The Cult of Thomas Becket

History and Historiography through Eight Centuries

Kay Brainerd Slocum

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781351593380
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: History of Christianity

On 29 December, 1170, Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, was brutally murdered in his own cathedral. News of the event was rapidly disseminated throughout Europe, generating a widespread cult which endured until the reign of Henry VIII in the sixteenth century, and engendering a fascination which has lasted until the present day. The Cult of Thomas Becket: History and Historiography through Eight Centuries contributes to the lengthy debate surrounding the saint by providing a historiographical analysis of the major themes in Becket scholarship, tracing the development of Becket studies from the writings of the twelfth-century biographers to those of scholars of the twenty-first century.

The book offers a thorough commentary and analysis which demonstrates how the Canterbury martyr was viewed by writers of previous generations as well as our own, showing how they were influenced by the intellectual trends and political concerns of their eras, and indicating how perceptions of Thomas Becket have changed over time. In addition, several chapters are devoted a discussion of artworks in various media devoted to the saint, as well as liturgies and sermons composed in his honor.

Combining a wide historical scope with detailed textual analysis, this book will be of great interest to scholars of medieval religious history, art history, liturgy, sanctity and hagiography.

Part I

Saint and cult

1 The creation of St Thomas of Canterbury

The original literary sources for a study of the life of Thomas Becket are vast, and begin with reports of miracles recorded at the tomb and elsewhere, biographies by his close associates, correspondence to and from the archbishop, and descriptions by chroniclers.¹ Generally speaking, the biographers followed the common exegetical pattern established in the early Lives of the saints; their subject was modeled according to the acknowledged conventions of sacred biography.² On a literal level, the writers reported the details concerning events in the life of the Canterbury martyr, whereas on an allegorical plane, they sought to establish and emphasize the connections between Becket and earlier saints, especially those whose biographical circumstances were shown to imitate the life of Christ. The writers were also intent on providing a well-documented historical account of the struggle between Becket and Henry II which must have been, to their knowledge, the most significant event in the relationship of Church and State that had ever occurred in England.³ Indeed, discussion of these issues, which were of national and even international importance, was inevitable,⁴ and the writers incorporated much detail concerning the historical, non-hagiographical aspects of Becket’s life.⁵ Fortunately, these men constituted, in the words of R.B. Dobson, “a positive galaxy of contemporary hagiographers and chroniclers not at all unworthy of the occasion and often capable of reflecting upon that conflict in all its complexity.”⁶

In spite of their interest in the political aspects of Becket’s life, the biographers were devoted to their primary task of sacred biography, which was to authenticate and celebrate the saint by demonstrating his qualities of holiness. Since the writers were all clerks or monks professionally devoted to the archbishop and his cause, they were, as David Knowles observed, “in every way, and above all in their analysis of character, committed to the ultimate sanctity of their subject.”⁷

As many scholars have observed, “Becket’s only claim to sanctity was his martyrdom,”⁸ and thus the biographers were faced with the task of presenting the events of his life in such a way as to demonstrate his saintly qualities: Purity of morals, works of piety during life, intensity of penitential practices such as fasting and abstinence, wearing a hairshirt, mortification, austerity in dress and conduct, and courageous acts. Moreover, as Andre Vauchez wrote in his magisterial analysis of sanctity, Sainthood in the Later Middle Ages, “one of the principal criteria of sainthood was perseverance to the end,”⁹ a characteristic exemplified by the Canterbury martyr.

All of the biographers claimed that Becket’s piety and holiness were evident from his birth, and that these qualities were inherent in his personality; indeed, they were present throughout his career. For example, several of the writers, most notably Edward Grim and the author of the Icelandic Saga, pointed to heavenly signs evident at his birth,¹⁰ followed by a brief account of a childhood in which Thomas was shown to be unusually devout, having been taught pious devotion to the Virgin Mary by his mother.

The writers, who were determined to explain the seeming incongruity of Becket’s career as chancellor and his close friendship with Henry, emphasized the continuous nature of his internal piety. They were careful to point out that underneath the well-known pomp and display of his wealth and office, he privately devoted many hours to prayer, eschewing the temptations of the court; further, he never exceeded the bounds of chastity and honor. Edward Grim wrote, for example, that “he retained a chaste body and a humble heart, hidden to the powerful.”¹¹ In essence, the biographers claimed that Thomas, innately pious, experienced a gradual progression of spiritual growth which led purposefully to his life as archbishop.

