Thomas Becket ( also
known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London, and later Thomas à Becket;
21 December c. 1119 (or 1120) – 29 December 1170) was Archbishop of
Canterbury from 1162 until his murder in 1170. He is venerated as a saint and martyr by both
the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion. He engaged in
conflict with Henry II, King of England over the rights and privileges of the
Church and was murdered by followers of the king in Canterbury Cathedral. Soon after his
death, he was canonised by Pope Alexander III.
Beginning
when he was 10, Becket was sent as a student to Merton Priory in England and 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. Later, he spent
about a year in Paris
around age 20. He did not, however, study canon or civil law at this time and
his Latin skill always remained somewhat rudimentary. Some time after Becket
began his schooling, Gilbert Beket suffered financial reverses, and the younger
Becket was forced to earn a living as a clerk. Gilbert first secured a place
for his son in the business of a relative – Osbert Huitdeniers – and
then later Becket acquired a position in the household of Theobald of Bec, by
now the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Theobald
entrusted him with several important missions to Rome
and also sent him to Bologna
and Auxerre to study canon law. Theobald in 1154 named Becket Archdeacon of Canterbury, and other ecclesiastical offices included a
number of benefices, prebends at Lincoln Cathedral and St Paul's Cathedral, and the office of Provost
of Beverley. His efficiency in those posts led to Theobald recommending him to
King Henry II for the vacant post of Lord Chancellor, to which Becket was
appointed in January 1155.
As Chancellor, Becket enforced
the king's traditional sources of revenue that were exacted from all landowners, including
churches and bishoprics. King Henry even 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. The younger Henry was reported to have said Becket showed
him more fatherly love in a day than his father did for his entire life.
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. Henry may have hoped that Becket would continue to put the
royal government first, rather than the church. However, the famous
transformation of Becket into an ascetic occurred at this time.
Becket
was ordained a priest on 2 June 1162 at Canterbury,
and on 3 June 1162 was consecrated as archbishop by Henry of Blois, the Bishop
of Winchester and the other suffragan bishops of Canterbury.
A rift
grew between Henry and Becket as the new archbishop 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 that over the jurisdiction of
secular courts over English clergymen, which accelerated antipathy between
Becket and the king. Attempts by Henry to influence the other bishops against
Becket began in Westminster
in October 1163, where the King sought approval of the traditional rights of
the royal government in regard to the church. This led to Clarendon, where
Becket was officially asked to agree to the King's rights or face political
repercussions.
Clarendon
King
Henry II presided over the assemblies of most of the higher English clergy at Clarendon Palace on 30 January 1164. In sixteen
constitutions, he sought less clerical independence and a weaker connection
with Rome. He
employed all his skills to induce their consent and was apparently successful
with all but Becket. Finally, even Becket expressed his willingness to agree to
the substance of the Constitutions of Clarendon, but he still refused to
formally 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.
Henry
pursued the fugitive archbishop with a series of edicts, targeting Becket as
well as all of 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. Becket
fought back by threatening excommunication and 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.
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.
Assassination
In June 1170, Roger de Pont L'Évêque, the archbishop of York,
along with Gilbert Foliot, the Bishop of London, and Josceline de Bohon, the Bishop
of Salisbury, crowned the heir apparent, Henry the Young King, at York. This was a breach
of Canterbury's
privilege of coronation, and in November 1170 Becket excommunicated all three.
While the three clergymen fled to the king in Normandy, Becket continued to excommunicate
his opponents in the church, the news of which also reached Henry II, Henry the
Young King's father.
Upon
hearing reports of Becket's actions, Henry is said to have uttered words that
were interpreted by his men as wishing Becket killed. The king's exact words
are in doubt and several versions have been reported. The most commonly quoted, as handed down by
oral tradition, is "Who will rid me of this troublesome priest?", but
according to historian Simon Schama this is incorrect: he accepts the account
of the contemporary biographer Edward Grim, writing in Latin, who gives us
"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?" Many variations
have found their way into popular culture.
Whatever
Henry said, it was interpreted as a royal command, and four knights, Reginald
FitzUrse, Hugh de Morville, William de Tracy and Richard le Breton, set out to
confront the Archbishop of Canterbury.
On 29
December 1170 they arrived at Canterbury.
According to accounts left by the monk Gervase of Canterbury and eyewitness
Edward Grim, they placed their weapons under a tree outside the cathedral and
hid their mail armour under cloaks before entering to challenge Becket. The
knights informed Becket he was to go to Winchester
to give an account of his actions, but Becket refused. It was not until Becket
refused their demands to submit to the king's will that they retrieved their
weapons and rushed back inside for the killing. Becket, meanwhile, proceeded to
the main hall for vespers. The four knights, wielding drawn swords, caught up
with him 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
Several
contemporary accounts of what happened next exist; of particular note is that
of Edward Grim, who was himself wounded in the attack. This is part of the
account from Edward Grim:
The
wicked knight leapt suddenly upon him, cutting off the top of the crown which
the unction of sacred chrism had dedicated to God. Next he received a second
blow on the head, but still he stood firm and immovable. At the third blow he
fell on his knees and elbows, offering himself a living sacrifice, and saying
in a low voice, "For the name of Jesus and the protection of the Church, I
am ready to embrace death." But the third knight inflicted a terrible
wound as he lay prostrate. By this stroke, the crown of his head was separated
from the head in such a way that the blood white with the brain, and the brain
no less red from the blood, dyed the floor of the cathedral. The same clerk who
had entered with the knights placed his foot on the neck of the holy priest and
precious martyr, and, horrible to relate, scattered the brains and blood about
the pavements, crying to the others, 'Let us away, knights; this fellow will
arise no more.
