 must be ready to accept it; we
would say that these processes are physically linked to each other.
Answer: FALSE
27) Assume we have placed a data store between Process 5.1 and Process 5.5; we would say that
these processes are decoupled.
Answer: TRUE
28) A data flow can go directly back to the same process it leaves.
Answer: FALSE

4
29) A fork in a data flow means that exactly the same data go from a common location to two or
more different processes, data stores, or sources/sinks.
Answer: TRUE
30) Data cannot move directly from a source to a sink.
Answer: TRUE
31) A data flow to a data store means update.
Answer: TRUE
32) More than one data flow noun phrase can appear on a single arrow as long as all of the flows
on the same arrow move together as one package.
Answer: TRUE
33) A process has a verb label.
Answer: TRUE
34) Double-ended arrows are used to represent data flowing in both directions.
Answer: FALSE
35) To keep a data-flow diagram uncluttered, you may repeat data stores, sinks/sources, and
processes.
Answer: FALSE
36) Because a data flow name represents a specific set of data, another data flow that has even
one more or one less piece of data must be given a different, unique name.
Answer: TRUE
37) Functional decomposition is a repetitive process of breaking the description or perspective of
a system down into finer and finer detail.
Answer: TRUE
38) The lowest-level data-flow diagrams are called level-0 diagrams.
Answer: FALSE

5
39) The decomposition of Process 1.1 would be shown on a level-1 diagram.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 3 Page Ref: 163-164
40) The decomposition of Process 2.4.3.4 would be shown on a level-4 diagram.
Answer: FALSE
41) As a rule of thumb, no data-flow diagram should have more than about seven processes on it,
because the diagram would be too crowded and difficult to understand.
Answer: TRUE
42) Coupling is the conservation of inputs and outputs to a data-flow diagram process when that
process is decomposed to a lower level.
Answer: FALSE
43) A composite data flow on one level can be split into component data flows at the next level,
but no new data can be added and all data in the composite must be accounted for in one or more
subflows.
Answer: TRUE
44) Completeness, consistency, timing, iterative development, and primitive DFDs are guidelines
for drawing DFDs.
Answer: TRUE
45) DFD cohesion means your DFDs include all of the necessary components for the system you
are modeling.
Answer: FALSE
46) A data flow repository entry would include the composition or list of data elements
contained in the data flow.
Answer: TRUE
47) A gross violation of DFD consistency would be a level-1 diagram with no level-0 diagram.
Answer: TRUE
48) One of the primary purposes of a DFD is to represent time, giving a good indication of
whether data flows occur constantly in real time, once a day, or once a year.
Answer: FALSE

6
49) Structured analysis is the process of discovering discrepancies between two or more sets of
data-flow diagrams or discrepancies within a single DFD.
Answer: FALSE
50) To date, data-flow diagrams have not been useful tools for modeling processes in business
process reengineering.
Answer: FALSE
51) Data-flow diagrams allow you to:
A) show the timing of data flows.
B) model how data flow through an information system.
C) demonstrate the sequencing of activities.
D) show the relationship among entities.
E) represent the internal structure and functionality of processes.
Answer: B
52) Since data-flow diagrams concentrate on the movement of data between processes, these
diagrams are often referred to as:
A) process models.
B) data models.
C) flow models.
D) flow charts.
E) logic models.
Answer: A
53) Graphically representing the processes that capture, manipulate, store, and distribute data
between a system and its environment and among components within a system refers to:
A) data modeling.
B) structure modeling.
C) process modeling.
D) transition modeling.
E) logic modeling.
Answer: C

7
54) The diagram that shows the scope of the system, indicating what elements are inside and
outside the system, is called a:
A) context diagram.
B) level-2 diagram.
C) referencing diagram.
D) representative diagram.
E) decomposition diagram.
Answer: A
55) Which of the following is NOT a process modeling deliverable?
A) A context data-flow diagram
B) Thorough descriptions of each DFD component
C) DFDs of the current physical system
D) An entity relationship diagram
E) DFDs of the new logical system
Answer: D
56) Data contained on a customer order form would be represented on a data-flow diagram as a:
A) process.
B) data flow.
C) source.
D) sink.
E) relationship.
Answer: B
57) Student data contained on an enrollment form would be represented on a data-flow diagram
as a:
A) process.
B) data flow.
C) source.
D) data store.
E) relationship.
Answer: B
58) Data in motion, moving from one place in a system to another, best describes a:
A) data store.
B) process.
C) source.
D) data flow.
E) relationship.
Answer: D

8
59) Data at rest, which may take the form of many different physical representations, best
describes a:
A) source.
B) data store.
C) data flow.
D) process.
E) relationship.
Answer: B
60) A file folder containing orders would be represented on a data-flow diagram as a:
A) process.
B) source.
C) data flow.
D) data store.
E) relationship.
Answer: D
61) A computer-based file containing employee information would be represented on a data-flow
diagram as a(n):
A) data flow.
B) source.
C) data store.
D) process.
E) action stub.
Answer: C
62) The calculation of an employee's salary would be represented on a data-flow diagram as a(n):
A) data flow.
B) source.
C) data store.
D) process.
E) action stub.
Answer: D
63) Recording a customer's payment would be represented on a data-flow diagram as a(n):
A) process.
B) source.
C) data flow.
D) data store.
E) action stub.
Answer: A

9
64) A supplier of auto parts to your company would be represented on a data-flow diagram as a:
A) process.
B) source.
C) data flow.
D) data store.
E) relationship.
Answer: B
65) Which of the following would be considered when diagramming?
A) The interactions occurring between sources and sinks
B) How to provide sources and sinks direct access to stored data
C) How to control or redesign a source or sink
D) What a source or sink does with information or how it operates
E) None of the above
Answer: E
66) The work or actions performed on data so that they are transformed, stored, or distributed
defines:
A) source.
B) data store.
C) data flow.
D) process.
E) action stub.
Answer: D
67) The origin and/or destination of data, sometimes referred to as external entities defines:
A) source.
B) data store.
C) data flow.
D) process.
E) predecessor.
Answer: A
68) An arrow on a data-flow diagram represents a(n):
A) data store.
B) data flow.
C) process.
D) source.
E) action sequence.
Answer: B

