refused, unless they made acknowledgment
of their errors. The sequel we know. The King's hasty exclamation on
hearing of this brought about the Archbishop's murder on the 29th
of the same month. During the excommunication, Foliot seems to have
behaved wisely and well. He refused to accept it as valid, but
stayed away from the cathedral to avoid giving offence to sensitive
consciences. After Becket's murder, he declared his innocence of
any share in it, and the Bishop of Nevers removed the sentence of
excommunication.

It was at this period that the Deanery was occupied by the first
man of letters it had yet possessed, Ralph de Diceto. His name is
a puzzle; no one has as yet ascertained the place from which it is
taken. Very probably he was of foreign birth. When Belmeis was made
Bishop of London in 1152, Diceto succeeded him as Archdeacon of
Middlesex. His learning was great, and his chronicles (which have been
edited by Bishop Stubbs) are of great historical value. In the Becket
quarrel Diceto was loyal to Foliot, but he also remained friendly with
Becket. In 1180, he became Dean of St. Paul's. Here he displayed great
and most valuable energy; made a survey of the capitular property
(printed by the Camden Society under the editorship of Archdeacon
Hale), collected many books, which he presented to the Chapter,
built a Deanery House, and established a "fratery," or guild for the
ministration to the spiritual and bodily wants of the sick and poor.
He died in 1202. He wrote against the strict views concerning the
celibacy of the clergy promulgated by Pope Gregory VII., and declared
that the doctrine and the actual practice made a great scandal to
the laity. Dean Milman suspects that he was much moved herein by the
condition of his own Chapter.

In 1191, whilst King Richard I. was in Palestine, his brother John
summoned a council to St. Paul's to denounce William de Longchamp,
Bishop of Ely, to whom Richard had entrusted the affairs of
government, of high crimes and misdemeanours. The result was that
Longchamp had to escape across sea. At length the King returned, but
the Londoners were deeply disaffected. William FitzOsbert, popularly
known as "Longbeard," poured forth impassioned harangues from Paul's
Cross against the oppression of the poor, and the cathedral was
invaded by rioters. Fifty-two thousand persons bound themselves to
follow him, but Hubert, Archbishop of Canterbury, met the citizens in
the cathedral, and