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ST. HUGH AND HENRY II

the king.

195

a sign of base ingratitude if not of positive disloyalty; the bishop was summoned to meet the king at Woodstock and answer for his conduct. He found the king seated in a wood, with his courtiers sitting round about him. A scene with Hugh was received in silence; none rose or saluted him. Nothing daunted, he tapped the courtier who was sitting next the king on the shoulder to make room for him, and sat him down beside the king. Not a word was spoken. Presently the king asked for a needle, and began to sew a bit of rag round one of his fingers, which he had cut. After watching this operation for a while in silence, the bishop quietly remarked, "How like you are to your relations at Falaise." This bold allusion to his ancestress the tanner's daughter the mother of William the Conqueror, and to glove-making, the staple trade of her native town, tickled the king's fancy, and the awkward silence was broken by his laughter, which presently became general. Henry then asked Hugh to explain his recent conduct. He replied that as he owed his bishopric to the exertions of the king he would be imperilling the soul of his royal master if he did not fulfil the duties of his office. That was why he had restrained an oppressor of the Church by an ecclesiastical penalty; that was why he had refused to have his hand forced in filling up the vacant prebend; and he felt sure that the king would ratify his action. It was an irresistible appeal to Henry's better nature, his conscience, and good sense. He embraced Hugh and commended himself to his prayers. Nothing more was said about the vacant prebend; the peccant forester received a flogging, expressed contrition, and became one of Hugh's most devoted friends.

Charm of

acter.

There was indeed in the sweetness, and simplicity, and fearless uprightness of Hugh a charm which softened the most rugged natures and won for him universal affection and respect. Even the lower animals Hugh's charwere attracted to him. There is nothing more beautiful and affecting in the lives of many of the saints than the stories of their friendly relations with the lower animals. Allowing for exaggerations and marvels, there must be a large residuum of truth in these tales. The gentleness of animals to children, and their ready attachment to persons

who in simplicity and innocency of life resemble little
children, illustrate the truth that discord and strife were
brought into the world by sin, and that harmony can only be
restored by pure goodness and love. The truth of the
matter was well expressed by the English hermit, St. Guthlac,
in the eighth century, in his reply to some visitors who were
astonished to see the swallows twittering round him and
perching upon his head and shoulders. "Know you not,"
he said, "that he who is united to God by purity of heart finds
all these sinless creatures united to himself. The birds of
heaven, like the angels of God, may safely associate with
those who have fled into the desert from the wickedness of
the world." As St. Benedict at Subiaco shared his frugal
meal with a raven, as St. Cuthbert and St. Francis of Assisi
gathered birds and beasts around them as friendly companions,
so the cell of Hugh at Witham had been frequented by a
bernacle-goose which fed from his hand. At the
Hugh's swan. bishop's manor of Stow, near Lincoln, there
appeared about the time of Hugh's enthronement a wild
swan of extraordinary size. It displayed great ferocity,
attacking and killing many of the other swans; but on the
arrival of the bishop, having been caught and presented to
him, it fed fearlessly from his hand and became his insepar-
able companion whenever he was at Stow-greeting him on
his arrival with cries of joy, fondly burying its long neck in
the folds of his dress, and fiercely attacking any one who
ventured to approach when he was asleep. During the
absences of the bishop the bird retired to the lake, but on
his return, even when he had been away so long as two years,
it manifested extraordinary joy, hastening to him as soon as
it heard his voice with loud cries and flapping wings.
Sculptors and painters, therefore, did right to represent St.
Hugh with the faithful swan by his side. It was regarded as
an emblem and an evidence of the purity of his life. The
feeling is prettily expressed by the thirteenth-century author
of the "metrical life" of the saint:-
:-

Haec avis in vita candens, in funere cantans,
Sancti pontificis vitam, mortemque figurat ;
Candens dum vivit, notat hunc vixisse pudicum;
Cantans dum moritur, notat hunc decedere tutum.

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ST. HUGH'S SWAN

This bird in life so white, in death so sweet,

Is of the holy Hugh an emblem meet;
Whiteness in life denotes his living pure,

Sweet song in death, his heavenly peace secure.

