Thomas Becket, the son
of a wealthy Norman merchant living in London, was born in 1118. After
being educated in England, France and Italy, he joined the staff of
Theobald, the Archbishop of Canterbury.
When Henry
II became king
in 1154, he asked Archbishop Theobald for advice on choosing his government
ministers. On the suggestion of Theobald, Henry appointed Thomas Becket
as his chancellor. Becket's job was an important one as it involved
the distribution of royal charters, writs and letters. The king and
Becket soon became close friends. Becket carried out many tasks for
Henry II including leading the English army into battle.
When Theobald died in
1162, Henry chose Becket as his next Archbishop
of Canterbury. The decision angered many leading churchmen. They
pointed out that Becket had never been a priest, had a reputation
as a cruel military commander and was very materialistic (Becket loved
expensive food, wine and clothes). They also feared that as Becket
was a close friend of Henry II, he
would not be an independent leader of the church.
After being appointed
Thomas Becket began to show a concern for the poor. Every morning
thirteen poor people were brought to his home. After washing their
feet Becket served them a meal. He also gave each one of them
four silver pennies.
Instead of wearing expensive
clothes, Becket now wore a simple monastic habit. As a penance (punishment
for previous sins) he slept on a cold stone floor, wore a tight-fitting
hairshirt that was infested with fleas and was scourged (whipped)
daily by his monks.
Thomas Becket soon came
into conflict with Roger
of Clare. Becket
argued that some of the manors in Kent should come under the control
of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Roger disagreed and refused to give
up this land. Becket sent a messenger to see Roger with a letter asking
for a meeting. Roger responded by forcing the messenger to eat the
letter.
In 1163, after a long spell
in France, Henry arrived back in England. Henry was told that, while
he had been away, there had been a dramatic increase in serious crime.
The king's officials claimed that over a hundred murderers had escaped
their proper punishment because they had claimed their right to be
tried in church courts.
Those that had sought the
privilege of a trial in a Church court were not exclusively clergymen.
Any man who had been trained by the church could choose to be tried
by a church court. Even clerks who had been taught to read and write
by the Church but had not gone on to become priests had a right to
a Church court trial. This was to an offender's advantage, as church
courts could not impose punishments that involved violence such as
execution or mutilation. There were several examples of clergy found
guilty of murder
or robbery who only received "spiritual" punishments, such
as suspension from
office or banishment from the altar.
The king decided that
clergymen found guilty of serious crimes should be
handed over to his courts. At first, the Archbishop agreed with Henry
on this issue but
after talking to other church leaders Becket changed his mind. Henry
was furious when Becket began to assert that the church should retain
control of punishing its own clergy. The king believed that Becket
had betrayed him
and was determined to obtain revenge.
In 1164, the Archbishop
of Canterbury was involved in a dispute over land.
Henry ordered Becket to appear before his courts. When Becket refused,
the king confiscated his property. Henry also claimed that Becket
had stolen £300
from government funds when he had been Chancellor. Becket denied the
charge but, so that the matter could be settled quickly, he offered
to repay the money. Henry refused to accept Becket's offer and insisted
that the Archbishop should stand trial. When Henry mentioned other
charges, including treason, Becket decided to run away to France.
Under the protection of
Henry's old enemy. King Louis VII, Becket organised a propaganda campaign
against Henry.
As Becket was supported by the pope, Henry feared that he would be
excommunicated (expelled from the Christian Church).
Becket eventually agreed
to return to England. However, as soon as he arrived on English soil,
he excommunicated (expelled from the Christian Church) the Archbishop
of York and other leading churchmen who had supported Henry while
he was away. Henry, who was in Normandy at the time, was furious when
he heard the news and supposedly shouted out: "Will no one rid
me of this turbulent priest?" Four of Henry's knights, Hugh de
Morville, William de Tracy, Reginald Fitz Urse, and Richard Ie Bret,
who heard Henry's angry outburst decided to travel to England to see
Becket.
On the way to Canterbury the four knights stopped at Bletchingley
Castle to see Roger
of Clare.
When the knights arrived
at Canterbury Cathedral on 29th December 1170, they demanded that
Becket pardon the men he had excommunicated. When Becket refused,
they hacked him to death with their swords.
The Christian world was
shocked by Becket's murder. The pope canonised Becket and he became
a symbol of Christian resistance to the power of the monarchy. His
shrine at Canterbury became
the most important place in the country for pilgrims
to visit.
Although Henry admitted
that his comments had led to the death of Becket, he argued that he
had neither commanded nor wished the man's death. In 1172 Pope Alexander
III accepted these arguments and absolved Henry from Becket's murder.
In return. Henry had to provide 200 men for a crusade to the Holy
Land and had to agree to being whipped by eighty monks. Most importantly
of all. Henry agreed to drop his plans to have criminal clerics tried
in his courts.
The death of Thomas Becket
(1471)
(1)
William
FitzStephen, The Life of Thomas
Becket (c. 1190)
Clad in a hair-shirt of the roughest kind
which reached to his knees and swarmed with vermin, he punished his
flesh with the sparest diet, and his main drink was water... He often
exposed his naked back to the lash.
(2)
William
FitzStephen, The Life of Thomas
Becket (c. 1190)
One day they (King Henry II and Thomas Becket)
were riding together through the streets of London. It was a hard
winter and the king noticed an old man coming towards them, poor and
clad in a thin and ragged coat. "Do you see that man? ... How
poor he is, how frail, and how scantily clad!" said the king.
'"Would it not be an act of charity to give him a thick warm
cloak." "It would indeed... my king." Meanwhile the
poor man drew near; the king stopped, and the chancellor with him.
