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Thomas Becket was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral in the afternoon of December 29, 1170. Thomas Becket's death shocked the whole of the Christian world, and his tomb in Canterbury became an immediate shrine. He was canonised in 1173, and in the following year Henry was forced by the weight of public revulsion to do penance at the saint's tomb. The shrine of St Thomas Becket continued to be popular throughout the Middle Ages. Canterbury's pre-eminence as a place of pilgrimage (immortalised in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales) continued until the shrine was destroyed, probably along with the martyr's remains, under Henry VIII in 1538. St Thomas Becket's feast day is celebrated on December 29 and The Becket School is named after him. |
Thomas Becket was born in London on 21 December around the year 1118. He came from a middle-class Norman family who had settled in England some years before his birth. He was well educated, studying in London at Merton Abbey before completing his studies at the University of Paris. On leaving Paris he was employed as a secretary first by Sir Richer de l'Aigle and then by his kinsman, Osbert Huitdeniers, who was "Justiciar" of London. After his father's death around 1142 he entered the household of Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury, in whose service he performed several delicate missions to Rome. Theobald apparently sent him to Bologna and to Auxerre and financed his education there in civil and canon law (the law of the Church). In 1154 he was ordained deacon and appointed Archdeacon of Canterbury. | In the same year the young Henry II, acting on the advice of Theobald, appointed him Chancellor of England. Thomas was 36 and the King was about twelve years younger. Apart from King Henry and possibly the Justiciar, Becket was effectively the most powerful man in England. Archbishop Theobald and the clergy expected Becket to represent their interests at court, but the Chancellor, who rapidly became an intimate friend of the King, devoted himself largely to secular affairs. He lived in luxury and had a magnificent lifestyle, took an unclerical part on the battlefield in the Toulouse campaign of 1159 and, when at this time a clash of interests arose between Church and State, he usually, but not always, supported the King. He seems at all times to have had clear principles with regard to the claims of the Church, and even during this period of his Chancellorship he more than once risked Henry's grievous displeasure. For example, he opposed the dispensation which Henry for political reasons extorted from the Pope, and strove to prevent the marriage of Mary, Abbess of Romsey, to Matthew of Boulogne. But, to the very limits of what his conscience permitted, Thomas identified himself with the King's interests. It is not surprising, therefore, that when Theobald died in 1161, Henry, who hoped to curb the growth of Church power, nominated his friend to become the Archbishop of Canterbury, the highest ecclesistical post in the land. Becket, foreseeing the conflict that lay ahead, was reluctant to accept, but the King insisted, petitioned the Pope who agreed and, on June 1, 1162, Becket was ordained priest. He was consecrated as Archbishop of Canterbury the next day. |
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Apparently determined to be Archbishop as conscientiously as he had been Chancellor, Becket immediately changed his way of life. He abandoned his worldly ways for a life of extreme asceticism, angered the king by resigning the Chancellorship, and began to work exclusively for the interests of the Church. He soon came into conflict with Henry, and as the tension between the two men mounted, a series of minor disputes developed into a major quarrel. Becket showed open resistance to the king's proposal that a voluntary offering to the sheriffs should be paid into the royal treasury. As the first recorded instance of any determined opposition to the king's arbitrary will in a matter of taxation, the incident is of much constitutional importance. The protest seems to have been successful, but the relations with the king only grew more strained. |
Matters came to a head over the question of punishing "criminous clerks." In 1163, a Canon, accused of murder, was acquitted by a Church Court. The public outcry demanded justice and the Canon was brought before a court of the King. Becket's protest halted this attempt but the action spurred King Henry to change the laws to extend his courts' jurisdiction over the clergy. At the Council of Westminster in 1163, Henry claimed that such clerics, once tried and convicted in the ecclesiastical courts, should be punished by the secular authorities. Becket rejected this claim and also persuaded the other bishops to attach the qualification "saving our order" to their assent to the king's demand that they swear obedience to the (unspecified) "ancient customs" of the realm. Under pressure from the Pope, Becket subsequently withdrew this reservation. The following year Henry codified these customs (including his claim concerning the "criminous clerks") in the Constitutions of Clarendon and Becket, although he refused to sign them, did give his oral assent.
