Thomas à Becket
(1118?-70), chancellor of England and archbishop of Canterbury, who became a saint of
the Roman Catholic Church. Thomas was born in London, on December 21, probably in
1118. His parents were Norman by birth, his father, Gilbert Becket ("little beak"), a
London merchant of wealth and position.
Education and Early Life.
Thomas was destined by his parents for the church and was educated at Merton Priory in
Surrey, then one of the leading schools of London, and later in Paris. On his return to
England he served as secretary to the lord of Pevensey, who inducted him into the life of
a gentleman, hunting with hawk and hounds. Because his father had suffered financial
reverses, Thomas worked for three years as a clerk and auditor in the City. Then, when he
was 25 years old, he determined to apply for a place in the household of the archbishop of
Canterbury, Theobald of Bec (c. 1090-1161), a distant relative. There he entered the
world of power and policy. He accompanied the archbishop to the papal council held at
Rheims in 1148, made several trips to Rome, and was sent to study law at Bologna, Italy.
Chancellor.
Thomas's life changed again in 1154, when the new king, Henry II, appointed him his
chancellor. Theobald and other bishops had recommended him, hoping that the church
would find in him a protector and defender at the king's right hand. The eight years of his
office as the king's principal minister were a time of unstinting service. In return, Thomas
was rewarded with great wealth, which he displayed in unprecedented magnificence of
ceremony. Churchmen grumbled that the chancellor gave little heed to the interests of the
church. Yet his biographers say that he preserved his chastity amid the promiscuous
court; that he was personally sparing of food and drink despite the plenitude of his
official hospitality; that he prayed often at night and attended masses at dawn; and that he
employed clerks to scourge him as penance for his sins.
Archbishop.
When Theobald died in 1161, the king decided to make his chancellor the archbishop of
Canterbury, the most important ecclesiastical officer in England. Much to Henry's
surprise and annoyance, Thomas resigned the chancellorship almost as soon as he was
consecrated archbishop in 1162. No open break between the king and the archbishop
occurred, however, until 1163, when they quarreled over the relations of church and
realm. Then, at a council at Clarendon on Jan. 13, 1164, Henry set forth 16 written
articles of law, the so-called Constitutions of Clarendon, which he claimed represented
the customs of the realm in relation to the church in the days of his grandfather, Henry I.
The king wanted Thomas and his fellow bishops to accept these articles, but Thomas,
although he at first acquiesced, later repudiated them as contrary to canon law as it had
developed. Deeply angered, the king determined to break Thomas and charged him with
various offenses. Thomas fled the court and, disguised, made his way circuitously to
France, to begin an exile of six years, while the conflict between archbishop and king
divided more and more of the Western world.
Martyr and Saint.
At last, under threat of papal sanctions, Henry and Thomas agreed to a reconciliation of
sorts, and on Nov. 3, 1170, Thomas returned to England. When, however, he
excommunicated some of the king's bishops and barons, Henry raged against this
"lowborn clerk." Four of the king's men, acting on their own accord, crossed over from
France to Canterbury and, in the archbishop's own cathedral, murdered Thomas on Dec.
29, 1170. Thus, Thomas à Becket became a martyr, and after miracles were said to have
been worked at his tomb, he was canonized in February 1173. Pilgrims then began to
visit Canterbury in such numbers that it became one of the three most popular shrines in
Europe. Only the Reformation, when Becket's shrine was destroyed and all its treasures
confiscated by Henry VIII, brought the pilgrimages to an end. Not even Henry VIII,
however, ended the "benefit of clergy," which Henry II had to accept after Becket's death.
The pope and king compromised: The pontiff allowed most of the English customs, but
Henry had to bow to canon law and the jurisdiction of church courts over accused clergy.
As historians have attempted to understand people in the context of the times, the whole
controversy has come to seem tragic--a conflict between the growing self-consciousness
of church and realm personified in the heroic figures of Henry and Thomas.