Becket, Thomas

b. 1118; d. 1170

English saint, Chancellor, and Archbishop of Canterbury. He was of Norman stock, born, according to tradition, in the City of London, in Cheapside, where his father was a merchant. He was educated at Merton Priory and later went to Paris to study theology. He was attached to the court of Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury, c. 1142-53. When Henry II came to the throne the talented young archdeacon soon became his friend. In 1155 Henry, continuing his policy of gathering around him a group of able, trustworthy servants to carry out his programme of centralisation, made Becket chancellor. During his period of office, it was said that Becket was more regal in his manner than the King himself. But he was competent and loyal, and Henry was more than satisfied. Becket led an embassy to the French court, suggested a means of acquiring the Norman Vexin, and took an active part in the Toulouse campaign. In 1162 he seemed the obvious choice for archbishop of Canterbury, although he was only, as yet, in minor orders.

As chancellor-archbishop, and Henry's friend, Henry no doubt hoped that Becket would continue to act as his instrument in both state and ecclesiastical affairs. Becket apparently accepted the archbishopric with reluctance. He was ordained priest on 2 June 1162, and consecrated the next day. Then he resigned the chancellorship; it was clear that he was not going to play the role that Henry had visualised for him. His way of life became that of an ascetic and he began at once to champion the rights of the Church against the King's alleged encroachments. The dispute raged round the subject of benefit of clergy, and was embittered by the former friendship and the uncompromising natures of both Becket and the King. At first it seemed that Becket would agree to Henry's demands; but when these were put down in writing as the Constitutions of Clarendon, he refused to sign them, declaring that they ran counter to canon law. In 1165 Becket fled abroad. His property was seized and the revenues of his see impounded. Though he had received little support from his fellow bishops in England, Becket received support from the Pope. In 1170 Henry exacerbated the quarrel by causing the Archbishop of York to crown his son, Henry, a direct insult to the archbishop of Canterbury's right to perform the ceremony. Then quite suddenly a reconciliation was effected between Henry and Becket, and Becket returned to England to be enthusiastically received by the common people. One of Becket's first steps was to excommunicate or suspend the bishops who had taken part in the coronation of Henry's son. Henry is said to have reacted to the news with a burst of fury that carried with it the implication that he wanted to be rid of Becket permanently, although it is unlikely that he seriously wanted Becket murdered, if only because any such murder would be, and indeed was, politically inexpedient. But on 29 December 1170 the Archbishop was murdered by four knights before the High Altar in Canterbury Cathedral. He was immediately hailed as a martyr and canonised in 1173. Henry did public penance at his tomb in 1174. Becket's shrine became famous throughout Christendom but was totally destroyed by the Reformation in 1538. Becket's character remains something of an enigma to the historian; there is an interesting interpretation in T.S. Eliot's drama Murder in the Cathedral, 1935.

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Recommended reading

Murder in the Cathedral
Eliot, T.S. — Paperback £7.99 —

Murder in the Cathedral
Eliot, T.S.; Coghill, Nevill (ed.) — Spiral / comb / coil bound £8.99 —