Emily Z. Tabuteau
INTRODUCTION
Thomas, usually called Thomas Becket, rose from relatively humble beginnings to the archbishopric of Canterbury, an office he held from 1162 until his murder in 1170. Although he had risen in part through the patronage and friendship of King Henry II of England, who appointed him to the archbishopric, Thomas is famous largely for his quarrel with Henry over the proper relations of archbishop and king, of church and state. This “Becket controversy” vexed not only England but all of western Europe for most of a decade and has figured in discussions about the proper relations between religious institutions and governments ever since. The murder was such a cause celebre that Thomas was canonized just two years after his death.
BECKET'S FAMILY BACKGROUND
Thomas’s father, Gilbert Becket, was a London merchant and landowner of sufficient standing to entertain middle-level lords, one of whom, Richer de l’Aigle, became an early patron to his son. Gilbert was born in Normandy, perhaps in Rouen, the capital, but more probably in a small settlement called Thierville (because he once chatted with Archbishop Theobald—his son’s predecessor at Canterbury—about their common place of origin, and Theobald was certainly from Thierville). Gilbert’s social status was not particularly high, though he was not a peasant. In England he would have counted as part of the ruling class merely by virtue of being French-speaking and of French origin. His wife was also from Normandy. She was known both as Matilda and as Roheise, in an example of a sort of double-naming of women not unusual among Norman families in the eleventh and twelfth centuries.
The Name "Becket"
In the twelfth century, it was common to have only one name (e. g., Thomas), and most last names were little more than nicknames. "Becket," usually spelled "Beket" in the twelfth century, seems to have been the nickname of Thomas's father Gilbert. The name undoubtedly comes from the French bec, which might be the nickname for a man with a beak-like nose (becquet in Norman French could mean a small bird) or refer to a small stream (bec in Norman French. Thomas himself never used the name. While he was in Archbishop Theobald's household, he was called Thomas of London; in the writs of Henry II between 1154 and 1162, he appears as Thomas the Chancellor; and when he became archbishop, he was known as Thomas of Canterbury. According to one of the early accounts of his murder, one of his murderers entered the cathedral demanding to know "Where is Thomas Becket, traitor to the king?" but this is the only time the nickname is used for Thomas in any twelfth-century source. That it comes from (or was put into) the mouth of a murderer suggests that, in the eyes of his enemies, the nickname denoted Thomas's relatively lowly origins.
Some of Thomas's relatives, however, did use the name. His sister Agnes, for example, was known as Agnes Becket even after she married. This, in turn, suggests that "Becket" was recognized as the archbishop's family name and that it is, therefore, not inappropriate to use it for him despite the lack of contemporary usage. The form "a Becket," however, is an affectation dating from the sixteenth century and should not be used.
Gilbert was well established in London by the time of his son’s birth, and the family lived in a large house in Cheapside, then a fashionable area for merchant families. Exactly what trade or trades he followed is not known, but he became prominent and prosperous enough to serve as one of the sheriffs of London for a while, perhaps in the 1130s. He lived into the 1140s, at least, but may have lost much of his wealth in his later years because of fires that destroyed his property. Matilda died before her husband, probably about 1140.
The Legend of Thomas's Saracen Mother
There is no warrant for the late, romantic story that Thomas Becket's mother was a Saracen princess whom Gilbert met on Crusade: he was supposedly her father's prisoner, whom she helped to escape. Knowing only two English words, "Gilbert" and "London," she then followed him back to England, where they were married. The tale first occurs in a manuscript compiled about a century after Thomas's death. The story provides a major element of the plot ofThomas Costain's 1945 novel, The Black Rose, which became a 1950 movie of the same name. In the introduction to the novel, Costain says, "The story itself grows out of a legend, a most beguiling and romantic legend which is found in a very few old English histories.... [I]t concerns an English crusader, who later became the father of Thomas a Becket, and an Eastern girl who knew just two words of English. It is pure legend, of course, but it has always seemed to me too engaging a tale to be buried away between the covers of forgotten histories; and so I have borrowed it and adapted it to my needs."
World History
