§ 31. THOMAS BECKET AND HENRY II. 123
Canterbury, is, next to Alexander and Barbarossa, the most prominent historical figure in the twelfth century, and fills a chapter of thrilling interest in the history of England. He resumed the conflict of Anselm with the crown, and by his martyrdom became the most popular saint of the later Middle Ages.
The materials for his history, from his birth in London to his murder in his own cathedral by four knights of the royal household, are abundant. We have six or seven contempo rary biographies, besides fragments, legends, and " Passions," state papers, private letters, and a correspondence extending over the whole Latin Church. But his life is surrounded by a mist of romantic legends and theological controversies. He had extravagant admirers, like Herbert of Bosham, and fierce opponents, like Gilbert Foliot, in his own day ; and modern biographers still differ in the estimate of his charac ter, according to their creed and their views on the question of Church and State, some regarding him as a hero and a saint, others as a hypocrite and a traitor. We must judge him from the standpoint of the twelfth century.
Becket was born in London, Dec. 21, 1118, during the reign of Henry I. He was the son of Gilbert Becket, a mer chant in Cheapside, originally from Rouen, and of Matilda or Rose, a native of Caen in Normandy.1
In the later legend his father appears as a gallant crusader and his mother as a Saracen princess, who met in the East and fell in love with each other. Matilda helped Gilbert to escape from captivity, and then followed him alone to Eng land. Knowing only two English words, " London " and
1 The Norman descent of Becket rests on contemporary testimony, and is accepted by Giles, Lingard, Robertson, Mihnan, Hook, Freeman, Renter, Hefele. The commercial advantages of London attracted emigrants from Normandy. Lord Lyttleton, Thierry, Campbell, and J. A. Froude make Becket a Saxon, but without authority. Becket is a surname, and may be Norman as well as Saxon. The prefix a seems to be of later date, and to have its origin (according to Robertson and Hook) in vulgar colloquial usage.
124 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1123-1198.
" Gilbert," she wandered through the streets of the city, till at last she found her beloved in Cheapside as by a miracle, was baptized and married to him in St. Paul's with great splendor. She had dreams of the future greatness and eleva tion of her infant son to the see of Canterbury.
Becket was educated at Merton Abbey in Surrey and in the schools of London. At a later period he attended the universities of Paris, Bologna, and Auxerre, and studied there chiefly civil and canon law, without attaining to spe cial eminence in learning. He was not a scholar, but a states man and an ecclesiastic.
He made his mark in the world and the Church by the magnetism of his personality. He was very handsome, of tall, commanding presence, accomplished, brilliant, affable, cheerful in discourse, ready and eloquent in debate, fond of hunting and hawking, and a proficient in all the sports of a mediaeval cavalier. He could storm the strongest castle and unhorse the stoutest knight.
Archbishop Theobald of Canterbury, 1139-1161, took him into his service, 1142 ; sent him to Bologna, where Gratian then taught canon law; employed him in delicate missions with the papal court; made him archdeacon (1154), and be stowed upon him other profitable benefices, as the provostship of Beverly, a number of churches, and several prebends. When charged, as archbishop, with ingratitude to the king, who had raised him from " poverty," he proudly referred to this accumulation of preferments, and made no attempt to abolish the crying evil of plurality, which continued till the Reformation. Many a prosperous ecclesiastic regarded his parishes simply as sources of income, and discharged the duties by proxy through ignorant and ill -paid priests.
King Henry II., 1154-1189, in the second year of his reign, raised Becket, then only thirty-seven years of age, at Theobald's instance, to the chancellorship of England. The chancellor was the highest civil dignitary, and held the cus-