Thomas Becket
Template:Short description Template:Bots Template:Hatnote group Template:Pp-pc Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Infobox Christian leader Thomas Becket (Template:IPAc-en), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London<ref name=ODNB/> and later Thomas à BecketTemplate:Refn (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), was an English cleric and statesman who served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and then as Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 until his death in 1170. He is known for his conflict with King Henry II over the rights and privileges of the Church and was murdered by followers of the king in Canterbury Cathedral. He was canonised by Pope Alexander III two years after his death. He is venerated as a saint and martyr by the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion.
Sources
The main sources for the life of Becket are a number of biographies written by contemporaries. A few of these documents are by unknown writers, although traditional historiography has given them names. The known biographers are John of Salisbury, Edward Grim, Benedict of Peterborough, William of Canterbury, William fitz Stephen, Guernes of Pont-Sainte-Maxence, Robert of Cricklade, Alan of Tewkesbury, Benet of St Albans, and Herbert of Bosham. The other biographers, who remain anonymous, are generally given the pseudonyms of Anonymous I, Anonymous II (or Anonymous of Lambeth), and Anonymous III (or Lansdowne Anonymous).
Besides these accounts, there are also two others that are likely contemporary that appear in the Quadrilogus II and the Template:Lang. Besides these biographies, there is also the mention of the events of Becket's life in the chronicles of the time. These include Robert of Torigni's work, Roger of Howden's Template:Lang and Template:Lang, Ralph de Diceto's works, William of Newburgh's Template:Lang, and Gervase of Canterbury's works.<ref name="Barlow3">Barlow Thomas Becket pp. 3–9.</ref> Another account appears in Template:Lang ("Conquest of Ireland", 1189) by Gerald of Wales.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Early life
Becket was born c. 1119<ref>Butler and Walsh Butler's Lives of the Saints p. 430</ref> (or 1120 according to later tradition)<ref name=ODNB/> at Cheapside, London, on 21 December, the feast day of Thomas the Apostle. He was the son of Gilbert and Matilda Template:Not a typo.Template:Refn Gilbert's father was from Thierville in the lordship of Brionne in Normandy and was either a small landowner or a petty knight.<ref name=ODNB/> Matilda was also of Norman descent<ref>Barlow Thomas Becket p. 11.</ref> – her family may have originated near Caen. Gilbert was perhaps related to Theobald of Bec, whose family was also from Thierville. Gilbert began his life as a merchant, perhaps in textiles, but by the 1120s he was living in London and was a property owner, living on the rental income from his properties. He also served as the sheriff of the city at some point.<ref name=ODNB>Barlow "Becket, Thomas (1120?–1170)" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography</ref> Becket's parents were buried in Old St Paul's Cathedral.
One of Becket's father's wealthy friends, Richer de L'Aigle, often invited Thomas to his estates in Sussex where Becket encountered hunting and hawking. According to Grim, Becket learned much from Richer, who was later a signatory of the Constitutions of Clarendon against him.<ref name=ODNB/>
At age 10, Becket was sent as a student to Merton Priory south-west of the city in Surrey. He later attended a grammar school in London, perhaps the one at St Paul's Cathedral. He did not study any subjects beyond the trivium and quadrivium at these schools. Around age 20, he spent about a year in Paris, but he did not study canon or civil law at the time, and his Latin skill remained somewhat rudimentary. Some time after Becket began his schooling, his father suffered financial reverses, and Becket was forced to earn a living as a clerk; with the help of his father he secured a place in the business of a relative. Later Becket acquired a position in the household of Archbishop of Canterbury Theobald of Bec.<ref name=ODNB/>
Theobald entrusted him with several important missions to Rome and also sent him to Bologna and Auxerre to study canon law. In 1154, Theobald named Becket Archdeacon of Canterbury, and other ecclesiastical offices included benefices, prebends at Lincoln Cathedral and St Paul's Cathedral, and provost of Beverley. His efficiency in those posts led Theobald to recommend him to King Henry II for the vacant post of Lord Chancellor,<ref name=ODNB/> to which Becket was appointed in January 1155.<ref name=Handbook84>Fryde, et al. Handbook of British Chronology p. 84.</ref>
