Extract VII

The doers of evil, drunk on the effusion of innocent blood but no less thirsty for works of greed, ran back as quickly as they could, with their accomplices, to the palace of the archbishop. Some violently removed horses from the stables, others struck his servants, others went through all the furniture of the house and broke open packsaddles and chests. Whatever they found of gold or silver, clothing or various ornaments, they divided amongst themselves according to their individual desires. It pleased divine piety, which mightily and wisely disposes all things, that they were in this way made imitators of those who divided Christ’s clothing amongst themselves, so that they might make the passion of the servant more similar to the passion of the Lord.1 All of the Gospel writers described how the soldiers who crucified Jesus cast lots for his clothing: see Matthew 27:35, Mark 15:24, Luke 23:34, and John 19:23–4. By the clear similarities between these events, all the faithful might recognize that the church should be released from the world’s servitude by the martyr’s blood, just as the church was redeemed from the devil’s power by Christ’s death. Moreover, all the deeds and privileges that the malicious men found were given to that son of perdition, Ranulf de Broc, to be conveyed to the king in Normandy. This was so that he could, according to his will, tear into pieces, or never allow to be seen, those that seemed to be contrary to the customs of his realm, or those that protected the liberty of the universal church or the privileges of the church of Canterbury. And the knights certainly did these things.