Thomas Becket
Saint Thomas Becket | |
---|---|
| |
Patronage | |
Shrines | Canterbury Cathedral |
Cult suppressed | 1538 (by Henry VIII) |
Lord Chancellor | |
In office 1155–1162 | |
Monarch | Henry II |
Preceded by | Robert of Ghent |
Succeeded by | Geoffrey Ridel |
Thomas Becket (/ˈbɛkɪt/), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London[1] and later Thomas à Becket[note 1] (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and then notably as Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 until his death in 1170. 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. 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
Early life
Becket was born c. 1119,[4] or in 1120 according to later tradition,[1] at Cheapside, London, on 21 December, the feast day of St Thomas the Apostle. He was the son of Gilbert and Matilda Beket.[note 2] Gilbert's father was from Thierville in the lordship of Brionne in Normandy, and was either a small landowner or a petty knight.[1] Matilda was also of Norman descent[2] – 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.[1] 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.[1]
At the age of 10, Becket was sent as a student to
Theobald entrusted him with several important missions to Rome and also sent him to
As Chancellor, Becket enforced the king's traditional sources of revenue that were exacted from all landowners, including churches and bishoprics.[1] 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.[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.
Becket was ordained a priest on 2 June 1162 at Canterbury, and on 3 June 1162 was
A rift grew between Henry and Becket as the new archbishop resigned his
Constitutions of Clarendon
King Henry II presided over assemblies of most of the higher English clergy at
Henry pursued the fugitive archbishop with a series of
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.[1]
Assassination
In June 1170, Roger de Pont L'Évêque, Archbishop of York, was at York 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.[10]
On hearing reports of Becket's actions, Henry II is said to have uttered words interpreted by his men as wishing Becket killed.[11] The exact wording is in doubt and several versions were reported.[12] The most commonly quoted, as invented in 1740 and handed down by oral tradition, is "Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?",[13] but according to historian Simon Schama this is incorrect: he accepts the account of the contemporary biographer Edward 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?"[14] Many other variants have found their way into popular culture.
Regardless of what Henry said, it was interpreted as a royal command. Four knights,
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.[1] 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.[16]
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:
...the impious knight... suddenly set upon him and [shaved] off the summit of his crown which the sacred chrism consecrated to God... Then, with another blow received on the head, he remained firm. But with the third the stricken martyr bent his knees and elbows, offering himself as a living sacrifice, 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 grave wound on the fallen one; with this blow... his crown, which was large, separated from his head so that the blood turned white from the brain yet no less did the brain turn red from the blood; it purpled the appearance of the church... The fifth – not a knight but a cleric who had entered with the knights... placed his foot on the neck of the holy priest and precious martyr and (it is horrible to say) scattered the brains with the blood across the floor, exclaiming to the rest, "We can leave this place, knights, he will not get up again."[17]
Another account appears in Expugnatio Hibernica ("Conquest of Ireland", 1189) by
After Becket's death
After his death, the monks prepared Becket's body for burial.
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 the Pope ordered them to serve as knights in the Holy Lands for a period of 14 years.[21]
This sentence also inspired the
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.[21] A stone cover over it had two holes where pilgrims could insert their heads and kiss the tomb,[1] 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 new gold-plated, bejewelled shrine behind the high altar in the Trinity Chapel.[22] The shrine was supported by three pairs of pillars on a raised platform with three steps. This is shown in one of the miracle windows. Canterbury's religious history had always brought many pilgrims, and after Becket's death the numbers rapidly rose further.
Cult in the Middle Ages
This section needs additional citations for verification. (December 2017) |
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.
On 7 July 1220, the 50th jubilee year of his death, Becket's remains were moved from his first tomb to a shrine in the recently built Trinity Chapel.[1] This translation was "one of the great symbolic events in the life of the medieval English Church", attended by King Henry III, the papal legate, the Archbishop of Canterbury Stephen Langton and many dignitaries and magnates secular and ecclesiastical.
So a "major new feast day was instituted, commemorating the translation... celebrated each July almost everywhere in England and in many French churches."[24] It was suppressed in 1536 with the Reformation.[25]
The shrine was destroyed in 1538 during the
As the scion of a mercantile dynasty of later centuries,
The cult included the
Local legends regarding Becket arose after his canonisation. Though they tend towards typical hagiography, they also display Becket's well-known gruffness. "Becket's Well", in Otford, Kent, is said to have been created after Becket had been displeased by the taste of the local water. Two springs of clear water are said to have bubbled up after he struck the ground with his crozier. The absence of nightingales in Otford is also ascribed to Becket, who is said to have been so disturbed in his devotions by the song of a nightingale that he commanded that none sing in the town ever again. In the town of Strood, Kent, Becket is said to have caused the inhabitants and their descendants to be born with tails. The men of Strood had sided with the king in his struggles against the archbishop, and to demonstrate their support had cut off the tail of Becket's horse as he passed through the town.