The Constitutions of Clarendon were, for the most part, an accurate statement of the customs governing relations between Church and State in the reign of Henry's grandfather, Henry I. Several of the practices were, however, contrary to Canon Law, and the Pope now refused to approve them. This stiffened Becket's resolution, and he publicly indicated that he had perjured himself at Clarendon. His stand prompted a period of unworthy and vindictive persecution. When opposing a claim made against him by John the Marshal, Thomas, upon a frivolous pretext, was found guilty of contempt of court. For this he was sentenced to pay £500. Other demands for large sums of money followed, and in October 1164, though a complete release of all claims against him as Chancellor had been given on his becoming Archbishop, he received a royal summons to Henry's court at the Council of Northampton. A sum of nearly £30,000 was demanded and he was required to render an account of nearly all the moneys which had passed through his hands when he was Chancellor. His fellow bishops implored him to throw himself unreservedly upon the King's mercy, but Thomas, instead of yielding, solemnly warned them and threatened them. Then, after celebrating Mass, he took hold of his Archiepiscopal Cross and presented himself in the Royal Council Chamber. There in a stormy meeting he openly breached two clauses of the Constitutions; by denying the jurisdiction of the Council over himself and by appealing to the Pope. The King demanded that sentence should be passed upon him, but in the confusion and discussion which ensued Becket, with uplifted cross, made his escape through the mob of angry courtiers. He fled immediately after.
Becket landed in France on 2 November 1164 where he remained in exile for six years. He was cordially welcomed by Louis VII of France. Pope Alexander III, then at Sens, received him on 23 November. The Pope, who had given a cold reception to certain episcopal envoys sent by Henry, welcomed Becket very kindly, and refused to accept his resignation of his See. On 30 November, Thomas took up residence at the Cistercian Abbey of Pontigny in Burgundy, though he was compelled to leave this refuge a year later, as Henry, after confiscating the Archbishop's property and banishing all the Becket kinsfolk, threatened to wreak his vengeance on the whole Cistercian Order if they continued to harbour him.
The negotiations between Henry, the Pope, and the Archbishop dragged on for the next four years without the position being sensibly changed. Although Becket remained firm in his resistance to the principle of the Constitutions of Clarendon, he was willing to make any concessions that could be reasonably asked of him, and on 6 January, 1169, when the Kings of England and France were in conference at Montmirail, he threw himself at Henry's feet but, as he still refused to agree to the Constitutions of Clarendon, this was to no avail. The two former friends appeared to resolve their dispute in 1170 when King Henry and Becket met in Normandy. In June, 1170, Henry had his eldest son crowned by the Archbishop of York, in direct violation of custom and of a papal ban. Becket reacted by threatening, with papal support, to place England under an interdict. Under this threat the king hastily made his peace with his former friend.
The peace did not last long, however. Before returning to England in December 1170, Becket released papal letters suspending the bishops who had taken part in the York coronation. After his return to England he excommunicated them. The King, who was still in France, was infuriated by these actions. In his rage he is purported to have shouted "What sluggards, what cowards have I brought up in my court, who care nothing for their allegiance to their lord. Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest?"
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Four knights of his household acted on his words and sailed to England. They hurried to Canterbury, arrived in the afternoon of December 29, 1170, and immediately searched for Becket. Thomas was found at the altar in the Cathedral where a service was in progress. Edward Grim, a companion of Becket and who carried his cross, was present and injured in the process, records, "The murderers followed him; 'Absolve', they cried, 'and restore to communion those whom you have excommunicated, and restore their powers to those whom you have suspended.' He answered, 'There has been no satisfaction, and I will not absolve them.' 'Then you shall die,' they cried, 'and receive what you deserve.'" The Knights later said that they tried to drag Becket outside to kill him there or take him prisoner. Whatever the truth of the situation they drew their swords and murdered him in the Cathedral and scattered his brains on the stone floor before leaving. |
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