f whom
were nearly destitute, were forced to leave the country in midwinter,
and excited the pity of all who saw them.

Becket indignantly retaliated. He hurled at the King's counselors the
awful sentence of excommunication or expulsion from the Church
(S194). It declared the King accursed of God and man, deprived of
help in this world, and shut out from hope in the world to come. In
this manner the quarrel went on with ever-increasing bitterness for
the space of six years.

168. Prince Henry crowned; Reconciliation (1170).

Henry, who had long wished to associate his son, Prince Henry, with
him in the government, had him crowned at Westminster by the
Archbishop of York, the bishops of London and Salisbury taking part.

By custom, if not indeed by law, Becket alone, as Archbishop of
Canterbury, had the right to perform this ceremony.

When Becket heard of the coronation, he declared it an outrage both
against Christianity and the Church. So great an outcry now arose
that Henry believed it expedient to recall the absent Archbishop,
especially as the King of France was urging the Pope to take up the
matter. Henry accordingly went over to the Continent, met Becket, and
persuaded him to return.

169. Reneral of the Quarrel; Murder of Becket (1170).

But though the Archbishop and the King had given each other the "kiss
of peace," yet the reconciliation was on the surface only; underneath,
the old hatred smoldered, ready to burst forth into flame. As soon as
he reached England, Becket invoked the thunders of the Church against
those who had officiated at the coronation of Prince Henry. He
excommunicated the Archbishop of York with his assistant bishops.

The King took their part, and in an outburst of passion against Becket
he exclaimed, "Will none of the cowards who eat my bread rid me of
that turbulent priest?" In answer to his angry cry for relief, four
knights set out without Henry's knowledge for Canterbury, and brutally
murdered the Archbishop within the walls of his own cathedral.

170. Results of the Murder.

The crime sent a thrill of horror throughout the realm. The Pope
proclaimed Becket a saint with the title of Saint Thomas. The mass of
the English people looked upon the dead ecclesiastic as a martyr who
had died in the defense of the Church, and of all those--but
especially the laboring classes and the poor--around whom the Church
cast its protecting power.

The great cathedral of Canterb