The saint's fame quickly spread through the
Legacy
- In 1170 King 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.[29]
- 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 Thomas 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.[30][31][32]
- The arms of the City of Royal Arms of England.[33]
- In 1884, England's poet laureate Alfred, Lord Tennyson wrote Becket, a play about Thomas Becket and Henry II that Henry Irving produced after Tennyson's death and played in the title role.[34]
- Modern works based on the Becket story include:
- The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a non-profit, non-partisan legal and educational institute fostering free expression for religious traditions took its inspiration from Thomas Becket.[38]
- In a 2006 poll by
- The many UK churches dedicated to Thomas Becket include Cathedral Church of St Thomas of Canterbury, Portsmouth, St Thomas of Canterbury Church, Canterbury,[42] Church of St Thomas the Martyr, Monmouth,[43] St Thomas à Becket Church, Pensford,[44] St Thomas à Becket Church, Widcombe,[45] Church of St Thomas à Becket, Capel,[46] St Thomas the Martyr, Bristol,[47] and St Thomas the Martyr's Church, Oxford.[48] Those in France include Église Saint-Thomas de Cantorbéry at Mont-Saint-Aignan, Upper-Normandy,[49] 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),[50]
- 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.[citation needed]
- British schools named after Thomas Becket include Becket Keys Church of England School and St Thomas of Canterbury Church of England Aided Primary School.
- British hospitals named after Thomas Becket 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.[51]
- In the treasury of the Fermo chasuble of St. Thomas Becket, on display at Museo Diocesano
- Thomas Becket is honoured in the
-
Wall painting of Thomas Becket's martyrdom painted in the 1330s in the parish church of St Peter ad Vincula, South Newington, Oxfordshire
See also
Explanatory notes
- ^ The name "Thomas à Becket" is not contemporary. It appears to be a post-Reformation creation, possibly modelled on Thomas à Kempis.[2]
- ^ There is a legend that claims Thomas's mother was a Saracen princess who met and fell in love with his English father while he was on Crusade or pilgrimage in the Holy Land, followed him home, was baptised and married him. This story has no truth to it, being a fabrication from three centuries after the saint's martyrdom, inserted as a forgery into Edward Grim's 12th-century Life of St Thomas.[5][6] Matilda is occasionally known as Rohise.[1]
References
Footnotes
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Barlow "Becket, Thomas (1120?–1170)" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
- ^ a b Barlow Thomas Becket pp. 11–12.
- ^ Barlow Thomas Becket pp. 3–9.
- ^ Butler and Walsh Butler's Lives of the Saints p. 430
- ^ Staunton Lives of Thomas Becket p. 29.
- ^ Hutton Thomas Becket – Archbishop of Canterbury p. 4.
- ^ Fryde, et al. Handbook of British Chronology p. 84.
- ^ Huscroft Ruling England pp. 192–195.
- ^ "V&A plaque", with latest count; Binski, 225, with a catalogue entry on one in the Burrell Collection in Glasgow.
- ISBN 9780520034945.
- ^ a b Huscroft Ruling England p. 194.
- ^ Warren Henry II p. 508.
- .
- ^ Schama History of Britain p. 142.
- ^ Stanley Historical Memorials of Canterbury pp. 53–55.
- ISBN 978-0-19-849464-5.
- ^ Lee This Sceptred Isle p. 97.
- ^ Forester, Thomas (2001). Giraldus Cambrensis – The Conquest of Ireland. Cambridge, Ontario: In Parentheses Publications.
- ^ Grim, Benedict of Peterborough and William fitzStephen are quoted in Douglas, et al. English Historical Documents 1042–1182 Vol. 2, p. 821.
- ^ William Page & J. Horace Round, ed. (1907). 'Houses of Benedictine nuns: Abbey of Barking', A History of the County of Essex: Volume 2. pp. 115–122.
- ^ a b Barlow Thomas Becket pp. 257–258.
- ^ Drake, Gavin (23 May 2016). "Becket's bones return to Canterbury Cathedral". anglicannews.org. Retrieved 23 May 2016.
- ISBN 978-84-122385-7-0.
- S2CID 162716876. Quoting pp. 118–119.
- S2CID 201743927. Especially p. 592.
- ^ a b "The Origins of Canterbury Cathedral". Dean and Chapter of Canterbury Cathedral. Retrieved 10 November 2011.
