Thomas Becket

Thomas Becket  was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 until his murder 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 canonized by Pope Alexander III.

Becket was born c. 1118 in Cheapside, London, on 21 December, the feast day of St Thomas the Apostle. He was the son of Gilbert Beket and Gilbert's wife Matilda. Gilbert's father was either a Norman small landowner or a petty knight. Matilda was also of Norman ancestry. Some time after Becket began his schooling, Gilbert Beket suffered financial reverses.The younger Becket was forced to earn a living as a clerk. Gilbert first secured a place for his son in the business of a relative and then later acquired him a position in the household of Theobald of Bec, by now the Archbishop of Canterbury.


Theobald entrusted him with several important missions to Rome and also sent him to study canon law. Theobald in 1154 named Becket Archdeacon of Canterbury, and other ecclesiastical offices. His efficiency in those posts led to Theobald recommending him to King Henry II for the vacant post of Lord Chancellor, to which Becket was appointed in January 1155. As Chancellor, Becket enforced the king's traditional sources of revenue that were exacted from all landowners, including churches and bishoprics. 

Becket was nominated as Archbishop of Canterbury in 1162, several months after the death of Theobald. His election was confirmed on 23 May 1162. Henry may have hoped that Becket would continue to put the royal government first, rather than the church. However, Becket held fast to his assigned duties and responsibilities.  Becket was ordained a priest on 2 June 1162 at Canterbury, and on 3 June 1162 was consecrated as archbishop.

A rift grew between Henry and Becket as the new archbishop resigned his chancellorship and sought to recover and extend the rights of the archbishopric. This led to a series of conflicts with the King, including that over the jurisdiction of secular courts over English clergymen, which accelerated antipathy between Becket and the king. 

King Henry II presided over the assemblies of most of the higher English clergy at Clarendon Palace on 30 January 1164. In sixteen constitutions, he sought less clerical independence and a weaker connection with Rome. He was apparently successful with all but Becket. Finally, even Becket expressed his willingness to agree to the substance of the Constitutions of Clarendon, but he still refused to formally sign the documents. Henry summoned Becket to answer allegations of contempt of royal authority and malfeasance in the Chancellor's office. Convicted on the charges, Becket stormed out of the trial and fled to the Continent.

Henry pursued the fugitive archbishop with a series of edicts, but King Louis VII of France offered Becket protection. He spent nearly two years in the Cistercian abbey of Pontigny, until Henry's threats against the order obliged him to return. Papal legates were sent in 1167 with authority to act as arbitrators.  In 1170, Henry offered a compromise that would allow Thomas to return to England from exile.

In June 1170,  Henry had the heir apparent, Henry the Young King, crowned at York. This was a breach of Canterbury's privilege of coronation, and in November 1170 Becket excommunicated the three participating bishops. Becket continued to excommunicate his opponents in the church

Upon hearing reports of Becket's actions, Henry is said to have uttered words that were interpreted by his men as wishing Becket killed. Several versions of the king's exact words have been handed down by tradition: "Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?", but one historian accepts the account of a contemporary biographer who, writing in Latin, reports the king's statement as "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?" 

Whatever Henry said, it was interpreted as a royal command, and four knights, Reginald FitzUrse, Hugh de Morville, William de Tracy and Richard le Breton, set out to confront the Archbishop of Canterbury.

On 29 December 1170 they arrived at Canterbury. According to accounts left by eyewitnesses, they placed their weapons under a tree outside the cathedral and hid their mail armor under cloaks before entering to challenge Becket. The knights informed Becket he was to go to Winchester to give an account of his actions, but Becket refused. It was not until Becket refused their demands to submit to the king's will that they retrieved their weapons and rushed back inside for the killing. Becket, meanwhile, proceeded to the main hall. The four knights, wielding drawn swords, caught up with him.

According to Edward Grim, who was wounded in the attack:

The wicked knight leapt suddenly upon him, cutting off the top of the crown... Next he received a second blow on the head, but still he stood firm and immovable. At the third blow he fell on his knees and elbows, offering himself a living sacrifice, and 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 terrible wound as he lay prostrate. By this stroke, the crown of his head was separated from the head in such a way that the blood white with the brain, and the brain no less red from the blood, dyed the floor of the cathedral. The same clerk who had entered with the knights placed his foot on the neck of the holy priest and precious martyr, and, horrible to relate, scattered the brains and blood about the pavements, crying to the others, 'Let us away, knights; this fellow will arise no more.

Soon after, the faithful throughout Europe began venerating Becket as a martyr, and on 21 February 1173—little more than two years after his death—he was canonised by Pope Alexander III.  On 12 July 1174, Henry humbled himself with public penance at Becket's tomb as well as at the church of St. Dunstan's, which became one of the most popular pilgrimage sites in England.

Becket's assassins fled north to Knaresborough Castle where they remained for about a year as the men prepared for a longer stay in the separate kingdom of Scotland. They were not arrested and neither did Henry confiscate their lands, but he failed to help them when they sought his advice in August 1171. Pope Alexander excommunicated all four. Seeking forgiveness, the assassins travelled to Rome and were ordered by the Pope to serve as knights in the Holy Lands for a period of fourteen years.

This last also inspired Knights of Saint Thomas, incorporated in 1191 at Acre, and which was to be modelled on the Teutonic Knights. It is the only military order native to England.  Nevertheless, Henry VIII dissolved both of these English institutions upon passing the Reformation, rather than merging foreign orders with them and nationalising them as elements of the Protestant Church of England. 

Becket's remains were placed beneath the floor of the eastern crypt of the cathedral. In 1220, Becket's bones were moved to a new gold-plated and bejewelled shrine behind the high altar in the Trinity Chapel. The shrine was supported by three pairs of pillars, placed on a raised platform with three steps. 

The coat of arms of Canterbury, officially registered in 1619, but dating back to at least 1380, is based on the alleged arms of Thomas Becket, Argent three Cornish choughs proper two and one, accompanied by a chief in red with a gold lion from the Royal Arms of England.

Summarized from a Wikipedia entry.