As chancellor, Becket enforced the king's traditional sources of revenue that were exacted from all landowners, including churches and bishoprics.<ref name=ODNB/> King Henry sent his son Henry to live in Becket's household, it being the custom then for noble children to be fostered out to other noble houses.Template:Citation needed
Primacy
Becket was nominated as Archbishop of Canterbury in 1162, several months after the death of Theobald. His election was confirmed on 23 May 1162 by a royal council of bishops and noblemen.<ref name=ODNB/> Henry may have hoped that Becket would continue to put royal government first rather than the church, but the famed transformation of Becket into an ascetic occurred at this time.<ref name=Huscroft192>Huscroft Ruling England pp. 192–195.</ref>
- Becket enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury from a Nottingham Alabaster in the Victoria & Albert Museum
Becket was ordained a priest on 2 June 1162 at Canterbury, and on 3 June he was consecrated as archbishop by Henry of Blois, the Bishop of Winchester and the other suffragan bishops of Canterbury.<ref name=ODNB/>
A rift grew between Henry and Becket as Becket resigned his chancellorship and sought to recover and extend the rights of the archbishopric. This led to a series of conflicts with the king, including one over the jurisdiction of secular courts over English clergymen, which accelerated antipathy between Becket and the king. Attempts by Henry to influence other bishops against Becket began in Westminster Abbey in October 1163, where the king sought approval of the traditional rights of royal government in regard to the church.<ref name=ODNB/> This led to the Constitutions of Clarendon in 1164, where Becket was officially asked to agree to the king's rights or face political repercussions.
Constitutions of Clarendon
King Henry II presided over assemblies of most of the higher English clergy at Clarendon Palace on 30 January 1164. In 16 constitutions he sought less clerical independence and weaker connections with Rome. He used his skills to induce their consent and apparently succeeded with all but Becket. Finally, even Becket expressed willingness to agree to the substance of the Constitutions of Clarendon, but he still refused formally to sign the documents. Henry summoned Becket to appear before a great council at Northampton Castle on 8 October 1164, to answer allegations of contempt of royal authority and malfeasance in the chancellor's office. Convicted on the charges, Becket stormed out of the trial and fled to the Continent.<ref name=ODNB/>
Henry pursued the fugitive archbishop with a series of edicts, targeting Becket and all Becket's friends and supporters, but King Louis VII of France offered Becket protection. He spent nearly two years in the Cistercian abbey of Pontigny until Henry's threats against the order obliged him to return to Sens.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Becket fought back by threatening excommunication and an interdict against the king and bishops and the kingdom, but Pope Alexander III, though sympathising with him in theory, favoured a more diplomatic approach. Papal legates were sent in 1167 with authority to act as arbitrators.<ref name="ODNB" /> In 1170, Alexander sent delegates to impose a solution to the dispute. At that point, Henry offered a compromise that would allow Thomas to return to England from exile.<ref name=ODNB/>
Assassination
On 14 June 1170 Roger de Pont L'Évêque, Archbishop of York, was at Westminster Abbey<ref>Duggan; Thomas Becket page 182: Barlow; Thomas Becket p.206 </ref> with Gilbert Foliot, Bishop of London, and Josceline de Bohon, Bishop of Salisbury, to crown the heir apparent, Henry the Young King. This breached Canterbury's privilege of coronation, and in November 1170 Becket excommunicated all three.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
On hearing reports of Becket's actions, Henry II is said to have uttered words interpreted by his men as wishing Becket killed.<ref name=Huscroft194>Huscroft Ruling England p. 194.</ref> The exact wording is in doubt, and several versions were reported.<ref name=Warren508>Warren Henry II p. 508.</ref> The most commonly quoted, as invented in 1740 and handed down by oral tradition, is "Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?",<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> but according to historian Simon Schama this is incorrect: he accepts the account of the contemporary biographer Grim, writing in Latin, who gives, "What miserable drones and traitors have I nourished and brought up in my household, who let their lord be treated with such shameful contempt by a low-born cleric?"<ref name="Schama1">Schama History of Britain p. 142.</ref> Many other variants have found their way into popular culture.
