Saint Thomas Becket

BECKET, SAINT THOMAS

Saint Thomas Becket was chancellor of England
and archbishop of Canterbury during the reign
of HENRY II and was martyred following a bitter
battle with the monarchy over royal control of
church law.

Becket was born around 1118 in London,
England, the son of a prosperous London merchant
and his wife who were of Norman ancestry.
He was first educated at a monastery in
Merton, just outside London, and then in London
grammar schools. In his late teens, he was
sent to Paris for further schooling, including the
study of logic, rhetoric, and philosophy. At age
twenty-one, after his mother had died and his
father had lost his fortune, Becket returned to
London and became a city clerk to three sheriffs.
Three years later, in about 1143, his father
introduced him to Theobald, archbishop of
Canterbury. Becket soon joined Theobald’s
household, becoming a clerk and later a close
adviser to the archbishop. In about 1150,
Theobald sent Becket to Italy and France to
study civil and CANON LAW. Upon his return to
Theobald’s court in 1152, Becket was able to
secure the papal letters that prevented the English
king Stephen from crowning his son to be
successor to the throne. Becket’s intervention
permitted Henry II, in 1154, to become the king
of England.

In the same year, Theobald appointed Becket
archdeacon of Canterbury. Less than three
months later, on Theobald’s recommendation
and in gratitude for Becket’s role in helping him
to gain the throne,Henry II named Becket chancellor
of England.

Becket became the king’s most trusted
adviser and a constant and devoted companion.
He was an effective chancellor, leading troops
into war, repairing castles, conducting foreign
policy, and negotiating a marriage between
Prince Henry, son of the king, and the daughter
of King Louis VII of France. Becket lived luxuriously,
holding extravagant receptions and dressing
in splendid clothes. Theobald disapproved of
his protégé’s lavish lifestyle. To Theobald, it was
inappropriate for Becket, who still remained
archdeacon while serving as chancellor, to surround
himself with worldly things. Becket
ignored the concerns of his mentor and even
refused to visit Theobald on his deathbed.
After Theobald died in 1161, Henry
appointed Becket archbishop of Canterbury in
1162. Becket, aware of the influence he now
wielded as a religious leader, promptly abandoned
the trappings of his previous life as chancellor.
He devoted himself to the study of canon
law and to the spiritual obligations of his new
role. He also became involved in a series of
clashes between the church and the state that
put him at odds with King Henry, his closest
friend and confidant.
In late 1163 Henry decided to abolish certain
privileges enjoyed by the clergy, which exempted
them, when they were accused of crimes, from
the jurisdiction of the civil courts. Criminous
clerks, as they were known, were instead allowed to stand trial before a bishop in the ecclesiastical
(church) courts, which usually resulted in much
milder punishments. Under Henry’s reforms, an
accused clerk would be required to appear first
in a civil court to answer the charges. If the clerk
denied the offense and asked to be heard in an
ecclesiastical court, the clerk would then appear
before a bishop. If convicted by the ecclesiastical
court, the clerk would return to the civil court to
face charges as a layperson.
Becket vehemently opposed Henry’s measures.
He maintained that they subjected the
clergy to be punished twice for the same offense:
the clergy, he argued, would lose their clerical
status in the ecclesiastical courts and would also
face secular penalties imposed by the civil
courts. However, under intense pressure from
the monarchy, Becket eventually relented and
agreed verbally to Henry’s proposals.
In January 1164 Henry summoned a convocation
at Clarendon, where he planned to put
his reforms into a document known as the CONSTITUTIONS
OF CLARENDON, and to secure
Becket’s signature. But at the last minute, Becket
repudiated his previous verbal agreement to the
measures and refused to sign the documents, on
the grounds that they violated canon law.
Becket’s defiance incurred the wrath of the king,
who denounced him as a traitor to the throne.
Henry then threatened to imprison Becket or at
least force him to resign as archbishop. Becket,
fearing for his safety, fled to France in late 1164
and remained in exile at Flanders for the next six
years. In France, Becket struck back at Henry by
excommunicating several of his councilors and
threatening to excommunicate the king as well.
In 1169 Henry and Becket attempted a reconciliation,
but Henry soon incensed Becket by
having Roger, the archbishop of York and a rival
of Becket’s, crown Prince Henry as his successor.
Such coronations were traditionally undertaken
by the archbishop of Canterbury. Becket retaliated
by suspending Roger and the other bishops
who participated in the coronation.
In late 1170 Henry and Becket briefly
resolved their differences and Becket returned to
Canterbury amid great fanfare. Almost immediately,
however, officers of the king demanded
that Becket absolve the suspended bishops
involved in Prince Henry’s coronation. Becket
steadfastly refused, maintaining that only the
pope had the authority to give absolution.
The king, by now exasperated with Becket, is
said to have uttered, in a fit of anger,“Will nobody
rid me of this turbulent priest?” Four of his
knights took his plea literally and on December
29, 1170, went to Canterbury, where they confronted
Becket in the cathedral and again
demanded that he absolve the suspended bishops.
Becket refused. The knights beat him over the
head repeatedly with their swords until he died.
Word of Becket’s murder spread quickly, and
his tomb soon became a shrine visited by thousands
of pilgrims. Becket, in his early fifties at
the time of his death, was canonized by Pope
Alexander II in 1173. Henry II did penance at
Canterbury and was absolved of the murder.
The four assassins did fourteen years’ service in
the Holy Land as penance for the crime. A later
English king, Henry III, had Becket’s remains
placed in a more elaborate tomb at Canterbury,
which remained a popular place of pilgrimage.
The religious journeys to Becket’s tomb became
the basis for Chaucer’s masterpiece Canterbury
Tales, which was written almost two hundred
years after Becket’s death.
In 1538 Henry VIII became embroiled in his
own struggles with the church and viewed the
pilgrimages to Becket’s tomb with increasing
hostility. As a result, he had the shrine destroyed
and reportedly had Becket’s bones burned.

FURTHER READINGS
Barlow, Frank. 1986. Thomas Becket. Berkeley: Univ. of California
Press.
Knowles, David. 1971. Thomas Becket. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford
Univ. Press.
Staunton, Michael. 2001. The Lives of Thomas Becket. New
York: Manchester Univ. Press.