Henry’s court was replete with intrigue, and the king’s close relationship with his chancellor created much jealousy among the powerful nobles. According to most of the biographers, Becket had to constantly fight the “beasts of the court,” protecting the king’s interests above all other considerations. It was evident that he was devoted to the service of his monarch, at some points even slighting the interests of the Church – a stance which created animosity among the bishops. Thus, when Henry appointed Becket to the archbishopric of Canterbury, in addition to his own internal struggle with the decision, he lacked the support of the men who would become his episcopal colleagues.¹²

For his biographers, Becket’s conversion to the ecclesiastical life – his transformation into a “new man” – was, with the exception of the martyrdom itself, the most important aspect of his career. It was given prominent discussion by all of the writers, who demonstrated that his fidelity to the honor of God against his royal and ecclesiastical opponents was shown by his steadfast devotion to the cause of the Church. His transformation from royal secular official, beloved by the king, to staunch defender of the rights of the ecclesiastical realm, was a preoccupation of the contemporaneous biographers as well as generations of writers and scholars extending from Becket’s own era to the present day.¹³ For the twelfth-century authors, the theme of conversion was fully consistent with the narrative of Becket’s entire life, and provided further evidence of the underlying sanctity and purity of his inner being.¹⁴ As Michael Staunton has observed, Becket’s transformation was “a central aspect in the depiction of Becket’s life and death, his character and his cause, featuring not only in the accounts of his election and consecration but interwoven throughout the narrative.”¹⁵

To one degree or another, the salient events in the dispute between Becket and the king were described in all of the vitae. Some of the biographers, most notably John of Salisbury and Herbert of Bosham, were directly involved in this struggle, though all of them were concerned to present the principal issues. Several, especially William FitzStephen, included much specific information about the Council at Northampton,¹⁶ and all of them examined the disagreement over the Constitutions of Clarendon, inserting parts of the text of the Constitutions to substantiate their claims. The writers viewed the Constitutions as a source of clear demarcation identifying the issues between archbishop and king – between crown and crozier. Indeed, Herbert of Bosham called the provisions of the Constitutions “the full cause of dissension … the reason for exile and martyrdom.”¹⁷

An especially contentious issue in the Constitutions was the question of “criminous clerks” – whether clergymen should be tried in ecclesiastical or secular courts. The fullest and most complete analysis of this issue was given by Herbert of Bosham and William of Canterbury, though all of the other biographers dealt with the question to some extent. Certainly, the issue was a vital concern to all of the writers, and was to become a focus of interest for legal historians of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

The sequence of events leading up to Thomas’s exile was presented in the Lives as a prelude to his martyrdom, in which his circumstances were compared to those of Christ before his crucifixion.¹⁸ The biographers were compelled to explain and justify the archbishop’s voluntary exile, during which he, as pastor, had abandoned his flock. His actions had been widely criticized by his ecclesiastical colleagues, who saw them as “a cowardly and damaging dereliction of duty.”¹⁹ In order to address these criticisms, Michael Staunton has pointed out that William of Canterbury and Becket’s other biographers viewed the exile “through the prism of Thomas’s death and posthumous acclaim.”²⁰ They characterized the archbishop’s flight as a “justifiable escape from physical persecution, a fruitful and brave endeavor on behalf of the Church,” and a necessary part of his journey toward martyrdom, using references to the works of Augustine to support their views.²¹

The occasion of Becket’s return to Canterbury following his exile offered another opportunity for Christological comparisons. The biographers established elaborate parallels between Thomas’s return to his see and Christ’s entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, pointing to the adoring crowds of worshippers and the emotional welcome of his colleagues as the archbishop approached and entered his cathedral.

Descriptions of his dramatic death allowed the writers to compare Thomas to the early Christian martyrs, whose violent murders were viewed as the most potent expression of the imitation of Christ.²² This Christological similarity was reinforced by the reports of miracles at the site of the martyrdom and elsewhere, which firmly established his sainthood.

In addition to the Christological associations, several major themes may be discerned in the works of the biographers. The first is that of the bonus pastor. Becket’s life was presented as a pattern to be emulated by his successors in the clergy; they should be dedicated to the care of those who were dependent upon them, and should not shirk from the ultimate sacrifice, the pattern of goodness in which “the Good Shepherd laid down his life for his sheep.”

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Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of figures
• Preface and acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Part I Saint and cult
• Part II Becket and the Reformation
• Part III Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century views of Becket
• Part IV Becket in the modern and postmodern world
• Selected Bibliography
• Index