every day
looked for an accommodation with the king, they had not opposed the
pretensions of his partisans, who had been very industrious in
representing to the people his entire innocence in the murder of the
primate, and his ignorance of the designs formed by the assassins.
The legates, therefore, found themselves obliged to lower their terms;
and Henry was so fortunate as to conclude an accommodation with them.
He declared upon oath, before the relics of the saints, that, so far
from commanding or desiring the death of the archbishop, he was
extremely grieved when he received intelligence of it: but as the
passion which he had expressed on account of that prelate's conduct
had probably been the occasion of his murder, he stipulated the
following conditions, as an atonement for the offence. [MN The king's
accommodation with the court of Rome.] He promised, that he should
pardon all such as had been banished for adhering to Becket, and
should restore them to their livings; that the see of Canterbury
should be reinstated in all its ancient possessions; that he should
pay the Templars a sum of money for the subsistence of two hundred
knights during a year in the Holy Land; that he should himself take
the cross at the Christmas following, and, if the pope required it,
serve three years against the infidels either in Spain or Palestine;
that he should not insist on the observance of such customs,
derogatory to ecclesiastical privileges, as had been introduced in his
own time; and that he should not obstruct appeals to the pope in
ecclesiastical causes, but should content himself with exacting
sufficient security from such clergymen as left his dominions to
prosecute an appeal, that they should attempt nothing against the
rights of his crown [q]. Upon signing these concessions, Henry
received absolution from the legates, and was confirmed in the grant
of Ireland made by Pope Adrian [r]; and nothing proves more strongly
the great abilities of this monarch, than his extricating himself on
such easy terms from so difficult a situation. He had always insisted
that the laws established at Clarendon contained not any new claims,
but the ancient customs of the kingdom; and he was still at liberty,
notwithstanding the articles of this agreement, to maintain his
pretensions. Appeals to the pope were indeed permitted by that
treaty; but as the king was also permitted to exact reasonable
securities from the parties, and might st