Henry advised them to flee to Scotland and they subsequently took refuge in de Morville's Knaresborough Castle in North Yorkshire. It is known that Hugh de Morville, Richard de Breton, and William de Tracy built a church at Alkborough, near Scunthorpe in South Humberside, where, until 1690, an inscribed stone on the chancel recorded the benefaction.
Despite their benefactions they failed to impress Pope Alexander III, and he excommunicated them on Maundy Thursday, 25 March 1171.
The Archbishop's murderers finally gained their audience with the Pope, who, despite their penitence declared they should be exiled and fight in knightly arms in The Temple for 14 years in Jerusalem, and after the given time return to Rome.
A Hugh de Morville appears in the service of the Crusader-king Richard I in the 1190s. It seems probable that this individual is one and the same. He stood hostage for Richard in 1194, when the king had been captured by Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor. As to the other three, there are various stories but no actual proof of what happened to them.
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