Thomas Becket: Playing a role
Early life
The story of the future martyr and saint was the stuff of legend even before his birth. For centuries, it was said that Thomas Becket's mother had been a Saracen princess who had met and fallen love with his English father – a Crusader or a pilgrim – in the Holy Land. After he returned home, the young woman followed him, wandering through Europe uttering the only two English words she knew: 'Becket' and 'London'. She eventually found her lover, married him and bore him a son, Thomas.
Birth of an Englishman
Unfortunately there is no truth to this tale. Thomas Becket's parents were Normans: his mother was Matilda (or Roesa) from Caen and his father was Gilbert from Rouen. They settled in London, and in about 1118, their son was born in Cheapside. They also had at least two daughters, one of whom became abbess of Barking in Essex. In later life, various people made spiteful comments about Becket's humble birth, but according to some sources, Gilbert was a knight, and he certainly became a prosperous merchant and sheriff of London.
Becket hardly ever used his family name. Instead his contemporaries knew him as 'Thomas of London' or 'Archbishop Thomas'. After his death, his name was often styled as 'Thomas à Becket', an indication that he was of noble birth. However, this is inaccurate, and the 'à' is rarely used today.
Despite his French roots, Thomas was brought up – and was considered by his contemporaries – to be very much an Englishman. He was initially educated at a school run by the canons of Merton Priory in Sussex, and was then sent to university in Paris.
Impetuous daring
From the start, Thomas seems to have been marked out for great things. He is reported to have been tall and handsome, 'slim of growth, and pale of hue, with dark hair, a long nose, and a straightly featured face'. His father's friend Richer de l'Aigle – one of the great barons of England – took an interest in the boy, and at his castle at Pevensey in Sussex, Becket was introduced to hunting and hawking, in which he became quite proficient.
He was good at sports and at debate and, when young, was known for his energy and initiative rather than his judgement. For instance, once, when he was out hunting, his falcon plunged after a duck into a river. Thomas dived into the water to save the valuable bird. The rapid current swept him along to a mill, where only the accidental stopping of the wheel saved his life. This impetuous daring characterised him all his life.
'Winning and loveable'
On his return to England in 1139 at the age of 21, he had to make his own way, his parents having died. What he did next is not known for sure. Some sources say that he obtained an appointment as clerk to the sheriff's court, where he showed great ability and became acquainted with politics. Other sources say that he acted as secretary, first, to Richer de l'Aigle and then to a relative, Osbert Huitdeniers, who was 'justiciar of London'. In any event, after three years, in 1142, he was taken into the household of Theobald, the Norman monk-archbishop of Canterbury, who had known his father.
Theobald had quite a pragmatic view of Church and crown, feeling that the two should cooperate, not least because it would distance Canterbury from the papacy, which he considered a good thing. He had already been forced to clean up a mess caused by papal interference in the election of the archbishop of York. Pope Eugenius III would later, in 1152, recognise the Irish Church against Theobald's wishes.
A pen portrait of Becket at this time, probably written by Robert of Cricklade and quoted in an Icelandic saga, describes the young man vividly:
Blithe of countenance was he, winning and loveable in his conversation, frank of speech in his discourses, but slightly stuttering in his talk, so keen of discernment and understanding that he could always make difficult questions plain after a wise manner.