Regardless of what Henry said, it was interpreted as a royal command. Four knights<ref name=Huscroft194/>—Reginald FitzUrse, Hugh de Morville, William de Tracy and Richard le Breton<ref name=ODNB/>—set out to confront Becket. On 29 December 1170 they arrived at Canterbury. According to accounts by the monk Gervase of Canterbury and eyewitness Grim, the knights placed their weapons under a tree outside the cathedral and hid their armour under cloaks before entering to challenge Becket. The knights told Becket he was to go to Winchester to give an account of his actions, but Becket refused. When he refused their demands to submit to the king's will, they retrieved their weapons and rushed back inside.<ref name=APS>Stanley Historical Memorials of Canterbury pp. 53–55.</ref> Becket, meanwhile, proceeded to the Cathedral for vespers. The other monks tried to bolt themselves in for safety, but Becket said to them, "It is not right to make a fortress out of the house of prayer!", ordering them to reopen the doors.
The four knights, wielding drawn swords, ran into the room crying, "Where is Thomas Becket, traitor to the king and country?" They found Becket in a spot near a door to the monastic cloister, the stairs into the crypt, and the stairs leading up into the quire of the cathedral, where the monks were chanting vespers.<ref name=ODNB/> On seeing them Becket said, "I am no traitor and I am ready to die." One knight grabbed him and tried to pull him outside, but Becket grabbed onto a pillar and bowed his head to make peace with God.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Several contemporary accounts of what happened next exist; of particular note is that of Grim, who was wounded in the attack. This is part of his account:
After Becket's death
After his death, the monks prepared Becket's body for burial.<ref name=ODNB/> According to some accounts, it was found that Becket had worn a hairshirt under his archbishop's garments – a sign of penance.<ref>Grim, Benedict of Peterborough and William fitzStephen are quoted in Douglas, et al. English Historical Documents 1042–1182 Vol. 2, p. 821.</ref> Soon after, the faithful throughout Europe began venerating Becket as a martyr, and on 21 February 1173 – little more than two years after his death – he was canonised by Pope Alexander III in St Peter's Church, Segni.<ref name=ODNB/> In 1173, Becket's sister Mary was appointed abbess of Barking as reparation for the murder of her brother.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> On 12 July 1174, amidst the Revolt of 1173–1174, Henry humbled himself in public penance at Becket's tomb and at St Dunstan's Church, Canterbury, which became a popular pilgrimage site.Template:Citation needed
Becket's assassins fled north to de Morville's Knaresborough Castle for about a year. De Morville also held property in Cumbria, and this too may have provided a hiding place, as the men prepared for a longer stay in the separate kingdom of Scotland. They were not arrested and Henry did not confiscate their lands, but he did not help them when they sought his advice in August 1171. Pope Alexander excommunicated all four. Seeking forgiveness, the assassins travelled to Rome, where Alexander ordered them to serve as knights in the Holy Lands for a period of 14 years.<ref name="Barlow pp. 257">Barlow Thomas Becket pp. 257–258.</ref>
This sentence also inspired the Knights of Saint Thomas, incorporated in 1191 at Acre and which was to be modelled on the Teutonic Knights. This was the only military order native to England (with chapters in Acre, London, Kilkenny, and Nicosia), just as the Gilbertine Order was the only monastic order native to England.
