ABSTRACT
A delegation of English churchmen brought Thomas Becket's pallium from the court of Pope Alexander III. The pallium, a band of white wool with two pendants and embroidered with crosses, both symbolized and conveyed the authority of the metropolitan archbishop; receiving it gave full jurisdiction over his province and its bishops, his right to their obedience, and the burden of pastoral care beyond the borders of his own see. Guernes de Pont-Ste-Maxence was a secular cleric from the ile-de-France who was drawn to Canterbury in the wake of Becket's canonization and completed the second version of his Vie de Saint Thomas. The passage in question is given in the appendix, with Janet Shirley's English translation. Guernes's story is as follows: Becket sent the abbot of Evesham, two clerks, and a monk to the papal court. Thomas Becket was denied the experience of promising his allegiance in person, of having the pallium settled onto his shoulders by the pope's own hands.
