Among these attendants were four courtiers or knights, of high birth and large estates, who, hearing these reproachful words, left the court at once, crossed the channel, and repaired to the castle of Sir Ranulf de Broc, the great enemy of Becket, who had molested him in innumerable ways.  Some friendly person contrived to acquaint Becket with his danger, to whom he paid no heed, knowing it very well himself.  He knew he was to die; and resolved to die bravely.

The four armed knights, meanwhile, on the 29th of December, rode with an escort to Canterbury, dined at the Augustinian abbey, and entered the court-yard of the Archbishop’s palace as Becket had finished his mid-day meal and had retired to an inner room with his chaplain and a few intimate friends.  They then entered the hall and sought the Archbishop, who received them in silence.  Sir Reginald Fitzurst then broke the silence with these words:  “We bring you the commands of the King beyond the sea, that you repair without delay to the young King’s presence and swear allegiance.  And further, he commands you to absolve the bishops you have excommunicated.”  On Becket’s refusal, the knight continued:  “Since you will not obey, the royal command is that you and your clergy forthwith depart from the realm, never more to return.”  Becket angrily declared he would never again leave England.  The knights then sprang to their feet and departed, enjoining the attendants to prevent the escape of Becket, who exclaimed:  “Do you think I shall fly, then?  Neither for the King nor any living man will I fly.  You cannot be more ready to kill me than I am to die.”

He sought, however, the shelter of his cathedral, as the vesper bell summoned him to prayers,—­followed by the armed knights, with a company of men-at-arms, driving before them a crowd of monks.  The Archbishop was standing on the steps of the choir, beyond the central pillar, which reached to the roof of the cathedral, in the dim light shed by the candles of the altars, so that only the outline of his noble figure could be seen, when the knights closed around him, and Fitzurst seized him,—­perhaps meaning to drag him away as a prisoner to the King, or outside the church before despatching him.  Becket cried, “Touch me not, thou abominable wretch!” at the same time hurling Tracy, another of the knights, to the ground, who, rising, wounded him in the head with his sword.  The Archbishop then bent his neck to the assassins, exclaiming, “I am prepared to die for Christ and His Church.”

Such was the murder of Becket,—­a martyr, as he has been generally regarded, for the liberties of the Church; but, according to some, justly punished for presumptuous opposition to his sovereign.