The king greeted him pleasantly and asked him if he would like a good
cloak... The king said to the chancellor,
"You shall have the credit for this act of charity," and
laying hands on the chancellor's hood tried to pull off his cape,
a new and very good one of scarlet and grey, which he was unwilling
to part with... both of them had their hands fully occupied, and more
than once seemed likely to fall off their horses. At last the chancellor
reluctantly allowed the king to overcome him. The king then
explained what had happened to his attendants. They all laughed loudly.
(3)
Thomas Becket in a letter to Henry
II (1166)
There are two principles by which the world is ruled: the
authority of priests and the royal power. The authority of priests
is the greater because God will demand an accounting of them even
in regard to kings.
(4)
Conservation between Henry
II and Thomas Becket, quoted by Roger
of Pontigny in his book Life of Thomas Becket. (c. 1176)
Henry II: Have I not raised you from the poor and humble
to the summit of honour and rank?... How can it be that after so many
favours... that you are not only ungrateful but oppose me in everything.
Thomas
Becket: I am not unmindful of the favours which, not simply you, but
God the giver of all things has decided to confer on me through you
as St Peter says, '"We ought to obey God rather than men."
Henry II:
I don't want a sermon from you: are you not the son of one of my villeins?
Thomas
Becket: It is true that I am not of royal lineage; but then, neither
was St Peter.
(5)
Edward Grim, Life of Thomas Becket
(c. 1180)
Who can count the number of persons he (Becket)
did to death, the number whom he deprived of all their possessions.
Surrounded by a strong force of knights, he attacked whole regions.
He destroyed cities and towns, put manors and farms to the torch without
a thought of pity.
(6)
Thomas Becket in conversation with Herbert of Bosham, quoted in Herbert
Bosham's Life of Thomas Becket (c. 1188)
Herbert, I want you to tell me what people
are saying about me. And if you see anything in me that you regard
as a fault, feel free to tell me in private. For from now on people
will talk about me, but not to me. It is dangerous to men in power
if no one dares to tell them when they go wrong.
(7)
Edward Grim, Life of Thomas Becket
(c. 1180)
The four knights with one attendant entered. They were received
with respect as the
servants of the King. The servants who waited on the Archbishop
invited them to the table. They rejected the food, thirsting rather
for blood. The Archbishop
was informed that four men had arrived who wished
to speak with him. He consented and they entered.
The knights sat for a
long time in silence. After a while, however, the Archbishop
turned to them, and carefully scanning the face of each one he greeted
them in a friendly manner, but the wretches, who had made a treaty
with death, answered
his greetings with curses.
Fitz Urse, who seemed
to be the chief and the most eager for crime among them, breathing
fury, broke out in these words, "We have something to say to
thee by the King's command.... The King commands that you depart with
all your men from the kingdom... from this day there can be no
peace with you, or any of yours, for you have broken the peace."
The Archbishop said, "I
trust in the King of heaven, who suffered on the
Cross: for from this day no one will see the sea between me and my
church.... He who
wants me will find me here." The knights sprang up and coming
close to him they said, "We declare to you that you have spoken
in peril of your head." "Do you come to kill me?" he
answered. As they went out, he who was named Fitz Urse, called out,
"In the King's name we order you, both clerk and monk, that you
should take and hold that man."
The Archbishop returned
to where he had sat before, and consoled his clerks, and told them
not to fear; and, as it seemed to us who were present - it was him
alone that they wanted to slay... We asked him to flee, but he did
not forget his promise not to flee from his murderers from fear of
death, and refused to go.
The knights came back with
swords and axes and other weapons fit for the crime which their minds
were set on... The knights cried out, "Where is Thomas Becket,
traitor to the King?" Becket... in a clear voice answered, "I
am here, no traitor to the King, but a priest... I am ready to suffer
in His name... be it far from me to flee from your swords."
Having said this, he turned
to the right under a pillar... and walked to the altar of St. Benedict
the Confessor... The murderers followed him; "Absolve",
they cried, "and restore to communion those whom you have excommunicatec
and restore their powers to those whom you have suspended."
He answered, "I will
not absolve them." "Then you shall die," they cried.
"I am ready," he replied, "to die for my Lord... But
in the name of Almighty God, I forbid you to hurt my people."
They then laid hands on him, pulling and dragging him, that they might
kill him outside the church. But when he could not be forced away
from the pillar, one of them pulled on him. He said "Touch me
not, Reginald; you owe me fealty; you and your accomplices act like
madmen." The knight, fired with terrible rage, waved his sword
over the Archbishop's head.
The wicked knight (William
de Tracy), fearing that the Archbishop would be rescued by the people
in the nave... wounded this lamb who was sacrificed to God... cutting
off the top of the head... by the same blow he wounded the
arm of him that tell this story. For he, when the other monks and
clerks fled, stuck close to the Archbishop...
Then he received a second
blow on his head from Reginald Fitz Urse but he stood firm. At the
third blow he fell on his knees and elbows... and saying in a low
voice, "For the name of Jesus and the protection of the Church
I am ready to embrace death." Then the third knight (Richard
Ie Bret) inflicted a terrible wound as he lay, by which the sword
was broken against the pavement... the blood white with the brain
and the brain red with blood, dyed the surface of the church. The
fourth knight (Hugh de Morville) prevented any from interfering so
the others might freely murder the Archbishop.
The priest (Hugh of Horsea)
who had entered with the knights... put his foot on the neck of the
holy priest, and, horrible to say, scattered his brains and blood
over the pavement, calling out to the others, "Let us away, knights;
he will rise no more."
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