Becket, Thomas

Thomas Becket was born in Chipside , London , in the family of the merchant Gilbert Becket and his wife Matilda. Thomas's father was the son of a knight, in his youth he became a merchant, acquired real estate in London and lived here on rental income. There is a legend that Thomas's mother was a Muslim princess who met with Gilbert during his pilgrimage to the Holy Land , followed him to England and was baptized there. It is established that the legend has no foundation and arose three centuries after the death of the archbishop. The influence and wealth of the Becket family can be judged by the fact that Gilbert and Matilda were buried in St. Paul’s Cathedral .

Thomas Becket received the initial education in a knightly spirit under the guidance of his father’s friend Richard de l'Aigle, and primary education in the Merton monastery in London. He then studied civil and canon law at the Universities of Paris and Bologna . Upon his return to England in 1142, Becket entered the service of the Archbishop of Canterbury Theobald and soon became one of his active assistants. In 1148, Becket accompanied Theobald to the cathedral in Reims , in 1152 he was the representative of the archbishop in Rome and obtained from the pope a message prohibiting the coronation of the son of Stephen Blois . In 1154, Becket became the Archdeacon of Canterbury, and then, on the recommendation of Theobald, the new English king Henry II appointed Becket as Chancellor .

Thomas Becket was chancellor for seven years ( 1155 - 1162 ), during which time he gained significant political influence and maintained friendly relations with Henry II . Becket was the tutor of the heir to the throne, Heinrich the Young ; chroniclers recorded the prince's words that the chancellor showed him more paternal love in one day than his own father in his whole life. In 1158, Becket headed the embassy in Paris and successfully negotiated the marriage of his pupil with his daughter Louis VII . In 1159, Becket actually led a military campaign against Toulouse , and then commanded other military operations. In the conflicts between Henry II and Theobald, Becket invariably sided with the king. So Becket achieved the collection of land tax on property belonging to the Church. Among the clergy, Becket was clearly considered the "man of the king", therefore, only under the pressure of Henry II, the Canterbury chapter after Theobald's death elected Thomas Becket the new archbishop of Canterbury . By the time of his election as archbishop, Becket was not even ordained a priest.

By appointing his friend and adviser to the Canterbury chair, Henry II hoped to subjugate the English Church and deprive it of a number of privileges. Nevertheless, immediately after his ordination, Thomas Becket refused the post of chancellor and began to pursue a policy completely opposite to the expectations of the king. The archbishop began a series of lawsuits against persons who illegally seized church property during the civil war . In October 1163, the king at a meeting of the clergy in Westminster announced his intention to introduce a new file from church lands and transfer investigations of the criminal offenses of clergy from the jurisdiction of church courts to secular courts; Becket sharply opposed royal initiatives. In addition, Becket, after his appointment as archbishop, changed his lifestyle - if earlier he led the normal life of a courtier, then after taking the dignity, he began to indulge in ascetic practices, pray a lot, and engage in charity.

On January 30, 1164, at a meeting of the nobility and the clergy in the Clarendon Palace, Henry II presented the so-called Clarendon constitutions for signing - 16 articles that significantly limited the privileges of the Church. So, the 3rd article obliged clergymen accused of criminal offenses to appear before secular and ecclesiastical courts. The 4th article forbade the bishops and clergy to leave England without the permission of the king, and if such permission was obtained, obliged them to guarantee in writing to the monarch that during their stay abroad they would not harm the crown. Article 7 forbade anathema or interdict of royal vassals and officials without the permission of the monarch. Article 11 of the bishops, abbots and clergymen holding fiefs from the crown imposed all the duties of a vassal; The 12th article passed on to the king the income from vacant dioceses and abbeys , it determined that the filling of vacant church posts can occur only with the consent of the king, and the candidates pledged to swear allegiance to the monarch ^[1] .

