but this ascetic and high-born churchman would naturally object to Becket, both as having lived a very secular life, and as being of low extraction. He afterwards withdrew his objection, but he himself declares that he merely did this on the threat of banishment of himself and his kindred. The saying attributed to him by William Fitzstephen, that the king had wrought a miracle by turning a secular man and a soldier into an archbishop, is probably true (ib. iii. 36). Soon after this the Bishop of London died, and Henry, with the consent of the pope, translated Foliot to the see (28 April 1163). Upon this occasion Becket wrote him a very kind letter. Canon Robertson (Life of Becket) thinks that he was insincere in doing this; but though the archbishop afterwards had the bitterest feelings against Foliot, it is not clear that they existed at this time. Becket speaks as though the promotion were due to his influence. ‘We have called you to the care of this greater church, being confident that, by God's mercy, we have done well. Your character, your well-known religion, the wisdom given to you from above, the good work done by you in the diocese of Hereford, have merited that it should be said to you, “Friend, go up higher”’ (Materials, v. 29). Becket mentions in this letter that the pope had specially appointed Foliot to be the director of the king's conscience, and there is a letter from the pope to Foliot suggesting certain matters which were to be urged upon the king. But very soon after the translation the feelings of the archbishop towards Foliot underwent a change. The new bishop of London refused to make the usual profession of obedience to the metropolitan see of Canterbury. A vast deal has been written on this subject. Among the materials published by the Rolls Commission there is a long treatise upon it. The contention of the Bishop of London was that he had already promised canonical obedience as bishop of Hereford, and that the promise ought not to be renewed. For the archbishop it was contended that Foliot had entered on a new office, which required a new oath of obedience. The most remarkable thing about the matter was that the pope refused to interfere. He had already begun to look coldly on Becket, fearing to offend the king. Foliot's refusal was the commencement of the open hostility between the two bishops, which continued ever increasingly till Becket's death. With regard to the question of the clerical immunities it is probable that Foliot's views coincided with those of Becket, as all the bishops appear to have been of one mind on this point at the council of Westminster (1163). But Foliot saw that it was necessary or politic to yield to the king, and he secretly agreed with him to concede the point. Now also, by way of opposing Becket, he began to claim metropolitical dignity for the see of London, and to assert that it owed no subjection to Canterbury (ib. vi. 590). At Clarendon (1164) Foliot witnessed with satisfaction the humiliation of Becket, and at Northampton, in the same year, when the archbishop was so hardly dealt with in money matters, he counselled him to resign his see, and otherwise acted an unfriendly part towards him. At the famous scene, when the archbishop went to the king, carrying his cross in his own hand, Foliot actually tried to wrest it from him by force, declaring that it was his right to carry it as dean of the province. Being unable to obtain it, he exclaimed, ‘You have always been a fool, and always will be one’ (Will. Cant. Gervase). On Becket's escape, Foliot was one of the envoys sent by Henry to the French king, to ask him not to receive the fugitive—an embassy which was altogether unsuccessful. Nor was he more successful with Pope Alexander at Sens, though, as has been seen, he was highly esteemed by that pope. In declaiming against Becket, he said, ‘The wicked flee when no man pursueth.’ ‘Spare, brother,’ said the pope. ‘I will spare him,’ returned the bishop. ‘I said not spare him,’ said Alexander, ‘but rather spare yourself’ (Alanus). Throughout Becket's exile Foliot was the chief ecclesiastical adviser of the king, and the leader of the opposition against Becket. He administered the affairs of the see of Canterbury, and when all Becket's friends and adherents were banished, he is charged by the archbishop with having denied them any help, and carefully cut off their means of support. On these grounds Becket was specially infuriated against Foliot. He brings some serious charges against his episcopal acts, asserting that he had taken bribes to allow clerical matrimony, and had ordained the sons of priests to their father's benefices. These charges the bishop denied. At Argentan (1167) Foliot appeared before the pope's legates and the king of England and inveighed against Becket, deriding him as thinking that his debts were quashed by his consecration, as sins are done away in baptism. He declared that if the pope would not help the church of England against him the king and nobles would recede from the Roman church. Upon this, Becket excommunicated him, but the pope, being appealed to, restrained the archbishop from issuing such sentence till a reconciliation could be effected. This prohibition, he afterwards informed Becket, only held good
Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 19.djvu/365
