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I have long wished to have a just cause for leaving pope Alexander and his perfidious cardinals, who presume to support my traitor, Thomas, formerly archbishop of Canterbury, in his rebellion against me. Wherefore, by the counsel of my barons, I mean to send to Rome the archbishop of York, the bishop of London, and the archdeacon of Poitou, John of Oxford, and Richard de Lucy, to warn the pope from myself and my whole kingdom, no longer to support the cause of my traitor, but to release me from him altogether, and let me have another archbishop of Canterbury in his place. They are also required to revoke all that he has done in this matter, and to make a public decree that the pope, for himself and his successors for ever, shall ratify the constitutions of Henry my grandfather; and if they do not consent to this request, I and my barons and all my clergy will obey him no longer, but will do all we can against him, and any of his party who are found in my dominions shall be expelled. I therefore pray you, as a friend whom I value, to send 12 to us without delay brother Arnold, or brother Ralph the Hospitaller, that they may afford safe conduct to my ambassadors aforesaid through the emperor’s dominions, both in going and returning.
1. Henry II to the Archbishop of Cologne (1166). Latin. Robertson, v. 428, trans. Giles. Reginald, Archbishop of Cologne, was a supporter of the antipope Paschal III. The controversy between Henry and Becket had been brought to a point by the excommunication of Vezelay on June 12, 1166, of John of Oxford and a number of other persons who had been appointed to livings, etc., held by Becket’s clerks. It seems probable that this letter, threatening to support the schism, was written by Henry in his anger at the excommunication. Becket was now living at Pontigny, but was driven from thence by Henry’s threat to confiscate the goods of the Cistercians his hosts, taking refuge at Sens. The gain of Henry II’s territories would have ensured the success of the schism, a fact which exercised a powerful restraining influence over the Pope.