Representatives of the clergy who were present in Clarendon approved the constitution, but Becket, although he declared his agreement with their content, postponed their signing. Pope Alexander III refused to recognize the constitution, as they were contrary to canon law (in particular, for the same crime, clergymen had to be tried twice - by secular and ecclesiastical courts); following dad, Thomas Becket also announced his refusal to sign the Clarendon constitutions. In response, on October 8, 1164, Henry II, at a council in Northampton, accused the archbishop of embezzlement of the treasury during his chancellorship. Thomas Becket declared his jurisdiction to the royal council and fled to France .

Contrary to the demands of Henry II, the French king Louis VII honorably received the exiled archbishop of Canterbury. Becket spent most of his exile ( 1164 - 1170 ) in the Cistercian abbey of Pontigny , but then the threats of Henry II against the English Cistercians forced Becket to move to Sans . All this time, Becket was at the center of world politics, corresponding with Louis VII, Alexander III and the Sicilian Queen Margarita of Navarre . Becket urged the pope to abolish the Clarendon constitutions by applying extreme measures - anathema and interdict - against Henry II. But Alexander III, himself forced to flee Italy , where he was opposed by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and his anti - dad henchmen, did not want to quarrel with a possible ally, Henry II.

The situation changed only in June 1170, when, at the direction of Henry II, his son and heir Henry the Young was crowned in York . The ceremony was performed by the Archbishop of York and the bishops of London and Salisbury , although traditionally the kings of England were crowned by the archbishops of Canterbury. Beckett's protest this time was supported by Pope Alexander III, who threatened Henry II with an interdict. On July 22, 1170, Henry II, who was at that moment in Normandy , was reconciled with Becket. As a sign of royal repentance, Thomas Becket demanded that the king publish papal letters in England condemning the Clarendon constitutions and depose the three bishops who made the York coronation. Despite the resumption of the conflict, Henry II allowed Thomas Becket to return to England.

In December 1170, Thomas Becket returned from exile in triumph: he and the boat in which he landed, enthusiastic pilgrims were carried to Canterbury . Encouraged by such a meeting, Thomas Becket immediately excommunicated the three guilty bishops from the Church. Upon learning of this, Henry II, who was in Normandy, according to a popular legend, exclaimed angrily: “ Can no one save me from this rebellious priest? " ^[2] In the chronicle of Edward Grim, a contemporary of Becket, another option is recorded:" What insignificant cowards and traitors did I feed and contemplated in my house, that they allow a vile priest to insult their master? " ^{[3] The} four knights (Reginald Fitz-Urs, Hughes de Moreville, William de Tracy and Richard le Breton) took the king's words as an order and immediately departed for Canterbury.

According to the evidence of the Canterbury monk Gervasius and the chronicler Edward Grim, the knights threw their cloaks on their armor and left their weapons under sycamore at the entrance to the Canterbury Cathedral . Having met the archbishop, they informed him that the king was summoning him to court in Winchester , but Becket rejected this demand. The knights returned for arms and, already armed, burst into the cathedral, where the archbishop was to lead the Vespers . The killers overtook Becket on the steps leading to the altar , on which Vespers were to be performed, and struck him four blows with a sword on the head. Only on the third blow did the archbishop fall down with the words: “ I accept death in the name of the Lord and give my soul to the judgment of the Church of God .” A fourth blow with a sword shattered his head. After that, the killers fled from the cathedral ( December 29, 1170).

The murder of the archbishop at the altar in his own cathedral shocked medieval Europe . Already on February 21, 1173, Pope Alexander III ranked the holy martyr as a saint. The cult of the saint quickly spread throughout Europe: already in the XII century his images appear on Sicily ( mosaics of the apse of the cathedral of Montreal ) and Castile (the church of St. Nicholas in Soria ^[4] . In England, Thomas Becket's tomb became a place of mass pilgrimage . The traditional pilgrimage route began in Southwark (here 23 December 1170 the year the last time the archbishop preached before heading to Canterbury) and continued to Canterbury . The scale of the pilgrimage was such that gave rise to the London bridge (on it the pilgrims took place in the beginning of the way . EU ETS, and at its end), rebuilt in the first tree, and then the stone was in a pilgrimage to the shrine of Thomas Becket directed heroes of " The Canterbury Tales " Geoffrey Chaucer - the first literary work in the English language .

