98 Becket, Thomas, Saint
with dialectical disputation and current theological and
philosophical issues. Changes in his family’s circum-
stances curtailed his schooling and drew Becket back to
London when he was about 21. His mother had died, and
his father was having financial difficulties.
ARCHDEACON OF CANTERBURYFor a few years, Becket was associated with the house-
hold of a Norman nobleman, and he served as a clerk to a
London citizen and banker. He then obtained a place in
the household of Theobald (d. 1161), the archbishop of
CANTERBURY. Becket likely served as a secretary and
administrator of the archbishop’s properties and then was
sent abroad for about a year to study canon law at
BOLOGNAin ITA LYand Auxerre in FRANCE. He became a
close and trusted associate of Archbishop Theobald and
was promoted as an archdeacon of Canterbury, the high-
est rank in the household.
CHANCELLOR TO THE KINGIn 1154, Henry of Anjou became HENRYII, king of En-
gland, through the inheritance of his mother, Matilda
(1102–67), the daughter and only surviving heir of the
English king HENRYI. Though just 21, as duke of Nor-
mandy, count of ANJOU, and duke of AQUITAINE, he was
already ruler of major territories in western France.
Henry II faced a difficult task in governing England. Dur-
ing the 15 years of civil war between two claimants to the
English throne, Stephen of Blois (1097–1154) and his
mother, Matilda of Anjou, that had preceded Henry II’s
accession, the English barons had gained power at the
expense of the centralized governmental institutions that
WILLIAM the Conqueror and Henry I had instituted.
Ambitious, temperamental, and unpredictable, Henry
needed administrators who were capable of matching his
energy to secure and increase royal power. Archbishop
Theobald recommended the young Becket as Henry II’s
chancellor, and Becket assumed these duties in 1155
right after Henry II’s coronation.
Becket then served as chancellor of England for
seven years, from 1155 to 1162. Besides the routine
duties of directing the EXCHEQUER, overseeing vacant
holdings for the king, and serving as a royal itinerant
justice, Becket undertook important diplomatic missions
for the king. Traveling to PARIS, he arranged the marriage
of Henry II’s heir, the Henry “the Young King”
(1155–83), with Margaret of France, daughter of King
Louis VII (r. 1137–80). He also was present in Henry II’s
continental campaigns to secure the French territories
of Anjou and Maine in 1156 and to promote the claims
of ELEANORof Aquitaine, Henry’s wife, to the county of
TOULOUSEin 1159.
ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURYAfter Archbishop Theobald died in 1161, Henry II left the
archbishopric of Canterbury vacant for about a year. By
1162, he had decided that a new archbishop be named,
because he wanted to arrange an uncontested coronation
of his heir, Henry “the Young King.” Henry decided that
Thomas Becket should become the archbishop of Canter-
bury. He pressured the ecclesiastical chapter at Canter-
bury for Becket’s election.
Henry II certainly assumed that Becket would act in
the interest of the king’s policies to create a cooperative
union between church and state. Becket, however, took
his new position seriously and devoutly, so he assumed
that the spiritual powers of the church took precedence
over the temporal powers of the state. Within a year after
Becket’s consecration as archbishop, he and Henry II
became involved in a major dispute over the issue of
“benefit of clergy,” the practice that when a member of
the clergy committed a serious crime, his trial was to be
within the jurisdiction of religious courts under canon
law. Henry II believed that clerics, if found guilty accord-
ing to canon law, should then be tried in a secular court
and punished according to evolving common law.
Henry II brought the issue of jurisdiction over “crimi-
nous clerks” to a head at the Council of Westminster in
October 1163. Thomas Becket saw this as a distinct threat
to the church’s power and independence from secular
authority and, supported by most of the English bishops,
opposed Henry’s concept. Over the following months, in
an attempt to reach a compromise, Becket modified his
position slightly. Henry II pressed his case by demanding
that ancient procedural customs be committed to writing.
The document known as the Constitutions of CLAREN-
DON, which was drawn up at the Council of Clarendon in
January 1164 asserted royal authority over ecclesiastics
who had been convicted of secular crimes in ecclesiastical
courts but also additional provisions limiting legal appeals
by English churchmen to the papacy. Becket initially
opposed this written assertion of royal over ecclesiastical
powers, but vacillated during the following months. At
the same time his relationship with Henry II continued to
deteriorate. Finally, after another direct confrontation with
Henry II at the Council of Northampton in October 1164,
a disguised Becket fled to the Continent.EXILE AND RETURN
Under the protection of King Louis VII of France, he
remained in exile for six years. He spent much of his time
studying, while he continued to argue his case through
correspondence to Pope ALEXANDERIII, other English
bishops, and Henry II. In 1169 Pope Alexander III urged
Henry to reach a settlement with Becket. On June 14,
1170, in the presence of most of the English bishops and
with Roger of Pont l’Evéque (d. 1181), archbishop of
York, officiating and Becket absent, Henry II held the
coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey of Henry
“the Young King.” Becket was outraged, believing that
only the archbishop of Canterbury as the primate of En-
gland could crown an English king. Despite this, Thomas