10
69) A square on a data-flow diagram represents a:
A) data flow.
B) data store.
C) process.
D) predecessor.
E) source.
Answer: E
70) On a data-flow diagram, a rectangle with rounded corners represents a(n):
A) data store.
B) process.
C) action stub.
D) data flow.
E) source.
Answer: B
71) On a data-flow diagram, a rectangle with the right vertical line missing represents a:
A) data store.
B) data flow.
C) process.
D) source.
E) relationship.
Answer: A
72) Which of the following is a true statement regarding sources/sinks?
A) Data must originate outside a system from one or more sources.
B) The system must produce information to one or more sinks.
C) Sources/sinks are always outside the information system and define the boundaries of the
system.
D) If any processing takes place inside the source/sink, we are not interested in it.
E) All of the above are true statements.
Answer: E
73) Which of the following is most likely a source/sink for a manufacturing system?
A) A customer
B) A supplier
C) Another information system
D) A bank
E) All of the above
Answer: E

11
74) Which of the following is true regarding the context diagram?
A) The process symbol is labeled "0."
B) The context diagram contains two processes.
C) Data stores must be shown on the context diagram.
D) The internal workings of the system are shown on the context diagram.
E) The context diagram organizes the processes in a tree-like structure.
Answer: A
75) A data-flow diagram that represents a system's major processes, data flows, and data stores at
a high level of detail refers to a:
A) context diagram.
B) level-1 diagram.
C) level-0 diagram.
D) level-00 diagram.
E) logic diagram.
Answer: C
76) If two processes are connected by a data flow, they are said to:
A) exhibit cohesion.
B) share the same data.
C) be coupled to each other.
D) be strapped to each other.
E) be intertwined.
Answer: C
77) By placing a data store between two processes, this:
A) decouples the processes.
B) enables store and forward capabilities.
C) enhances the flow of data between the processes.
D) structures the processes.
E) disintegrates the processes.
Answer: A
78) A miracle process is one that:
A) has only inputs.
B) has only outputs.
C) cannot be exploded further.
D) has insufficient inputs to produce the associated processes.
E) is connected directly to a source.
Answer: B

12
79) A black hole is a process that:
A) has only inputs.
B) has only outputs.
C) has not been exploded to show enough detail.
D) has insufficient inputs to produce the associated processes.
E) generates output directly to a sink.
Answer: A
80) Which of the following is a true statement regarding a data store?
A) Data can move directly from one data store to another data store.
B) Data stores illustrate relationships among entities.
C) A data store has a noun phrase label.
D) Data can move from an outside source to a data store.
E) A data store shows data in motion.
Answer: C
81) Which of the following is NOT a true statement regarding data flows?
A) A data flow can go directly back to the same process it leaves.
B) A fork in a data flow means that exactly the same data go from a common location to two or
more different processes, data stores, or sources/sinks.
C) A data flow from a data store means retrieve or use.
D) A data flow has a noun phrase label.
E) A data flow has only one direction of flow between symbols.
Answer: A
82) Which of the following is a true statement regarding data flows?
A) A data flow to a data store means retrieve or use.
B) A data flow from a data store means update.
C) A data flow may have double-ended arrows.
D) A data flow represents data at rest.
E) A join in a data flow means that exactly the same data come from any of two or more
different processes, data stores, or sources/sinks to a common location.
Answer: E
83) On a data-flow diagram, you may:
A) repeat data stores and processes.
B) repeat sources/sinks and processes.
C) only repeat processes.
D) repeat relationships.
E) repeat both data stores and sources/sinks.
Answer: E

13
84) The act of going from a single system to several component processes refers to:
A) structuring.
B) balancing.
C) decomposition.
D) formatting.
E) regeneration.
Answer: C
85) The lowest level of DFDs are:
A) level-0 diagrams.
B) context diagrams.
C) level-1 diagrams.
D) primitive data-flow diagrams.
E) systematic diagrams.
Answer: D
86) A DFD that is a result of three nested decompositions of a series of subprocesses from a
process on a level-0 diagram describes a:
A) level-3 diagram.
B) level-1 diagram.
C) level-2 diagram.
D) primitive diagram.
E) context diagram.
Answer: A
87) The conservation of inputs and outputs to a data-flow diagram process when that process is
decomposed to a lower level defines:
A) decomposition.
B) balancing.
C) flow conservation.
D) data flow structuring.
E) gap proofing.
Answer: B
88) If a data flow appears on the context diagram and is also represented on a level-0 diagram,
this would be referred to as:
A) leveling.
B) flow conservation.
C) balancing.
D) cohesion.
E) coupling.
Answer: C

14
89) If an input from a source appears on a level-0 diagram, it must:
A) appear on the context diagram.
B) be connected to a data flow.
C) be connected to a sink.
D) be connected to a data store.
E) be connected to two entities.
Answer: A
90) If your DFD contains data flows that do not lead anywhere, it is not:
A) gap proof.
B) a primitive diagram.
C) complete.
D) consistent.
E) balanced.
Answer: C
91) The extent to which all necessary components of a data-flow diagram have been included
and fully described defines:
A) DFD consistency.
B) DFD completeness.
C) DFD gap proofing.
D) DFD flexibility.
E) DFD cohesion.
Answer: B
92) Having a level-1 diagram with no level-0 diagram is an example of a:
A) violation of completeness.
B) violation of consistency.
C) balancing error.
D) structuring violation.
E) cohesion error.
Answer: B
93) The extent to which information contained on one level of a set of nested data-flow diagrams
is also included on other levels refers to:
A) DFD consistency.
B) DFD completeness.
C) DFD gap proofing.
D) DFD flexibility.
E) DFD cohesion.
Answer: A

15
94) When you believe that you have shown each business form or transaction, computer screen,
and report as a single data flow, you have probably reached the:
A) level-0 diagrams.
B) ternary level diagrams.
C) primitive data-flow diagrams.
D) secondary-level diagrams.
E) context level diagrams.
Answer: C
95) The lowest level of decomposition for a data-flow diagram is called the:
A) context diagram.
B) level-0 diagram.
C) level-1 diagram.
D) primitive diagram.
E) cohesive diagram.
Answer: D
96) The process of discovering discrepancies between two or more sets of data-flow diagrams or
discrepancies within a single DFD is referred to as:
A) requirements structuring.
B) logic modeling.
C) DFD validation.
D) gap analysis.
E) DFD stress testing.
Answer: D
97) Techniques used for modeling system logic include:
A) flow charts.
B) decision tables.
C) data-flow diagrams.
D) dialogue charts.
E) entity relationship diagrams.
Answer: B
98) The part of a decision table that links conditions to actions is the section that contains the:
A) action statements.
B) rules.
C) condition statements.
D) decision stubs.
E) relationship stubs.
Answer: B