197

AUTHORITIES. -The same as for last chapter, with the addition of the Gesta Henr. II. vol. i., ed. Stubbs, and Roger of Howden, Chron. vol. ii., ed. Stubbs (both in Rolls series). For all that relates to the murder of Becket, in addition to the original authorities, see Dean Stanley's Memorials of Canterbury Cathedral. For the life of St. Hugh, the Magna Vita, ed. Dimock (Rolls series); and the Metrical Life. Of modern lives the best, allowing for some prejudices of the Roman Catholic writer, is The Life of St. Hugh of Lincoln, by Herbert Thurston, S.J.

CHAPTER XI

WEAK KINGS AND STRONG PRELATES

Richard I., 1189-1199. John, 1199-1216. Abps. of Canterbury: Baldwin, 1185-1190. Hubert Walter, 1193-1205. Stephen Langton, 1207-1228

THE great King Henry II. died at Chinon, July 6, 1189, worn out by the harassing labours of his long and troubled reign, which culminated in the distressing rebellion of his sons.

On September 3 his eldest surviving son Richard was crowned in Westminster Abbey by Archbishop Baldwin with Coronation of great pomp, and as the people gazed upon his Richard I. handsome countenance and his tall commanding

1189. figure, they might well have hoped that they beheld in him a king who would be not unworthy of his father or the greatest of his predecessors. But it was soon apparent that the heart of Richard was absorbed in the Crusade to which he had dedicated himself before his father's death, and that his immediate object was to raise as much money for it as he could from his new kingdom. In the course of a nominal reign of ten years, he spent barely six months in England. The administration was in the hands of ministers, who discharged their duties on the whole with ability and integrity, although many of them had bought their offices. They were for the most part ecclesiastics. Some of the principal appointments were made at a council. Ecclesiastical held at Pipewell in Northamptonshire immediately appointments. after Richard's coronation. Hugh de Puiset, the high-born, magnificent, energetic, ambitious Bishop of Durham, was made one of two chief justiciars, who had five subordinate

CHAP. XI

NEW BISHOPS

199

justiciars under them. For this office he paid 1000 marks, and 2000 more for the sheriffdom of Northumberland. The see of London, vacant by the death of Gilbert Foliot, was given to Richard Fitz-Nigel, the treasurer and historian of the exchequer, the son of the Nigel, Bishop of Ely, who had been treasurer in the days of Henry I. William of Longchamp, Bishop-elect of Ely, was made chancellor, for which he had to pay 3000 marks. Reginald, Bishop of Bath, offered a thousand more, but Longchamp was a personal favourite with the king. Hubert Walter, a nephew of the late king's old servant, Ralph Glanville, was made Bishop of Salisbury, a man who combined in a remarkable degree the qualities of prelate, soldier, lawyer, and statesman. Godfrey, son of Richard de Lucy, the loyal justiciar of Henry II., was made Bishop of Winchester, and bought the sheriffdom of Hants, together with the castles of Winchester and Porchester, for 3000 marks. The sheriffdom of Leicestershire, Staffordshire, and Warwickshire were bought by Hugh of Nonant, Bishop of Lichfield.

chancellor.

Of all these great men the one who rose for a time to the position of almost supreme ruler was William Longchamp, Bishop of Ely. He was a Norman of humble origin Longchamp, and mean appearance—plain, short, lame, if not Bp. of Ely, actually deformed, but clear-headed, ambitious, strong-willed. He had been the chaplain and confidential agent of Richard before he became king. He was faithful to Richard, and relentless in exacting money to serve his interests; and as he did not understand English, and disliked the English people, he was very unpopular. He was regarded as an upstart by the older and more aristocratic statesmen, but he was probably not the monster of wickedness or of ugliness that he is represented by his enemies. He had no sooner entered on his office of chancellor than he began to exercise his authority with a high hand. administra He refused to admit Bishop Hugh de Puiset to the exchequer, and presently deprived him of his sheriff's jurisdiction over Northumberland. Godfrey de Lucy was deprived not only of his sheriffdom and castles, but even of his patrimony, and the Bishop of Lichfield also was forced to surrender his sheriffdom. Anticipating the complaints which would be

His harsh

tion.

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