Did you know... The Death of Thomas Becket
Shrine of St. Thomas Beckett
On 29th December 1170, Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, was assassinated in a side chapel of his cathedral in Canterbury. This vicious murder created a European scandal and started a religious tourist industry in this country. In 1185, Jean de Gisors - the founder of our own church - stipulated that it be named the Church of St Thomas to honour the martyred Becket, who had been a family friend.
In 1155, King Henry II appointed Thomas Becket, a layman, then the able Archdeacon of Canterbury, as his Chancellor. Becket was a merchant’s son, and his rapport with the king was resented by the nobility. In 1162, the king appointed Becket as Archbishop of Canterbury; he wanted Becket to be Chancellor-Archbishop, hoping to extend his own power over the Church.
To become Archbishop, Becket had to be ordained. Once installed, Becket’s character changed. He took his responsibilities very seriously, gave generously to the poor, lived austerely, and resigned as Chancellor. He clashed with the king over whether clergy charged with crimes should be tried in state or church courts. He alienated nobles and bishops - some the King’s friends - by reclaiming Church lands they had seized illegally. In 1164, attempts to arrest Archbishop Becket at the stormy Royal Council in Northampton forced him to flee to France, where he lived in exile for six years. In 1170, there was an apparent reconciliation; the Archbishop returned to Canterbury, greeted enthusiastically by the people, who saw him as protection from the oppressions of the nobles.
Sculpture and altar marking the spot of Thomas Becket's martyrdom, Canterbury Cathedral.
The quarrel resurfaced when Thomas renewed excommunications on three bishops. King Henry, then at his Christmas court in France, was absolutely infuriated; Edward Grim (a clerk who was an eyewitness of Becket’s murder and later wrote an account) tells us that the king shouted.
‘What miserable drones and traitors have I nourished and promoted in my realm, who let their lord be treated with such shameful contempt by a low-born clerk!’. It was a challenge that some of his listening knights were eager to take up.
Four thuggish knights - Reginald FitzUrse, William de Tracy, Richard Brito/Le Bret & Hugh de Morville - rose to the challenge that King Henry II had angrily thrown down. They left Henry’s court in France, rode fast, sailed independently and reached Saltwood Castle in two days; there the owner Ranulf de Broc, who detested Becket, provided troops. On 29th December they rode to Canterbury where de Broc’s men secured the city and imposed a curfew.
At first, the four knights - ‘unarmed and fortified with drink’ - chose to question Becket, accusing him of lack of respect for the King in renewing the excommunications. Becket pointed out that the pope had excommunicated the bishops, adding that ‘threats could not dislodge me from my observance of God’s justice and my obedience to the lord pope.’
Replica pilgrim’s badge showing a knight striking down the Archbishop
The knights stormed out (taking two servants as hostages), secured the cathedral and collected their weapons. Meanwhile Becket proceeded to celebrate the evening service of vespers, refusing to hide. At first when the armed gang returned, they attempted to seize Becket, who clung to a pillar. Then they struck him down, de Tracy almost severing the arm of the clerk Edward Grim as he tried to shield Becket. They left, blood-spattered - but not before looting Becket’s chests.
Amid the horror and shock, the monks attended to Becket’s corpse, which was laid on a bier before the cathedral’s High Altar. Next day, fearing de Broc’s threat to drag the body to the gallows, they buried Becket’s body hurriedly in a stone coffin in the crypt. The burial rites were said, but there was no mass as the cathedral had been desecrated by bloodshed. The archbishop’s blood and remains were carefully collected, and later diluted for distribution to pilgrims. This ‘Water of Canterbury’ became associated with healing powers, and Canterbury became a popular destination for organised pilgrimage, on a par with the burial place of St James in Spain, Santiago de Campostela.