16
99) The part of a decision table that lists the actions that result for a given set of conditions is
called:
A) action stubs.
B) condition stubs.
C) rule section.
D) execution stubs.
E) processing stubs.
Answer: A

17
Match each of the following terms with its description.
a. Source/sink
b. Level-0 diagram
c. Data flow
d. Data store
e. Balancing
f. DFD completeness
g. DFD consistency
h. Level-n diagram
i. Primitive DFD
j. Process
k. Gap analysis
100) Data in motion, moving as a unit from one place in a system to another
Answer: c
101) A data-flow diagram that represents a system's major processes, data flows, and data stores
at a high level of detail
Answer: b
102) The conservation of inputs and outputs to a data-flow diagram process when that process is
decomposed to a lower level
Answer: e
103) The origin and/or destination of data, sometimes referred to as external entities
Answer: a
104) The extent to which all necessary components of a data-flow diagram have been included
and fully described
Answer: f
105) The work or actions performed on data so that they are transformed, stored, or distributed
Answer: j
106) The extent to which information contained on one level of a set of nested data-flow
diagrams is also included on other levels
Answer: g

18
107) The process of discovering discrepancies between two or more sets of data-flow diagrams
or discrepancies within a single DFD
Answer: k
108) Data at rest, which may take the form of many different physical representations
Answer: d
109) The lowest level of decomposition for a data-flow diagram
Answer: i
110) A DFD that is the result of nested decompositions of a series of subprocesses from a
process on a level-0 diagram
Answer: h

19
Match each of the data-flow diagramming symbols with corresponding examples. (Answers may
occur more than once.)
a. Process
b. Data flow
c. Source/sink
d. Data store
111) Customer order
Answer: b
112) Customer
Answer: c
113) Generate paycheck
Answer: a
114) Calculating overtime pay
Answer: a
115) Sales report
Answer: b
116) Computing a grade point average
Answer: a
117) Preparing a purchase order
Answer: a
118) Teller
Answer: c
119) Student enrollment file
Answer: d
120) Supplier
Answer: c

20
For each of the following statements, answer "a" if the statement is a true data-flow
diagramming rule, and answer "b" if the rule is false.
121) Data can move directly from one data store to another data store.
Answer: b
122) A process has a noun phrase label.
Answer: b
123) Objects on a DFD have unique names.
Answer: a
124) A data flow to a data store means update.
Answer: a
125) Data can move directly from an outside source to a data store.
Answer: b
126) A data store has a verb phrase label.
Answer: b
127) A data flow is bi-directional between symbols.
Answer: b
128) A join in a data flow means that exactly the same data come from any of two or more
different processes, data stores, or sources/sinks to a common location.
Answer: a
129) The inputs to a process are different from the outputs of that process.
Answer: a
130) A process can have only inputs.
Answer: b

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Kiss of peace.
with so mendacious a man in his life.178 Vivian might have
remembered his own retractations, still more those of Becket on
former occasions. He withdrew from the negotiation; and this
conduct, with the refusal of a gift from Henry (a rare act of virtue),
won him the approbation of Becket. But Becket himself was not yet
without mistrust; he had doubts whether Vivian's report to the Pope
would be in the same spirit. "If it be not, he deserves the doom of
the traitor Judas."
Henry at length, agreed that on the question of compensation he
would abide by the sentence of the court of the French King, the
judgment of the Gallican Church, and of the University of Paris.179
This made so favorable an impression that Becket could only evade
it by declaring that he had rather come to an amicable agreement
with the King than involve the affair in litigation.
At length all difficulties seemed yielding away,
when Becket demanded the customary kiss of
peace, as the pledge of reconciliation. Henry peremptorily refused;
he had sworn in his wrath never to grant this favor to Becket. He
was inexorable; and without this guarantee Becket would not trust
the faith of the King. He was reminded, he said, by the case of the
Count of Flanders, that even the kiss of peace did not secure a
revolted subject, Robert de Silian, who, even after this sign of amity,
had been seized and cast into a dungeon. Henry's conduct, if not the
effect of sudden passion or ungovernable aversion, is inexplicable.
Why did he seek this interview, which, if he was insincere in his
desire for reconciliation, could afford but short delay? and from such
oaths he would hardly have refused, for any great purpose of his
own, to receive absolution.180
On the other hand, it is quite clear
that Becket reckoned on the legatine power of William of Sens and
the terror of the English prelates, who had refused to attend a
council in London to reject the Interdict. He had now full confidence
that he could exact his own terms and humble the King under his
feet.181

King's proclamation.
The Pope still
dubious.
But the King was resolved to wage war to the
utmost. Geoffry Ridel, Archdeacon of Canterbury,
was sent to England with a royal proclamation
containing the following articles:—I. Whosoever shall bring into the
realm any letter from the Pope or the Archbishop of Canterbury is
guilty of high treason. II. Whosoever, whether bishop, clerk, or
layman, shall observe the Interdict, shall be ejected from all his
chattels, which are confiscate to the Crown. III. All clerks absent
from England shall return before the feast of St. Hilary, on pain of
forfeiture of all their revenues. IV. No appeal is to be made to the
Pope or Archbishop of Canterbury under pain of imprisonment and
forfeiture of all chattels. V. All laymen from beyond seas are to be
searched, and if anything be found upon them contrary to the King's
honor, they are to be imprisoned; the same with those who cross to
the Continent. VI. If any clerk or monk shall land in England without
passport from the King, or with anything contrary to his honor, he
shall be thrown into prison. VII. No clerk or monk may cross the
seas without the King's passport. The same rule applied to the clergy
of Wales, who were to be expelled from all schools in England.
Lastly, VIII. The sheriffs were to administer an oath to all freemen
throughout England, in open court, that they would obey these royal
mandates, thus abjuring, it is said, all obedience to Thomas,
Archbishop of Canterbury.182 The bishops, however, declined the
oath; some concealed themselves in their dioceses. Becket
addressed a triumphant or gratulatory letter to his suffragans on
their firmness. "We are now one, except that most hapless Judas,
that rotten limb (Foliot of London), which is severed from us."183
Another letter is addressed to the people of England, remonstrating
on their impious abjuration of their pastor, and offering absolution to
all who had sworn through compulsion and repented of their
oath.184 The King and the Primate thus contested the realm of
England.
But the Pope was not yet to be inflamed by
Becket's passions, nor quite disposed to depart
from his temporizing policy. John of Oxford was at

