John of Salisbury Blames Satan

John of Salisbury in his hagiography on the Life of Saint Thomas Becket, §12 blames Satan for the Troubles.

James Craigie Robertson. Materials for the History of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury. Cambridge University Press. pp. 273–. ISBN 978-1-108-04926-9.

Patrologia Latina

Ioannes Saresberiensis Alanus Tewkesburiensi

VITA SANCTI THOMAE, AUCTORE IOANNE SALISBURIENSI

Jacques-Paul Migne (1894). Patrologiae cursus completus Latina. Tome 190. Brepols..

Videns autem hostis antiquus tantum virum Ecclesiae Dei plurimum profuturum, invidit, et ne sperata pace terra diutius frueretur, multos et magnos elegit discordiae concitatores: per quos in corde regis et curialium odii seminarium sparsit. (0200C) Orta siquidem his procurantibus quaestione super regni consuetudinibus et iure ecclesiastico, filios perditionis in perniciem sancti viri excitavit qui subvertere moliebantur Ecclesiae libertatem. Sed cum omnes opprimerentur, Cantuariensis Ecclesia ipsum magis angebat, cuius potestati honori et utilitati plurimum derogabatur, insurgentibus in eum primum Rogero Eboracensi archiepiscopo, deinde proceribus multis, et his qui fidelitate et beneficiis Ecclesiae tenebantur obnoxii et ipso rege prohibente saepius et pertinacius ne in subditos culpis exigentibus canonicam iustitiam exerceret. Potestas enim laica in res et personas omnium pro libito ecclesiastico iure contempto, tacentibus aut murmurantibus episcopis, potius quam resistentibus usurpabat. (0200D) Conatus est ergo rex archiepiscopum promissis et blanditiis ad suum inclinare consensum. Sed vir Domini, fundatus in petra et solidatus, nec blanditiis emolliri potuit, ut a cultu iustitiae deviaret, nec minis terreri.

Translation

"Nevertheless the ancient enemy [Satan] when he saw that the very great man of the Church of God [Becket]  would very soon do much good, he became envious. And lest the peace on Earth which was for a long while being enjoyed he [Satan] chose many from the great [of the land], including the king and members of his court, through whose hearts he could use them as instigators of discord, and to scatter seeds of hate, there indeed, by instigating issues over the customs of the realm and the law of the Church, But even though all the Churches were being suppressed, the Church [See] of Canterbury caused him [Becket] the greatest anxiety, most of whose power, honour, and usefulness were being taken away [from it] by the rising up into first place of Roger archbishop of York,  and then by the guilty, including many magnates and those who owed fealty and held benefices of the Church. And even the the king often more stubbornly disallowed the purging of the sins of  his subjects by means of the exercise of canonical justice [Canon Law]. Indeed the temporal power seized goods and persons entirely at its own pleasure holding in contempt ecclesiastical law, with the bishops remaining silent or murmuring, rather than resisting. The king tried with promises and flatteries to incline the archbishop to his point of view. But the man of the Lord, who was founded on rock and firm in intent, neither could he be placated by flatteries, which might deviate him from serving justice, nor could he be terrified by threats."