Thomas Becket. Father John S. Hogan
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Название: Thomas Becket

Автор: Father John S. Hogan

Издательство: Ingram

Жанр: Словари

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isbn: 9781681925837

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СКАЧАТЬ life and the maelstrom that was tearing the country apart — the Anarchy had woken up and was breathing fire again. Closer to home, Walter, Theobald’s brother, was elevated to the see of Rochester, no doubt due to his brother’s influence, and was consecrated bishop on March 14, 1148. The archdeaconry of Canterbury was now vacant, and Theobald did not wait long to appoint to the office his most able and senior clerk: Roger de Pont L’Évêque. It was a decision Thomas’s enemy greeted with glee, and Thomas with caution.

       9

       Peace

      In March 1148, Matilda returned to Normandy to find peace in the priory of Notre-Dame-du-Pré. Having had enough of war, she just wanted to pray and live a quiet life among the nuns for the years that were left to her. She passed the scepter, impotent as it was for now, to her son Henry Angevin. This young man, son of two noble houses, heir through his mother to the realms of England and Normandy and through his father to the dukedom of Anjou, had all the assets to become one of the most powerful monarchs in Christendom; he also had the ambition and ability. Stephen was well aware of this, and he realized that he needed to take action to prevent Henry from gaining a foothold in England. The time had come, he surmised, to crown and anoint his son Eustace, the Count of Boulogne, as junior king of England to settle the matter of succession and provide for a smooth transfer of power when he died.

      In 1147, hungry for victory for his mother and himself, fourteen-year-old Henry landed in England at the head of an army. While the English were concerned a new front had opened up in the civil war, and there were rumors that the young commander led a large army, their fears were unfounded as Henry’s army, not as impressive as the rumors would have it, quickly abandoned him and his cause when the money ran out and no wages were paid. Henry appealed to his mother and his uncle Roger to assist him financially, but they refused — they may not have been keen to finance what they might have seen as a foolhardy venture.1 With a display of bravado, however, Henry appealed to King Stephen, offering to withdraw his army if the king would send him money. Astonishingly, Stephen agreed, and Henry returned to Anjou.2 Henry’s second attempt occurred in 1149, this time with the support of his great-uncle, King David of Scotland. With a newly minted knighthood, thanks to the Scottish king, Henry set his sights on York and took it, before heading south. Stephen was not prepared to repeat his generosity this time. Sending a formidable army, joining with that of his son, Eustace, they created enough resistance for Henry that he was forced to return to Normandy.3

      In the meantime, Geoffrey, Henry’s father, was growing in power and influence, and this worried King Louis VII of France. Having deprived Stephen of his Norman domains, Geoffrey had Henry proclaimed Duke of Normandy, an action that further alarmed the French king. Henry governed as duke for the next few years, developing his administrative skills. To pacify Louis, who could become a serious enemy, and to win him as an ally in the claim for the English throne, Geoffrey advised Henry to do homage to Louis as his feudal lord; Henry agreed to do so, and Louis formally acknowledged him as duke in 1150.

      Henry’s ambition was growing, and planning for an invasion of England was under way. Geoffrey was at the heart of the planning, but on September 7, 1151, he died suddenly of a fever. Knowing his son all too well, and recognizing the real possibility that he might deprive his younger brother of an inheritance, Geoffrey had made arrangements for Henry to inherit the title of Count of Anjou and Maine only until he was king of England, at which point he would be legally obliged to pass the title and domains to his younger brother, also called Geoffrey. At his father’s death, Henry promised to do so, though he would regret the promise, and had his brother Geoffrey not been offered the title and domains of the County of Nantes a few years later in 1156, Henry would have re neged on his promise to his father and done what he had to do to prevent his brother claiming his right. Though he challenged Henry and made trouble for him, Geoffrey took Nantes, Henry kept Anjou and Maine, and they finally settled down to an amicable, if tense, relationship.

      Meanwhile, Theobald was petitioning Rome for the office of papal legate in England; once again, his rival in this issue was King Stephen’s brother Henry, bishop of Winchester. Thomas was now being sent on missions for Theobald, some of them to Rome, where he was reacquainted with the workings of the curia. In 1149, Theobald sent Thomas to the pope to deliver his petition, and it met with success. That Henry of Winchester had already held the office and had used it to assail the see and archbishop of Canterbury proved an advantage for Theobald’s request — Rome had learned its lesson. Thomas’s advocacy before the pope was a powerful piece of persuasive oratory, and while Bishop Henry had rushed to Rome himself to plead his case, he was no match for Thomas, who wiped the floor with him, figuratively speaking. Thomas came back to England with the official bull appointing Theobald papal legate, the pope’s representative in England, invested with papal authority.

      King Stephen was furious. His brother had lost the one office that could be most useful in his claim to the throne, and now it was in the hands of the archbishop whom he had exiled and who was on the verge of going over to the young Angevin. A further complication for the king was that any power Bishop Henry might have claimed to crown and anoint Eustace was well and truly gone; now only Theobald, as both archbishop of Canterbury and papal legate, had the authority to preside over a coronation. Theobald would have argued that the power belonged to the archbishop of Canterbury alone anyway, but it was sweet to have legatine powers to reinforce his point. He was also aware that Stephen was looking for a way out of his predicament. No sooner was Thomas home from Rome than he was sent back to the pope, this time with a much more impressive entourage — the formal delegation of a papal legate — to petition Eugene for a decree forbidding Eustace’s coronation. Again, Thomas met with success: The pope agreed and issued the decree.

      As Thomas returned to Canterbury, Stephen’s own delegation arrived in Rome to plead his case; the king had appointed none other than the archdeacon of Canterbury, Roger de Pont L’Évêque, as his spokesman. Roger argued that the decree be withdrawn, but Eugene refused to rescind it, citing as one of his reasons Stephen’s breaking of his oath of fealty to Matilda. Eugene’s decision caused ripples in both England and France. The pope had called Stephen an oath breaker and had come down, at least tentatively, on Matilda’s side. This finally vindicated Matilda and gave her son Henry the political legitimacy that even a successful war could not confer. The question for the Angevin was how to use this papal pronouncement to push his cause in England.

      On a personal level, Thomas’s own rivalry with Roger had deepened. That Roger had agreed to plead for the king revealed that his ambition outweighed his loyalty to his archbishop. Perhaps he was just a canon lawyer arguing a case for a client who just happened to be a king pushing a cause contrary to that of his archbishop — and every client is entitled to be heard — but Thomas would have taken note of Roger’s attitude. This man was capable of disloyalty to further his own aims. In the years ahead, Thomas would become more than well acquainted with this streak in Roger.

      Stephen was not to be outdone. In the spring of 1152, he called a council in London to discuss the possibility of proceeding with Eustace’s coronation regardless of the papal decree. Bishops and lords attended the council to hear the king give the reasons why the ban had to be ignored. Eustace was also present in full view of all; any refusal to agree would be deemed a personal affront to the heir to the throne. Turning to the bishops, Stephen demanded that they consent to the coronation and then asked them to nominate one to do it. To a man, they looked to Theobald; he had the right as primate to preside at a coronation, and none of them was willing to usurp that right. Now sure of his brother bishops’ support, Theobald stood and faced the king. The pope had forbidden this coronation, he said, and therefore it would not happen.

      King and son were incensed. They ordered that all the bishops be incarcerated in a nearby house and provoked with threats and hardship; they would remain there until they consented. Some bishops backed down, but most held the line. Theobald, seizing a quick opportunity, fled the СКАЧАТЬ