worldly matters, that it is difficult for the historian to describe the one without entering fully upon the other. It remains only then to give the reader here a brief notice of some of those events which served to mark the character of the times generally, as viewed in connexion with religion. The first of these which are worthy of being remarked, was the ardent zeal shewn by vast numbers of the community to engage in what were called the Holy Wars. The object of these was to get possession of Jerusalem and Palestine, of which the Turks had made themselves masters, and where they had exercised much cruelty towards the Christians.

Such was the importance attached to this enterprise; and so warmly was it pressed upon the zealous votaries of superstition as one of the most meritorious description, that multitudes of every class flocked to the standard of the Cross, at the call of Peter the Hermit, and Pope Urban, as well as his successor Gregory the VIII. The tendency of these wars was not only in some respects injurious, by wasting the substance of the state in a foolish undertaking, and training the people to the corrupt habits of a military life, but still more so by increasing the extravagant wealth and power of the Popes and the Clergy at large, who were generally either the purchasers or inheritors of the estates of those who left their country to enlist themselves in this service.

It is a fact, however, worthy of some attention, that about the early part of this period, i. e. in the year A. D. 1159, there appeared a sect in this country to protest against some of the errors of a corrupt church. A company of about thirty men and women, who spake

the German language, attracted the attention of government, by the singularity of their religious practices and opinions. It is indeed very difficult to discover with certainty what these opinions were, because they are recorded only by our monkish historians, who speak of them with much asperity. They were apprehended, and brought before a council of the Clergy at Oxford. Being questioned concerning their religion, their teacher, named Gerard, a man of learning, answered in their name that they were Christians, and believed the doctrines of the Apostles. Upon a more particular inquiry it was found that they denied several of the received doctrines of the Church, as purgatory, prayers for the dead, and the invocation of saints; and refusing to abandon these damnable heresies, as they were called, they were condemned as incorrigible heretics. The King, at the instigation of the Clergy, commanded them to be branded with a red-hot iron on the forehead, to be whipt through the streets of Oxford, and having their clothes cut short by their girdles, to be turned out into the open fields, all persons being forbidden to afford them any shelter or relief under the severest penalties. This cruel sentence was executed in its utmost rigour; and it being in the depth of winter, they all perished with cold and hunger. These seem to have been the first martyrs of the Protestant religion in this country; and their history, though imperfect, is deserving of remembrance, as that of the first forerunnerso fthe Reformation.

During the reign of Henry the II. also lived the famous Thomas-à-Becket, who fell a victim to prejudices of another kind. Raised to the dignity of Archbishop of Canterbury, he was engaged in a long strug

gle with his Sovereign, the purpose of which was to obtain for the Clergy exemption from the jurisdiction of the civil tribunal, and to make them liable only to the censures of the Church, whatever might be their crimes. This dangerous liberty was no less opposed to the lawful rights of the King, than favorable to every species of corruption and profligacy among the Clergy themselves. But Becket, not content with this, at length proceeded a step further. Employing the dangerous weapon of excommunication* (the favorite engine of popes and prelates in this age) against those who supported the King's prerogative, he provoked a spirit of deadly resentment in the bosoms of those who were jealous of the King's honour. The result of this was that he was murdered in his own cathedral by four Knights, who had thought to recommend themselves to Henry by this method of ridding him of one who had long been a thorn in his side. Superstition, however, triumphed in the death as well as the life of this arrogant but courageous prelate. It acquired fresh strength from this deed of unholy violence. The proud King, whose discontent with Becket, too plainly expressed, had instigated if not commanded the deed, was the first to bow beneath the dreaded stroke of the

*

By the sentence of excommunication, first passed upon King John, all persons were forbidden to eat, drink, talk, or counsel with him, or to do him service at bed, or board, in church, hall, or stable. His subjects were absolved from their allegiance, and the King of France was invited to kill or expel him, with a promise of the kingdom to him and to his heirs for ever, and a full remission of sins. A sentence of interdict shut up all the churches, and put a stop to all the services usually held in them. Some notion may be formed of the Papal tyranny from this power which it assumed, and often exercised.

papal displeasure, and openly performed a penance* of the most humiliating nature in the Cathedral of Canterbury.

One immediate consequence to which this event led was Becket's elevation to the character of a martyr. The Church which was polluted with the crime alluded to became, for a long period afterwards, the chosen sanctuary of superstition. No fewer than 600 pounds a year were afterwards offered to the shrine of Becket, and this even when Christ's altar received no offerings. The steps worn with the prints of the superstitious, who crept and kneeled at his shrine, may be seen in the marble floor even to the present day.

Another effect of Becket's murder was to confirm the Papal authority. The court of Rome, it has been observed, gained more in England by the progress of the dispute with him, than it had ever been able to effect against the steadier policy of the Norman kings. For by pursuing a just cause violently and rashly, through right and wrong, Henry involved himself in such difficulties that the appeal at Rome, which he would not allow in his subjects, as being derogatory to his royal dignity, was resorted to in his own case as a necessary resource, and the authority of the Pope

* We give some of the particulars of this penance as affording a striking commentary upon the times.-The monks of the convent, 80 in number, and 4 bishops, abbots, and other clergy, who were present, were provided each with a knotted cord; Henry bared his shoulders, and received five stripes from the Prelates, three from every other hand. When this severe penance had been endured, he threw sackcloth over his bleeding shoulders, and resumed his prayers, kneeling on the bare pavement. One part also of the penance was to drink some water in which a portion of Becket's blood was mingled. And another of no less importance was to assign 40 pounds a year for tapers to burn perpetually before the Martyrs tomb.

to interfere and determine between kings and their subjects was thus acknowledged by the most powerful prince in Europe.

The full triumph of the Papacy remained however to be accomplished in the reign of John, when that weak and wicked monarch yielded the crown into the hands of the Pope's Legate, and by agreeing to pay an annual tribute, confessed himself to be a vassal of the See of Rome, instead of an independent Monarch.* This debasement of the majesty of England was an act so fraught with weakness, that it could not long continue to bind a people who were at that time as much under the sway of the Barons as of the King. Stimulated by their various wrongs, they roused themselves at length to demand, in a manner that could not be resisted, a restoration of those privileges of which the rapacity, as well as the weakness of their Monarch, threatened to deprive them. The result of their firmness was the granting of the great Charter, that code of civil liberty which still forms the basis of our laws: and the first great article of which declares, that the Church of England should be free, and enjoy its whole rights and privileges inviolable. Thus then it pleased divine Providence in its inscrutable wisdom to bring good out of evil. It has been indeed supposed that the Barons at first encouraged, if they did not urge King John, to subject his kingdom to the Roman See; and this because they suspected it would dimi

The annual tribute was a thousand marks. Pandulph the Legate received an earnest of this tribute, (all indeed that was paid of it,) and trampled it under foot, to indicate (with consummate hypocrisy) now little the Pope regarded wealth. The crown however he kept five days before he restored it.