On July 12, 1174, the tomb of Thomas Becket came with repentance barefoot Henry II Plantagenet . On July 7, 1220, the relics of the saint, stored in the crypt of the cathedral, were transferred to a magnificent crab in the chapel of the Holy Trinity of Canterbury Cathedral.

Messages about miracles occurring at the relics of Thomas Becket appeared immediately after his martyrdom. In addition to these miracles, Becket is known for his internal reincarnation: from a reckless merry fellow - a royal friend and drinking companion, he after ordination turned into a strict ascetic . After his death, a hairline worn by him was secretly found on his body. The life of St. Thomas Becket was included in the Golden Legend .

The collection of the feast of St. Thomas Becket December 29:

During the English Reformation in 1538, by order of Henry VIII, the tomb of Thomas Becket was opened; gifts brought to the saint and decorating her values ​​were confiscated; one of the diamonds was placed in the royal scepter . In the same year, an official ban was issued to call Becket a saint, his images were removed from the churches, and all references to him from the service books. It is also alleged that Thomas Becket, by order of Henry VIII, was tried posthumously on charges of treason and fraudulent misappropriation of the title of saint.

Despite the official persecution of Henry VIII, veneration of the saint was preserved in popular piety, many of his images and manuscripts were preserved. It is believed that the relics of the saint were burned, and the dust was scattered in the wind, but there is no official confirmation of this. Therefore, it is sometimes claimed that the relics were secretly reburied. In 1888, in the crypt of Canterbury Cathedral, not far from the original burial place of Thomas Becket, remains were found, possibly being the saved relics of the saint.

• Thomas Becket is the protagonist of the drama Becket, or the Honor of God, written by Jean Anouil in 1959 . The plot is built on the tragic clash of two former friends, Henry II and Thomas Becket, who are seriously experiencing the impossibility of renewing their former friendship.
• Based on the aforementioned play by Jean Anouil in 1964, Peter Glenville made the film Becket . The main roles in the film were played by Richard Burton ( Thomas Becket ) and Peter O'Toole ( Henry II ). The film was nominated for 12 Oscars and won one of the nominations ( Best Adapted Screenplay ), and was also awarded the Golden Globe Award for the best film in the drama genre .
• The murder of Thomas of Canterbury is one of the key episodes of Ken Follett’s novel {{lang-en | Pillars of the Earth ”, 1989).
• The history of the relationship between Thomas Becket and King Henry II is examined in Conrad Ferdinand Meyer's short story “The Holy One” (1879). Initially, the novel was called "Saint, as Hans the Crossbowman Knew Him." The name used the name of the hero-narrator, an outside observer, the German Hans, with his subjective view of what happened.
• The murder of Thomas Becket is dedicated to the dramatic poem by Thomas Eliot “Murder in the Cathedral”, according to which the Italian composer Ildebrando Pizzetti created the opera of the same name.

• Becket, Thomas // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.

• Gimon T.V. Becket // Orthodox Encyclopedia . - M .: Church Scientific Center "Orthodox Encyclopedia" , 2002. - T. IV. - S. 463-465. - 752 s. - 39,000 copies. - ISBN 5-89572-009-9 .
• Thurston, Herbert . St. Thomas Becket . // The Catholic Encyclopedia . - Vol. 14. - N. Y .: Robert Appleton Company, 1912.
• Clarendon constitutions
• Excerpt from the chronicle of Eward Grim, which tells of the death of Becket
• Novel "The Holy" Conrad Ferdinand Meyer, narrating about Thomas Becket
• A film about the last days of life and the martyrdom of Thomas Becket
• Jean Anouil . Thomas Becket
• St. Thomas Becket . // The Golden Legend or Lives of the Saints . / Compiled by Jacobus de Voragine, Archbishop of Genoa, 1275. - First Edition Published 1470. Englished by William Caxton, First Edition 1483, Edited by FS Ellis, Temple Classics, 1900 (Reprinted 1922, 1931).