the court in Benevento with the Archdeacons of Rouen and Seez.
From that court returned the Archdeacon of Llandaff and Robert de
Barre with a commission to the Archbishop of Rouen and the Bishop
of Nevers to make one more effort for the termination of the
difficulties. On the one hand they were armed with powers, if the
King did not accede to his own terms within forty days after his
citation (he had offered a thousand marks as compensation for all
losses), to pronounce an interdict against his continental dominions;
on the other, Becket was exhorted to humble himself before the
King; if Henry was inflexible and declined the Pope's offered
absolution from his oath, to accept the kiss of peace from the King's
son. The King was urged to abolish in due time the impious and
obnoxious Customs. And to these prelates was likewise intrusted
authority to absolve the refractory Bishops of London and
Salisbury.185 This, however, was not the only object of Henry's new
embassy to the Pope. He had long determined on the coronation of
his eldest son; it had been delayed for various reasons. He seized
this opportunity of reviving a design which would be as well
humiliating to Becket as also of great moment in case the person of
the King should be struck by the thunder of excommunication. The
coronation of the King of England was the undoubted prerogative of
the Archbishops of Canterbury, which had never been invaded
without sufficient cause, and Becket was the last man tamely to
surrender so important a right of his see. John of Oxford was to
exert every means (what those means were may be conjectured
rather than proved) to obtain the papal permission for the
Archbishop of York to officiate at that august ceremony.
The absolution of the Bishops of London and Salisbury was an
astounding blow to Becket. He tried to impede it by calling in
question the power of the archbishop to pronounce it without the
presence of his colleague. The archbishop disregarded his
remonstrance, and Becket's sentence was thus annulled by the
authority of the Pope. Rumors at the same time began to spread
that the Pope had granted to the Archbishop of York power to
proceed to the coronation. Becket's fury burst all bounds. He wrote

to the Cardinal Albert and to Gratian: "In the court of Rome, now as
ever, Christ is crucified and Barabbas released. The miserable and
blameless exiles are condemned, the sacrilegious, the homicides, the
impenitent thieves are absolved, those whom Peter himself declares
that in his own chair (the world protesting against it) he would have
no power to absolve.186 Henceforth I commit my cause to God—God
alone can find a remedy. Let those appeal to Rome who triumph
over the innocent and the godly, and return glorying in the ruin of
the Church. For me I am ready to die." Becket's fellow exiles
addressed the Cardinal Albert, denouncing in vehement language
the avarice of the court of Rome, by which they were brought to
support the robbers of the Church. It is no longer King Henry alone
who is guilty of this six years' persecution, but the Church of
Rome.187
The coronation of the Prince by the Archbishop of York took
place in the Abbey of Westminster on the 15th of June.188
The
assent of the clergy was given with that of the laity. The Archbishop
of York produced a papal brief, authorising him to perform the
ceremony.189 An inhibitory letter, if it reached England, only came
into the King's hand, and was suppressed; no one, in fact (as the
production of such papal letter, as well as Becket's protest to the
archbishop and to the bishops collectively and severally, was by the
royal proclamation high treason or at least a misdemeanor) would
dare to produce them.
The estrangement seemed now complete, the reconciliation
more remote than ever. The Archbishop of Rouen and the Bishop of
Nevers, though urged to immediate action by Becket and even by
the Pope, admitted delay after delay, first for the voyage of the King
to England, and secondly for his return to Normandy. Becket seemed
more and more desperate, the King more and more resolute. Even
after the coronation, it should seem, Becket wrote to Roger of
York,190 to Henry of Worcester, and even to Foliot of London, to
publish the Interdict in their dioceses. The latter was a virtual
acknowledgment of the legality of his absolution, which in a long

Treaty of Fretteville.
letter to the Bishop of Nevers he had contested:191 but the Interdict
still hung over the King and the realm; the fidelity of the clergy was
precarious.
The reconciliation at last was so sudden as to
take the world by surprise. The clue to this is
found in Fitz-Stephen. Some one had suggested by word or by
writing to the King that the Primate would be less dangerous within
than without the realm.192 The hint flashed conviction on the King's
mind. The two Kings had appointed an interview at Fretteville,
between Chartres and Tours. The Archbishop of Sens prevailed on
Becket to be, unsummoned, in the neighborhood. Some days after
the King seemed persuaded by the Archbishops of Sens and Rouen
and the Bishop of Nevers to hold a conference with Becket.193
As
soon as they drew near the King rode up, uncovered his head, and
saluted the Prelate with frank courtesy, and after a short
conversation between the two and the Archbishop of Sens, the King
withdrew apart with Becket. Their conference was so long as to try
the patience of the spectators, so familiar that it might seem there
had never been discord between them. Becket took a moderate
tone; by his own account he laid the faults of the King entirely on his
evil counselors. After a gentle admonition to the King on his sins, he
urged him to make restitution to the see of Canterbury. He dwelt
strongly on the late usurpation on the rights of the primacy, on the
coronation of the King's son. Henry alleged the state of the kingdom
and the necessity of the measure; he promised that as his son's
queen, the daughter of the King of France, was also to be crowned,
that ceremony should be performed by Becket, and that his son
should again receive his crown from the hands of the Primate.
At the close of the interview Becket sprung from his horse and
threw himself at the King's feet. The King leaped down, and holding
his stirrup compelled the Primate to mount his horse again. In the
most friendly terms he expressed his full reconciliation not only to
Becket himself, but to the wondering and delighted multitude. There
seemed an understanding on both sides to suppress all points which

July.
Becket's schemes of
vengeance.
might lead to disagreement. The King did not dare (so Becket writes
triumphantly to the Pope) to mutter one word about the Customs.194
Becket was equally prudent, though he took care that his submission
should be so vaguely worded as to be drawn into no dangerous
concession on his part. He abstained, too, from all
other perilous topics; he left undecided the
amount of satisfaction to the church of
Canterbury; and on these general terms he and the partners of his
exile were formally received into the King's grace. If the King was
humiliated by this quiet and sudden reconcilement with the
imperious prelate, to outward appearance at least he concealed his
humiliation by his noble and kingly manner. If he submitted to the
spiritual reproof of the prelate, he condescended to receive into his
favor his refractory subject. Each maintained prudent silence on all
points in dispute. Henry received, but he also granted pardon. If his
concession was really extorted by fear, not from policy, compassion
for Becket's six years' exile might seem not without influence. If
Henry did not allude to the Customs, he did not annul them; they
were still the law of the land. The kiss of peace was eluded by a
vague promise. Becket made a merit of not driving the King to
perjury, but he skillfully avoided this trying test of the King's
sincerity.
But Becket's revenge must be satisfied with
other victims. If the worldly King could forget the
rancor of this long animosity, it was not so easily
appeased in the breast of the Christian Prelate. No doubt vengeance
disguised itself to Becket's mind as the lofty and rightful assertion of
spiritual authority. The opposing prelates must be at his feet, even
under his feet. The first thought of his partisans was not his return
to England with a generous amnesty of all wrongs, or a gentle
reconciliation of the whole clergy, but the condign punishment of
those who had so long been the counselors of the King, and had so
recently officiated in the coronation of his son.
The court of Rome did not refuse to enter into these views, to
visit the offence of those disloyal bishops who had betrayed the