The monks were afraid Becket's body might be stolen, and so his remains were placed beneath the floor of the eastern crypt of the cathedral.<ref name="Barlow pp. 257"/> A stone cover over it had two holes where pilgrims could insert their heads and kiss the tomb,<ref name=ODNB/> as illustrated in the "Miracle Windows" of the Trinity Chapel. A guard chamber (now the Wax Chamber) had a clear view of the grave. In 1220 Becket's bones were moved to a gold-plated, bejewelled shrine behind the high altar in the recently built Trinity Chapel.<ref name="angl_Beck">Template:Cite web</ref> The golden casket was placed on a pink marble base with prayer niches raised on three steps.<ref>Jenkins 'Modelling the Cult of Thomas Becket', pp. 104–114.</ref> Canterbury's religious history had always brought many pilgrims, and after Becket's death the numbers rapidly rose.Template:Citation needed
Cult in the Middle Ages
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In Dublin, the Abbey of St Thomas the Martyr was built in 1177 for the Augustines.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In Scotland, King William the Lion ordered the building of Arbroath Abbey in 1178. On completion in 1197 the new foundation was dedicated to Becket, whom the king had known personally while at the English court as a young man.Template:Cn
The translation of Becket's body occurred on 7 July 1220, the 50th jubilee year of his death, and was "one of the great symbolic events in the life of the medieval English Church", attended by King Henry III, the papal legate, Archbishop of Canterbury Stephen Langton, and many dignitaries and magnates, both secular and ecclesiastical.Template:Cn A "major new feast day was instituted, commemorating the translation... celebrated each July almost everywhere in England and in many French churches."<ref>Template:Cite journal Quoting pp. 118–119.</ref> It was suppressed in 1536 with the Reformation.<ref>Template:Cite journal Especially p. 592.</ref> The shrine was destroyed in 1538 during the dissolution of the monasteries on orders from King Henry VIII.<ref name="ODNB" /><ref name="cch">Template:Cite web</ref> He also destroyed Becket's bones and ordered all mention of his name obliterated.<ref name="cch" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
A cult began, which included drinking of "water of Saint Thomas", a mix of water and the remains of the martyr's blood miraculously multiplied. The procedure was frowned upon by the more orthodox, due to the similarities with the eucharist of the blood of Jesus.<ref name="Harvey">Template:Cite journal</ref> The saint's fame quickly spread through the Norman world. The first holy image of Becket is thought to be a mosaic icon still visible in Monreale Cathedral in Sicily, created shortly after his death. Becket's cousins obtained refuge at the Sicilian court during their exile, and King William II of Sicily wed a daughter of Henry II. Marsala Cathedral in western Sicily is dedicated to Becket. Over 45 medieval chasse reliquaries decorated in champlevé enamel showing similar scenes from Becket's life survive, including the Becket Casket, constructed to hold relics of him at Peterborough Abbey and now housed in London's Victoria and Albert Museum.Template:Cn
As the scion of a mercantile dynasty of later centuries, Mercers, Becket was much regarded as a Londoner by citizens and adopted as London's co-patron saint with Saint Paul: both appear on the seals of the city and of the Lord Mayor.Template:Cn The Bridge House Estates seal has only a Becket image, while his martyrdom is shown on the reverse.Template:Cn
Legacy
- In 1170 King Alfonso VIII of Castille married Eleanor Plantagenet, second daughter of Henry II and Eleanor, Queen of England and Duchess of Aquitaine. She honoured Becket with a wall painting of his martyrdom that survives in the church of San Nicolás de Soria in Spain.<ref>Enciclopedia del románico en Castilla y León: Soria III. Fundación Santa María la Real – Centro de Estudios del Románico, pp. 961, 1009–1017.</ref> Becket's assassination made an impact in Spain: within five years of his death Salamanca had a church named after him, Iglesia de Santo Tomás Cantuariense. Monumental frescoes with the martyrdom of Becket were depicted in the romanesque church of Santa Maria in Terrassa.
- Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales features a company of pilgrims travelling from Southwark to Becket's shrine in Canterbury Cathedral.
- The story of Becket's life became a popular theme for medieval Nottingham alabaster carvers. One set of Becket panels is shown in the Victoria and Albert Museum.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- The arms of the city of Canterbury, officially registered in 1619 but dating back to at least 1380, is based on the attributed arms of Becket: Argent, three Cornish choughs proper, with the addition of a chief gules charged with a lion passant guardant or from the Royal Arms of England.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- In 1884 Alfred, Lord Tennyson wrote Becket, a play about Becket and Henry II that Henry Irving produced after Tennyson's death and played in the title role.<ref>Template:Cite DNB12</ref> Modern works based on the Becket story include: T. S. Eliot's play Murder in the Cathedral, adapted as the opera Template:Lang by Ildebrando Pizzetti; Jean Anouilh's play Becket, where Becket is not a Norman but a Saxon, adapted for the screen in 1964, and starring Peter O'Toole and Richard Burton; and Paul Webb's play Four Nights in Knaresborough, which Webb adapted for the screen, selling the rights to Harvey and Bob Weinstein.