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Becket
then Langton then Magna Carta
The Plantagenets had never enjoyed a good reputation with the Church. Henry
II had been widely blamed for the death of Thomas Becket, declared a saint
after his murder in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170. Henry and his sons had taxed
the clergy, and had imposed their own courtiers as bishops. In 1205, John
attempted to follow this tradition, demanding the promotion of a royal
favourite as archbishop of Canterbury.
The Pope, Innocent III (1161-1216), refused. Pressured by the Pope, the monks
of Canterbury
elected a man named Stephen Langton (1150-1228). Langton was an Englishmen, but
had spent the past 30 years living and teaching in Paris. There he had used the good and bad
kings of the Bible as models with which to criticize modern kingship. Kings, he
argued, should obey written law. They should tax their subjects only in the
case of dire necessity. They should rule for the public good, not for their own
selfish glory
None of this was acceptable to King John, who refused to allow Langton to
take up office in England.
The Pope replied with a sentence of ‘Interdict’, not just excommunicating the
King and his court, but in effect suspending the operations of the English Church. For six years, from 1209 to
1214, the faithful were denied the sacraments and the dead were refused
Christian burial. The King replied with even heavier taxation against both the
Church and the English barons. Rumours of conspiracy began to mount. Langton
sought refuge in France,
as did various English barons persecuted or accused of treason by King John. A
new consensus was forged between baronial and clerical opposition.
To fend off the threat of a French invasion, and to fulfil his plans for
reconquest in Normandy,
in 1213 John made his peace with the Pope. In what was intended as a diplomatic
master-stroke, he placed himself and his realm under direct papal overlordship.
Henceforth, the Pope would be obliged to protect England against any threat of a
French invasion. Langton was allowed to return from exile. But the King’s wars
in France
were unsuccessful. An expedition was dispatched, paid for with the heavy taxes
of the past 10 years. John himself campaigned in southern France, his
allies in the north. In late June 1214, John was defeated on the Loire. A month later, on 27 July, John’s northern allies
were annihilated at the Battle of Bouvines. Broken and humiliated, John was
once again obliged to slink home to England.
In his absence, many barons had refused to pay the special tax (called
‘scutage’) intended to pay for war in France. Some had begun openly to
demand reform. Keen to protect the privileges of the Church, Archbishop Langton
sought to broker a settlement. According to the chroniclers, it was Langton who
now produced the coronation charter of Henry I (r.1100-35) as a model of the
sort of reforms to which King John should be bound. In 1100, King Henry I of England
had been obliged to agree a series of written promises, to limit his financial
demands, to restore the good laws and customs of the English past, and to
respect the liberties both of his barons and the Church.
So it was that the English opposition in 1214 first began to demand a
charter from King John as a guarantee of future good government. The precise
terms here took many months of discussion. Drafts circulated, and one of them,
known as the Unknown Charter, preserved today in the national archives of France, takes
the form of a copy of Henry I’s coronation charter followed by a series of
clauses to which King John is said to have agreed. The very first of these
clauses, undertaking that the King ‘will arrest no man without judgment nor
accept any payment for justice nor commit any unjust act’, later made up one of
the central demands enshrined in Magna Carta.
By January 1215, the English barons were openly united against the King.
Many of their chief spokesmen came from the north of England, a region particularly
resentful of royal interference. As a result, the opposition became known
collectively as ‘The Northerners’, even though only a proportion of its
fighting strength came from the north. In early May, with the King still
seeking delay, the barons declared war. Renouncing their allegiance to John,
they seized the city of London.
From this point onwards, the King had little choice but to negotiate. London
was not only essential to royal government, but with London in rebel hands
there was a real threat the rebels might depose the King and place a French
pretender on his throne. So it was that barons and king converged upon
Runnymede, mid-way between London and the King’s
castle at Windsor.
Here, following several days of negotiation, written terms were agreed and
sealed with the King’s seal. We know this document as the ‘Articles of the
Barons’ because it remained merely a draft, setting out a series of clauses,
but as yet not issued in the King’s own name. It survives, almost miraculously,
preserved by Archbishop Langton in his archive at Lambeth
Palace, London,
and thence, after various adventures, gifted to the British Museum
in 1769. It was this document that, by 15 June 1215, was rewritten into the
great charter of liberties known as Magna Carta.
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See also the September 15, 2015 entry for this blog
about the 1964 movie, Becket, which
received 12 Academy Award nominations.