Dated Sept. 10.
Interview at Tours.
interests and compromised the high principles of churchmen.195 It
was presumed that the King would not risk a peace so hardly gained
for his obsequious prelates. The lay adherents of
the King, even the plunderers of Church property
were spared, some ecclesiastics about his person,
John of Oxford himself escaped censure: but Pope Alexander sent
the decree of suspension against the Archbishop of York, and
renewed the excommunication of London and Salisbury, with whom
were joined the Archdeacon of Canterbury and the Bishop of
Rochester, as guilty of special violation of their allegiance to the
Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of St. Asaph, and some others.
Becket himself saw the policy of altogether separating the cause of
the bishops from that of the King. He requested that some
expressions relating to the King's excesses, and condemnatory of the
bishops for swearing to the Customs, should be suppressed; and the
excommunication grounded entirely on their usurpation of the right
of crowning the King.196
About four months elapsed between the treaty
of Fretteville and the return of Becket to England.
They were occupied by these negotiations at
Rome, Veroli, and Ferentino; by discussions with the King, who was
attacked during this period with a dangerous illness; and by the
mission of some of Becket's officers to resume the estates of the
see. Becket had two personal interviews with the King: the first was
at Tours, where, as he was now in the King's dominions, he
endeavored to obtain the kiss of peace. The Archbishop hoped to
betray Henry into this favor during the celebration of the mass, in
which it might seem only a part of the service.197
Henry was on his
guard, and ordered the mass for the dead, in which the benediction
is not pronounced. The King had received Becket fairly; they parted
not without ill-concealed estrangement. At the second meeting the
King seemed more friendly; he went so far as to say, "Why resist my
wishes? I would place everything in your hands." Becket, in his own
words, bethought him of the tempter, "All these things will I give
unto thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me."

Becket prepares for
his return.
The King had written to his son in England that the see of
Canterbury should be restored to Becket, as it was three months
before his exile. But there were two strong parties hostile to Becket:
the King's officers who held in sequestration the estates of the see,
and seem to have especially coveted the receipt of the Michaelmas
rents; and with these some of the fierce warrior nobles, who held
lands or castles which were claimed as possessions of the Church of
Canterbury. Randulph De Broc, his old inveterate enemy, was
determined not to surrender his castle of Saltwood. It was reported
to Becket, by Becket represented to the King, that De Broc had
sworn that he would have Becket's life before he had eaten a loaf of
bread in England. The castle of Rochester was held on the same
doubtful title by one of his enemies. The second party was that of
the bishops, which was powerful, with a considerable body of the
clergy and laity. They had sufficient influence to urge the King's
officers to take the strongest measures, lest the Papal letters of
excommunication should be introduced into the kingdom.
It is perhaps vain to conjecture, how far, if Becket had returned
to England in the spirit of meekness, forgiveness, and forbearance,
not wielding the thunders of excommunication, nor determined to
trample on his adversaries, and to exact the utmost even of his
doubtful rights, he might have resumed his see, and gradually won
back the favor of the King, the respect and love of the whole
hierarchy, and all the legitimate possessions of his church. But he
came not in peace, nor was he received in peace.198 It was not the
Archbishop of Rouen, as he had hoped, but his old
enemy John of Oxford, who was commanded by
the King to accompany him, and reinstate him in
his see. The King might allege that one so much in the royal
confidence was the best protector of the Archbishop. The money
which had been promised for his voyage was not paid; he was
forced to borrow £300 of the Archbishop of Rouen. He went, as he
felt, or affected to feel, with death before his eyes, yet nothing
should now separate him from his long-divided flock. Before his
embarkation at Whitsand in Flanders, he received intelligence that

Letters of
excommunication
sent before him.
Lands at Sandwich.
Dec. 1.
At Canterbury.
the shores were watched by his enemies, it was said with designs on
his life,199 but assuredly with the determination of making a rigid
search for the letters of excommunication.200
To
secure the safe carriage of one of these perilous
documents, the suspension of the Archbishop of
York, it was intrusted to a nun named Idonea,
whom he exhorts, like another Judith, to this holy act, and promises
her as her reward the remission of her sins.201 Other contraband
letters were conveyed across the Channel by unknown hands, and
were delivered to the bishops before Becket's landing.
The prelates of York and London were at Canterbury when they
received these Papal letters. When the fulminating instruments were
read before them, in which was this passage, "we will fill your faces
with ignominy," their countenances fell. They sent messengers to
complain to Becket, that he came not in peace, but in fire and flame,
trampling his brother bishops under his feet, and making their necks
his footstool; that he had condemned them uncited, unheard,
unjudged. "There is no peace," Becket sternly replied, "but to men
of good will."202 It was said that London was disposed to humble
himself before Becket; but York,203
trusting in his wealth, boasted
that he had in his power the Pope, the King, and all their courts.
Instead of the port of Dover, where he was
expected, Becket's vessel, with the archiepiscopal
banner displayed, cast anchor at Sandwich. Soon
after his landing, appeared in arms the Sheriff of Kent, Randulph de
Broc, and others of his enemies. They searched his baggage, fiercely
demanded that he should absolve the bishops, and endeavored to
force the Archdeacon of Sens, a foreign ecclesiastic, to take an oath
to keep the peace of the realm. John of Oxford was shocked, and
repressed their violence. On his way to Canterbury the country
clergy came forth with their flocks to meet him; they strewed their
garments in his way, chanting, "Blessed is he that cometh in the
name of the Lord." Arrived at Canterbury, he rode
at once to the church with a vast procession of