- ^ "The Martyrdom of Saint Thomas Becket (Getty Museum)". The J. Paul Getty in Los Angeles. Archived from the original on 9 July 2007.
- S2CID 193137069. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
- ^ Enciclopedia del románico en Castilla y León: Soria III. Fundación Santa María la Real – Centro de Estudios del Románico, pp. 961, 1009–1017.
- ^ "St Thomas Becket landing at Sandwich (Relief)". Victoria & Albert Museum. Retrieved 26 December 2018.
- ^ "St Thomas Becket meeting the Pope (Panel)". Victoria & Albert Museum. Retrieved 26 December 2018.
- ^ "Consecration of St Thomas Becket as archbishop (Panel)". Victoria & Albert Museum. Retrieved 26 December 2018.
- ^ "Canterbury (England) – Coat of arms". Heraldry of the World. Retrieved 31 January 2017.
- ^ Child, Harold Hannyngton (1912). Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography (2nd supplement). London: Smith, Elder & Co. . In
- ^ Malvern, Jack (10 June 2006). "Hollywood shines a light on geezers who killed à Becket". The Times. London. Retrieved 21 June 2010.
- ^ Hughes, Peter (26 May 2000). "Music festivals: We pick 10 of the best". Telegraph. Archived from the original on 16 May 2008. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
- ^ Reeves, David; Bowman, James; Wilson-Johnson, David; Neary, Martin; Slane, Phillip; Novis, Constance; Brink, Harvey; Keith, Gillian; Willocks, David; English Chamber Choir; English Festival Orchestra (1999), Becket: The kiss of peace=Le baiser de la paix=Der Kuss der Friedens, English Gramophone/DRM Control Point; Australia: manufactured in Australia under license, retrieved 3 July 2018
- ^ "Becket Fund". Becket Fund. Retrieved 17 January 2010.
- ^ a b c d Coughlan, Sean (31 January 2006). "UK | Saint or sinner?". BBC News. Retrieved 17 January 2010.
- ^ Weaver, Matthew (31 January 2006). "Asking silly questions". The Guardian. London. News Blog. Retrieved 2 May 2008.
- ^ Coughlan, Sean (27 December 2005). "UK | 'Worst' historical Britons list". BBC News. Retrieved 21 November 2022.
- ^ "Portsmouth Cathedral, St Thomas' Cathedral, Old Portsmouth". Retrieved 3 December 2018.
- ^ "Welcome to Monmouth, St Thomas Church Monmouth". Retrieved 13 December 2011.
- ^ "South West England". Heritage at Risk. English Heritage. p. 243. Archived from the original on 9 October 2022.
- ^ Historic England. "Church of St Thomas a Becket (1394116)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
- ^ "Church of St Thomas a Becket, Capel, Kent". Churches Conservation Trust. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
- ^ "Church of St Thomas the Martyr, Bristol". Churches Conservation Trust. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
- ^ "St Thomas the Martyr, Oxford". A Church Near You. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
- ^ "Saint-Thomas de Cantorbéry". Mondes-normands.caen.fr. Retrieved 18 June 2012.
- ^ "Saint-Thomas Becket (Bénodet)". Linternaute.com. 18 March 2008. Retrieved 18 June 2012.
- ISSN 0015-1785.
- ^ "The Calendar". The Church of England. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
- ISBN 978-1-64065-235-4.
Bibliography
- ISBN 978-0-520-07175-9.
- Barlow, Frank (2004). "Becket, Thomas (1120?–1170)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. required)
- Butler, Alban (1991). Walsh, Michael (ed.). Butler's Lives of the Saints. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.
- ISBN 978-0-415-14367-7.
- Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I. (1996). Handbook of British Chronology (Third revised ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-56350-5.
- Hutton, William Holden (1910). Thomas Becket – Archbishop of Canterbury. London: Pitman and Sons Ltd. ISBN 978-1-4097-8808-9.
- Knowles, Elizabeth M. (1999). Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (Fifth ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-860173-9.
- ISBN 978-1-84901-939-2.
- Robertson, James Craigie (1876). Materials for the History of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury. Vol. ii. London: Longman.
- ISBN 978-0-563-38497-7.
- Stanley, Arthur Penrhyn (1855). Historical Memorials of Canterbury. London: John Murray.
- Staunton, Michael (2001). The Lives of Thomas Becket. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press. ISBN 978-0-7190-5454-9.
- Staunton, Michael (2006). Thomas Becket and His Biographers. Woodbridge, UK: The Boydell Press. ISBN 978-1-84383-271-3.
- Warren, W. L. (1973). Henry II. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-03494-5.
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
- Portraits of Thomas Becket at the National Portrait Gallery, London
- 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