Note 282 — Chapter XIV
Reading edition
The monkish poetry was pressed into the service. The following is from a MS. in Balliol College, Oxford. It is of the date, perhaps, of Henry VII.
“Listen, lordlings, both great and small, I will tell you a wonder tale, How Holy Church was brought in bale, Cum magnâ injuriâ. “The greatest clerke in this land, Thomas of Canterbury I understand, Slain he was with wicked hand, Malorum potentiâ. “The knights were sent from Henry the king: That day they did a wicked thing; Wicked men without lesing, Per regis imperia. “They sought the bishop all about, Within his palace and without: Of Jesu Christ they had no doubt, Pro suâ maliciâ. “They opened their mouths woundily wide, They spake to him with much pride: ‘Traitor! here shalt thou abide, Ferens mortis tædia.’ “Before the altar he kneelèd down, And there they pared his crown, And stirred his braines up and down, Optans cœli gaudia.”