Goes to London.
clergy, amid the ringing of the bells, and the chanting of music. He
took his archiepiscopal throne, and afterwards preached on the text,
"Here we have no abiding city." The next morning came again the
Sheriff of Kent, with Randulph de Broc, and the messengers of the
bishops, demanding their absolution.204 Becket evaded the question
by asserting that the Excommunication was not pronounced by him,
but by his superior the Pope; that he had no power to abrogate the
sentence. This declaration was directly at issue with the bull of
excommunication: if the bishops gave satisfaction to the Archbishop,
he had power to act on behalf of the Pope.205
But to the satisfaction
which, according to one account, he did demand, that they should
stand a public trial, in other words place themselves at his mercy,
they would not, and hardly could submit. They set out immediately
to the King in Normandy.
The restless Primate was determined to keep alive the popular
fervor, enthusiastically, almost fanatically, on his side. On a pretext of
a visit to the young King at Woodstock, to offer
him the present of three beautiful horses, he set
forth on a stately progress. Wherever he went he
was received with acclamations and prayers for his blessings by the
clergy and the people. In Rochester he was entertained by the
Bishop with great ceremony. In London there was the same
excitement: he was received in the palace by the Bishop of
Winchester in Southwark. Even there he scattered some
excommunications.206
The Court took alarm, and sent orders to the
prelate to return to his diocese. Becket obeyed, but alleged as the
cause of his obedience, not the royal command, but his own desire
to celebrate the festival of Christmas in his metropolitan church. The
week passed in holding sittings in his court, where he acted with his
usual promptitude, vigor, and resolution against the intruders into
livings, and upon the encroachments on his estates; and in
devotions most fervent, mortifications most austere.207
His rude enemies committed in the mean time all kinds of petty
annoyances, which he had not the loftiness to disdain. Randulph de

The bishops with
the King.
Broc seized a vessel laden with rich wine for his use, and imprisoned
the sailors in Pevensey Castle. An order from the court compelled
him to release ship and crew. They robbed the people who carried
his provisions, broke into his park, hunted his deer, beat his
retainers; and, at the instigation of Randulph's brother, Robert de
Broc, a ruffian, a renegade monk, cut off the tail of one of his state
horses.
On Christmas day Becket preached on the appropriate text,
"Peace on earth, good will towards men." The sermon agreed ill with
the text. He spoke of one of his predecessors, St. Alphege, who had
suffered martyrdom. "There may soon be a second." He then burst
out into a fierce, impetuous, terrible tone, arraigned the courtiers,
and closed with a fulminating excommunication against Nigel de
Sackville, who had refused to give up a benefice into which, in
Becket's judgment, he had intruded, and against Randulph and
Robert de Broc. The maimed horse was not forgotten. He renewed
in the most vehement language the censure on the bishops, dashed
the candle on the pavement in token of their utter extinction, and
then proceeded to the mass at the altar.208
In the mean time the excommunicated
prelates had sought the King in the neighborhood
of Bayeux; they implored his protection for
themselves and the clergy of the realm. "If all are to be visited by
spiritual censures," said the King, "who officiated at the coronation
of my son, by the eyes of God, I am equally guilty." The whole
conduct of Becket since his return was detailed, and no doubt deeply
darkened by the hostility of his adversaries. All had been done with
an insolent and seditious design of alienating the affections of the
people from the King. Henry demanded counsel of the prelates; they
declared themselves unable to give it. But one incautiously said, "So
long as Thomas lives, you will never be at peace." The King broke
out into one of his terrible constitutional fits of passion; and at
length let fall the fatal words, "Have I none of my thankless and
cowardly courtiers who will relieve me from the insults of one low-
born and turbulent priest?"

The King's fatal
words.
The knights before
Becket.
These words were not likely to fall unheard on
the ears of fierce, and warlike men, reckless of
bloodshed, possessed with a strong sense of their
feudal allegiance, and eager to secure to themselves the reward of
desperate service. Four knights, chamberlains of the King, Reginald
Fitz-Urse, William de Tracy, Hugh de Moreville, and Reginald Brito,
disappeared from the court.209 On the morrow, when a grave council
was held, some barons are said, even there, to have advised the
death of Becket. Milder measures were adopted: the Earl of
Mandeville was sent off with orders to arrest the Primate; and as the
disappearance of these four knights could not be unmarked, to stop
them in the course of any unauthorized enterprise.
But murder travels faster than justice or mercy. They were
almost already on the shores of England. It is said that they met in
Saltwood Castle. On the 28th of December, having, by the aid of
Randulph de Broc, collected some troops in the streets of
Canterbury, they took up their quarters with Clarembold, Abbot of
St. Augustine's.
The assassination of Becket has something appalling, with all its
terrible circumstances seen in the remote past. What was it in its
own age? The most distinguished churchman in Christendom, the
champion of the great sacerdotal order, almost in the hour of his
triumph over the most powerful king in Europe; a man, besides the
awful sanctity inherent in the person of every ecclesiastic, of most
saintly holiness; soon after the most solemn festival of the Church,
in his own cathedral, not only sacrilegiously, but cruelly murdered,
with every mark of hatred and insult. Becket had all the
dauntlessness, none of the meekness of the martyr; but while his
dauntlessness would command boundless admiration, few, if any,
would seek the more genuine sign of Christian martyrdom.
The four knights do not seem to have
deliberately determined on their proceedings, or to
have resolved, except in extremity, on the murder.
They entered, but unarmed, the outer chamber.210 The Archbishop

had just dined, and withdrawn from the hall. They were offered
food, as was the usage; they declined, thirsting, says one of the
biographers, for blood. The Archbishop obeyed the summons to hear
a message from the King; they were admitted to his presence. As
they entered, there was no salutation on either side, till the Primate
having surveyed, perhaps recognized them, moved to them with
cold courtesy. Fitz-Urse was the spokesman in the fierce altercation
which ensued. Becket replied with haughty firmness. Fitz-Urse began
by reproaching him with his ingratitude and seditious disloyalty in
opposing the coronation of the King's son, and commanded him, in
instant obedience to the King, to absolve the prelates. Becket
protested that so far from wishing to diminish the power of the
King's son, he would have given him three crowns and the most
splendid realm. For the excommunicated bishops he persisted in his
usual evasion that they had been suspended by the Pope, by the
Pope alone could they be absolved; nor had they yet offered proper
satisfaction. "It is the King's command," spake Fitz-Urse, "that you
and the rest of your disloyal followers leave the kingdom."211 "It
becomes not the King to utter such command: henceforth no power
on earth shall separate me from my flock." "You have presumed to
excommunicate, without consulting the King, the King's servant's
and officers." "Nor will I ever spare the man who violates the canons
of Rome, or the rights of the Church." "From whom do you hold your
archbishopric?" "My spirituals from God and the Pope, my temporals
from the King." "Do you not hold all from the King?" "Render unto
Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's, and unto God the things that are
God's." "You speak in peril of your life!" "Come ye to murder me? I
defy you, and will meet you front to front in the battle of the Lord."
He added, that some among them had sworn fealty to him. At this, it
is said, they grew furious, and gnashed with their teeth. The prudent
John of Salisbury heard with regret this intemperate language:
"Would it may end well!" Fitz-Urse shouted aloud, "In the King's
name I enjoin you all, clerks and monks, to arrest this man, till the
King shall have done justice on his body." They rushed out, calling
for their arms.

