Becket, Thomas (�) 1118-70
English saint and martyr, Archbishop of Canterbury

He was born in London, the son of a wealthy Norman merchant. Educated at Merton Priory and in London, he trained in knightly exercises at Pevensey Castle, studied theology in Paris, and became a notary. About 1142 he entered the household of Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury, who sent him to study canon law at Bologna and Auxerre. At the papal court in 1152 he prevented the recognition of King Stephen's son Eustace as heir to the throne; and in 1155 he became Chancellor, the first Englishman since the Norman Conquest who had filled any high office. A brilliant figure at court, he showed his knightly prowess in the Toulouse campaign (1159) and was also a skilled diplomat. He changed dramatically when he was created Archbishop of Canterbury in 1162. He resigned the chancellorship, turned a rigid ascetic, showed his liberality only in charities, and became a zealous servant of the Church. He soon championed its rights against the king and had courtiers, several nobles and other laymen excommunicated for their alienation of Church property. Henry II, who, like all the Norman kings, endeavoured to keep the clergy in subordination to the state, in 1164 convoked the Council of Clarendon, which adopted the so-called 'Constitutions', or laws relating to the respective powers of Church and State. Initially Becket refused to consent, but afterwards was induced to give his unwilling approval. Henry now began to perceive that Becket's notions and his own were utterly antagonistic, and exhibited his hostility to Becket, who tried to leave the country. For this offence Henry confiscated his goods, and sequestered the revenues of his see. A claim was also made on him for 44,000 marks, as the balance due by him to the Crown when he ceased to be Chancellor. Becket appealed to Pope Alexander III and escaped to France. He spent two years at the Cistercian abbey of Pontigny in Burgundy; and then went to Rome, and pleaded personally before the pope, who reinstated him in the see of Canterbury. Becket returned to France, and wrote angry letters to the English bishops, threatening them with excommunication. Several futile efforts were made to reconcile him with Henry, but in 1170 an agreement was reached and Becket returned to England, entering Canterbury amid the rejoicings of the people, who regarded him as a shield from the oppressions of the nobility. Fresh quarrels soon broke out and excommunications were renewed. Henry's impetuously voiced wish to be rid of 'this turbulent priest' led to Becket's murder in Canterbury cathedral in 1170, by four knights, Hugh de Merville, William de Tracy, Reginald Fitzurse, and Richard le Breton. Becket's martyrdom forced confessions from the king; he was canonized in 1173 and Henry did public penance at his tomb in 1174. In 1220 his bones were transferred to a shrine in the Trinity chapel, until it was destroyed during the Reformation in 1538. It was the place of pilgrimage described by Chaucer in the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales. His feast day is 29 December.

Bibliography: D Knowles, Thomas Becket (1970)