ury was hung in mourning; Becket's
shrine became the most famous in England. The stone pavement, and the
steps leading to it, still show by their deep-worn hollows where
thousands of pilgrims coming from all parts of the kingdom, and from
the Continent even, used to creep on their knees to the saint's tomb
to pray for his intercession.

Henry himself was so far vanquished by the reaction in Becket's favor,
that he gave up any further attempt to formally enforce the
Constitutions of Clarendon (S165), by which he had hoped to establish
a uniform system of administration of justice. But the attempt,
though baffled, was not wholly lost; like seed buried in the soil, it
sprang up and bore good fruit in later generations. However, it was
not until near the close of the reign of George III (1813) that the
civil courts fully and finally prevailed.

171. The King makes his Will; Civil War.

Some years after the murder, the King bequeathed England and Normandy
(SS108, 159) to Prince Henry.[1] He at the same time provided for his
sons Geoffrey and Richard. To John, the youngest of the brothers, he
gave no territory, but requested Henry to grant him several castles,
which the latter refused to do. "It is our fate," said one of the
sons, "that none should love the rest; that is the only inheritance
which will never be taken from us."

[1] After his coronation Prince Henry had the title of Henry III; but
as he died before his father, he never properly became king in his own
right.

It may be that that legacy of hatred was the result of Henry's unwise
marriage with Eleanor, an able but perverse woman, or it may have
sprung from her jealousy of "Fair Rosamond" and other favorites of the
King.[1] Eventually this feeling burst out into civil war. Brother
fought against brother, and Eleanor, conspiring with the King of
France, turned against her husband.

[1] "Fair Rosamond" [Rosa mundi, the Rose of the world (as THEN
interpreted)] was the daughter of Lord Clifford. According to
tradition the King formed an attachment for this lady before his
unfortunate marriage with Eleanor, and constructed a place of
concealment for her in a forest in Woodstock, near Oxford. Some
accounts report that Queen Eleanor discovered her rival and put her to
death. She was buried in the nunnery of Godstow near by. When
Henry's son John became King, he raised a monument to her memory with
the inscription in Latin:
"This tomb