Becket in the
Church.
The murder.
His friends had more fear for Becket than Becket for himself. The
gates were closed and barred, but presently sounds were heard of
those without, striving to break in. The lawless Randulph de Broc
was hewing at the door with an axe. All around Becket was the
confusion of terror: he only was calm. Again spoke John of Salisbury
with his cold prudence—"Thou wilt never take counsel: they seek thy
life." "I am prepared to die." "We who are sinners are not so weary
of life." "God's will be done." The sounds without grew wilder. All
around him entreated Becket to seek sanctuary in the church. He
refused, whether from religious reluctance that the holy place should
be stained with his blood, or from the nobler motive of sparing his
assassins this deep aggravation of their crime. They urged that the
bell was already tolling for vespers. He seemed to give a reluctant
consent; but he would not move without the dignity of his crosier
carried before him. With gentle compulsion they
half drew, half carried him through a private
chamber, they in all the hasty agony of terror, he
striving to maintain his solemn state, into the church. The din of the
armed men was ringing in the cloister. The affrighted monks broke
off the service; some hastened to close the doors; Becket
commanded them to desist—"No one should be debarred from
entering the house of God." John of Salisbury and the rest fled and
hid themselves behind the altars and in other dark places. The
Archbishop might have escaped into the dark and intricate crypt, or
into a chapel in the roof. There remained only the Canon Robert (of
Merton), Fitz-Stephen, and the faithful Edward Grim. Becket stood
between the altar of St. Benedict and that of the Virgin.212 It was
thought that Becket contemplated taking his seat on his
archiepiscopal throne near the high altar.
Through the open door of the cloister came
rushing in the four, fully armed, some with axes in
their hands, with two or three wild followers, through the dim and
bewildering twilight. The knights shouted aloud, "Where is the
traitor?"—No answer came back.—"Where is the Archbishop?"
"Behold me, no traitor, but a priest of God!" Another fierce and rapid

The Body.
altercation followed: they demanded the absolution of the bishops,
his own surrender to the King's justice. They strove to seize him and
to drag him forth from the church (even they had awe of the holy
place), either to kill him without, or to carry him in bonds to the
King. He clung to the pillar. In the struggle he grappled with De
Tracy, and with desperate strength dashed him on the pavement. His
passion rose; he called Fitz-Urse by a foul name, a pander. These
were almost his last words (how unlike those of Stephen and the
greater than Stephen!) He taunted Fitz-Urse with his fealty sworn to
himself. "I owe no fealty but to my King!" returned the maddened
soldier, and struck the first blow. Edward Grim interposed his arm,
which was almost severed off. The sword struck Becket, but slightly,
on the head. Becket received it in an attitude of prayer—"Lord,
receive my spirit," with an ejaculation to the Saints of the Church.
Blow followed blow (Tracy seems to have dealt the first mortal
wound), till all, unless perhaps De Moreville, had wreaked their
vengeance. The last, that of Richard de Brito, smote off a piece of
his skull. Hugh of Horsea, their follower, a renegade priest surnamed
Mauclerk, set his heel upon his neck, and crushed out the blood and
brains. "Away!" said the brutal ruffian, "it is time that we were
gone." They rushed out to plunder the archiepiscopal palace.
The mangled body was left on the pavement;
and when his affrighted followers ventured to
approach to perform their last offices, an incident occurred which,
however incongruous, is too characteristic to be suppressed. Amid
their adoring awe at his courage and constancy, their profound
sorrow for his loss, they broke out into a rapture of wonder and
delight on discovering not merely that his whole body was swathed
in the coarsest sackcloth, but that his lower garments were
swarming with vermin. From that moment miracles began. Even the
populace had before been divided; voices had been heard among
the crowd denying him to be a martyr; he was but the victim of his
own obstinacy.213 The Archbishop of York even after this dared to
preach that it was a judgment of God against Becket—that "he
perished, like Pharaoh, in his pride."214 But the torrent swept away

Effects of the
murder.
at once all this resistance. The Government inhibited the miracles,
but faith in miracles scorns obedience to human laws. The Passion of
the Martyr Thomas was saddened and glorified every day with new
incidents of its atrocity, of his holy firmness, of wonders wrought by
his remains.
The horror of Becket's murder ran throughout
Christendom. At first, of course, it was attributed
to Henry's direct orders. Universal hatred branded
the King of England with a kind of outlawry, a spontaneous
excommunication. William of Sens, though the attached friend of
Becket, probably does not exaggerate the public sentiment when he
describes this deed as surpassing the cruelty of Herod, the perfidy of
Julian, the sacrilege of the traitor Judas.215
It were injustice to King Henry not to suppose that with the
dread as to the consequences of this act must have mingled some
reminiscences of the gallant friend and companion of his youth and
of the faithful minister, as well as religious horror at a cruel murder,
so savagely and impiously executed.216 He shut himself for three
days in his chamber, obstinately refused all food and comfort, till his
attendants began to fear for his life. He issued orders for the
apprehension of the murderers,217
and dispatched envoys to the
Pope to exculpate himself from all participation or cognizance of the
crime. His ambassadors found the Pope at Tusculum: they were at
first sternly refused an audience. The afflicted and indignant Pope
was hardly prevailed on to permit the execrated name of the King of
England to be uttered before him. The cardinals still friendly to the
King with difficulty obtained knowledge of Alexander's
determination. It was, on a fixed day, to pronounce with the utmost
solemnity, excommunication against the King by name, and an
interdict on all his dominions, on the Continent as well as in England.
The ambassadors hardly obtained the abandonment of this fearful
purpose, by swearing that the King would submit in all things to the
judgment of his Holiness. With difficulty the terms of reconciliation
were arranged.