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The power struggle between Church and King is a theme of Ken Follett's novel The Pillars of the Earth, where a late scene features the murder of Becket. An oratorio by David Reeves, Becket – The Kiss of Peace, was premièred in 2000 at Canterbury Cathedral, where the event had occurred, as a part of the Canterbury Festival, and a fundraiser for the Prince's Trust.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a non-profit, non-partisan legal and educational institute in the United States fostering free expression for religious traditions took its inspiration from Becket.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- In 2005 a poll of historians by BBC History magazine of the "worst Briton" in each century of the last 1,000 years selected Becket as the worst of the 12th century.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The following year the magazine polled its readers which of the ten selected by historians was the worst of the last millennium. Becket came second behind Jack the Ripper. The editor of the magazine suggested that Becket and the Ripper had been chosen because they were the best known names, and few would have heard of most of the other candidates.<ref name="bbcworst">Template:Cite news</ref>
- The many UK churches dedicated to Becket include Cathedral Church of St Thomas of Canterbury, Portsmouth, St Thomas of Canterbury Church, Canterbury,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Church of St Thomas the Martyr, Monmouth,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> St Thomas à Becket Church, Pensford,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> St Thomas à Becket Church, Widcombe,<ref>Template:NHLE</ref> Church of St Thomas à Becket, Capel,<ref name="cct_stb">Template:Cite web</ref> St Thomas the Martyr, Bristol,<ref name="cct_stm">Template:Cite web</ref> and St Thomas the Martyr's Church, Oxford.<ref name="near">Template:Cite web</ref> Those in France include Église Saint-Thomas de Cantorbéry at Mont-Saint-Aignan, Upper-Normandy,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Église Saint-Thomas-Becket at Gravelines (Nord-Pas-de-Calais), Église Saint-Thomas Becket at Avrieux (Rhône-Alpes), and Église Saint-Thomas Becket at Bénodet (Brittany),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Among his obligations in contrition to Henry, William de Tracy much enlarged and re-dedicated to St Thomas of Canterbury the parish church in Lapford, Devon, in his manor of Bradninch. The martyrdom day is still marked by a Lapford Revel.Template:Citation needed
- British schools named after Becket include Becket Keys Church of England School and St Thomas of Canterbury Church of England Aided Primary School. British hospitals include St Thomas' Hospital.
- Part of the Hungarian city of Esztergom is named Szenttamás ("Saint Thomas"), on a hill called "Szent Tamás" dedicated to Thomas Becket – a classmate of Lucas, Archbishop of Esztergom in Paris.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
- In the treasury of Fermo Cathedral is the Fermo chasuble of Thomas Becket, on display at Museo Diocesano.
- Becket is honoured in the Church of England and in the Episcopal Church on 29 December.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
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Wall painting of Thomas Becket's martyrdom painted in the 1330s in the parish church of St Peter ad Vincula, South Newington, Oxfordshire
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Thomas Becket in clerestory of Church of the Good Shepherd (Rosemont, Pennsylvania)
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Baptismal font depicting Henry II of England ordering the murder of Thomas Becket (Lyngsjö Church, Sweden, late 12th century)
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Explanatory notes
References
Footnotes
Bibliography
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Further reading
Biographies
- Anne Duggan, 2005, Thomas Becket, London: Hodder Arnold
- John Guy, 2012, Thomas Becket: Warrior, Priest, Rebel, Random House
- David Knowles 1970, Thomas Becket, London: Adam & Charles Black
- Richard Winston, 1967, Thomas Becket, New York: Alfred A. Knopf
Historiography
- James W. Alexander, "The Becket controversy in recent historiography", Journal of British studies 9.2 (1970): 1–26. in JSTOR
- Anne Duggan, 1980, Thomas Becket: A Textual History of his Letters, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- Anne Duggan, ed., 2000, The Correspondence of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury (1162–1170). 2 vols, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- Carles Sánchez Márquez, 2021, A painted tragedy. The martyrdom of Thomas Becket in Santa Maria de Terrassa and the diffusion of its cult in the Iberian Peninsula, La Seu d'Urgell: Anem Editors
External links
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- Edward Grim's account of the murder of Thomas Becket at Internet History Sourcebooks Project
- Beckets Bits, photographs and locations of twenty of the surviving medieval Limoges enamel chasses for relics of Becket
- Daily Telegraph:On this day in 1170: Thomas Becket is murdered in Canterbury Cathedral, and becomes a martyr
- BBC In Our Time: Thomas Becket
- The Passion and Miracles of St. Thomas Becket by Benedict of Peterborough, translated by Rachel Koopmans. Woodbridge, 2025, Template:ISBN. [Open Access].
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