Reconciliation at
Avranches.
Ascension Day, May
22, 1172.
Penance at
Canterbury. Friday,
July 12, 1174.
In the Cathedral of Avranches in Normandy, in
the presence of the Cardinals Theodin of Porto,
and Albert the Chancellor, Legates for that especial
purpose, Henry swore on the Gospels that he had neither
commanded nor desired the death of Becket; that it had caused him
sorrow, not joy; he had not grieved so deeply for the death of his
father or his mother.218 He stipulated—I. To maintain two hundred
knights at his own cost in the Holy Land. II. To abrogate the
Statutes of Clarendon, and all bad customs introduced during his
reign.219
III. That he would reinvest the Church of Canterbury in all
its rights and possessions, and pardon and restore to their estates all
who had incurred his wrath in the cause of the Primate. IV. If the
Pope should require it, he would himself make a crusade against the
Saracens in Spain. In the porch of the church he
was reconciled, but with no ignominous ceremony.
Throughout the later and the darker part of
Henry's reign the clergy took care to inculcate, and the people were
prone enough to believe, that all his disasters and calamities, the
rebellion of his wife and of his sons, were judgments of God for the
persecution if not the murder of the Martyr Thomas. The strong
mind of Henry himself, depressed by misfortune and by the
estrangement of his children, acknowledged with superstitious awe
the justice of their conclusions. Heaven, the Martyr in Heaven, must
be appeased by a public humiliating penance. The deeper the
degradation the more valuable the atonement. In less than three
years after his death the King visited the tomb of Becket, by this
time a canonized saint, renowned not only throughout England for
his wonder-working powers, but to the limits of Christendom. As
soon as he came near enough to see the towers
of Canterbury, the King dismounted from his
horse, and for three miles walked with bare and
bleeding feet along the flinty road. The tomb of
the Saint was then in the crypt beneath the church. The King threw
himself prostrate before it. The Bishop of London (Foliot) preached;
he declared to the wondering multitude that on his solemn oath the

Becket martyr of
the clergy.
King was entirely guiltless of the murder of the Saint: but as his
hasty words had been the innocent cause of the crime, he submitted
in lowly obedience to the penance of the Church. The haughty
monarch then prayed to be scourged by the willing monks. From the
one end of the church to the other each ecclesiastic present gratified
his pride, and thought that he performed his duty, by giving a few
stripes.220 The King passed calmly through this rude discipline, and
then spent a night and a day in prayers and tears, imploring the
intercession in Heaven of him whom, he thought not now on how
just grounds, he had pursued with relentless animosity on earth.221
Thus Becket obtained by his death that triumph for which he
would perhaps have struggled in vain through a long life. He was
now a Saint, and for some centuries the most popular Saint in
England: among the people, from a generous indignation at his
barbarous murder, from the fame of his austerities and his charities,
no doubt from admiration of his bold resistance to the kingly power;
among the clergy as the champion, the martyr of their order. Even if
the clergy had had no interest in the miracles at the tomb of Becket,
the high-strung faith of the people would have wrought them almost
without suggestion or assistance. Cures would have been made or
imagined; the latent powers of diseased or paralyzed bodies would
have been quickened into action. Belief, and the fear of disbelieving,
would have multiplied one extraordinary event into a hundred; fraud
would be outbid by zeal; the invention of the crafty, even if what
may seem invention was not more often ignorance and credulity,
would be outrun by the demands of superstition. There is no
calculating the extent and effects of these epidemic outbursts of
passionate religion.222
Becket was indeed the martyr of the clergy,
not of the Church; of sacerdotal power, not of
Christianity; of a caste, not of mankind.223 From
beginning to end it was a strife for the authority, the immunities, the
possessions of the clergy.224 The liberty of the Church was the
exemption of the clergy from law; the vindication of their separate,

Verdict of posterity.
exclusive, distinctive existence from the rest of mankind. It was a
sacrifice to the deified self; not the individual self, but self as the
centre and representative of a great corporation. Here and there in
the long full correspondence there is some slight allusion to the
miseries of the people in being deprived of the services of the exiled
bishops and clergy:225 "there is no one to ordain clergy, to
consecrate virgins:" the confiscated property is said to be a robbery
of the poor: yet in general the sole object in dispute was the
absolute immunity of the clergy from civil jurisdiction,226
the right of
appeal from the temporal sovereign to Rome, and the asserted
superiority of the spiritual rulers in every respect over the temporal
power. There might, indeed, be latent advantages to mankind,
social, moral, and religious, in this secluded sanctity of one class of
men; it might be well that there should be a barrier against the
fierce and ruffian violence of kings and barons; that somewhere
freedom should find a voice, and some protest be made against the
despotism of arms, especially in a newly-conquered country like
England, where the kingly and aristocratic power was still foreign:
above all, that there should be a caste, not an hereditary one, into
which ability might force its way up, from the most low-born, even
from the servile rank; but the liberties of the Church, as they were
called, were but the establishment of one tyranny—a milder,
perhaps, but not less rapacious tyranny—instead of another; a
tyranny which aspired to uncontrolled, irresponsible rule, nor was
above the inevitable evil produced on rulers as well as on subjects,
from the consciousness of arbitrary and autocratic power.
Reflective posterity may perhaps consider as
not the least remarkable point in this lofty and
tragic strife that it was but a strife for power. Henry II. was a
sovereign who, with many noble and kingly qualities, lived, more
than even most monarchs of his age, in direct violation of every
Christian precept of justice, humanity, conjugal fidelity. He was
lustful, cruel, treacherous, arbitrary. But throughout this contest
there is no remonstrance whatever from Primate or Pope against his
disobedience to the laws of God, only to those of the Church. Becket

might, indeed, if he had retained his full and acknowledged religious
power, have rebuked the vices, protected the subjects, interceded
for the victims of the King's unbridled passions. It must be
acknowledged by all that he did not take the wisest course to secure
this which might have been beneficent influence. But as to what
appears, if the King would have consented to allow the churchmen
to despise all law—if he had not insisted on hanging priests guilty of
homicide as freely as laymen—he might have gone on unreproved in
his career of ambition; he might unrebuked have seduced or
ravished the wives and daughters of his nobles; extorted, without
remonstrance of the Clergy any revenue from his subjects, if he had
kept his hands from the treasures of the Church. Henry's real
tyranny was not (would it in any case have been?) the object of the
churchman's censure, oppugnancy, or resistance. The cruel and
ambitious and rapacious King would doubtless have lived
unexcommunicated and died with plenary absolution.

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