Monday 19th December - The Murder of Becket

Flipping heck, it's the last week of Stabvent!  Where has the time gone?  I'm now off work until the new year, which is a relief, especially as the freezing weather has been replaced by torrential rain and I'd much rather be at home, under the blankets, reading or writing.  I best crack on with today's grisly death...

The Murder of Becket (1855) George Richmond

I'm not sure how old I was when we went to Canterbury, probably around 7 years old, but I remember seeing the 'blood stain' on the cathedral floor and thinking 'Have they given it a good scrub? Mum got Ribena out of the sofa cushions, so I just don't think they were trying...' Now, I grant you, it wasn't Holy Ribena, but it was the 1970s so goodness knows what was in it. I digress, because I was, of course, looking at the Holy Stain left by the murder of Thomas Becket, the subject of today's post.  Rest assured, this should be stabby enough for everyone...

Thomas à Becket (c.1118–1170) (1798) Benjamin West

Well, look at us in our fancy clothes!  So, Thomas Becket or Thomas à Becket (if you are feeling French) was Lord Chancellor in England, then Archbishop of Canterbury in the 12th century.  He was born on the 21 December 1118-ish, which is the Feast Day of St Thomas the Apostle, for whom he was named.  He was a very studious boy but I love the fact that, aged 20, he spent a year out in Paris, hopefully wearing the medieval version of a beret and writing bad poetry about girls. He came back and started working as a clerk, working his way up to being Archdeacon of Canterbury, taking over the big job on the death of his predecessor in 1162...

The Hallowing of the Church at reading Abbey by Thomas Becket, 19th April 1164
(1920) Stephen Reid

Henry II hoped that Becket would be a fun, beret-wearing, cool Archbish, but Thomas decided that, as he had the big job now, he was going to take everything seriously and stop being fun. Thomas gave up being Lord Chancellor and properly concentrated on being good at Archbishop-ing, which did not include bending the rules because the King wanted him too.  This did not go down well and when the King tried to get Thomas to sign the Constitutions of Clarendon (legislation that passed power from the church to the King), Thomas stormed off to France, which is an impressive flounce-off.  Eventually, he came back, but when Henry II gave the Archbishop of York the gig to crown the Heir Apparent, Henry the Young King, Thomas excommunicated the lot of them.  That's pretty cool and I'd love to be able to excommunicate people who got on my wick too.  Although, that did not go down well...

The Murder of Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral (no date) John Opie

What followed was either Henry II saying 'Will no-one rid me of this turbulent priest?!' or something more long-winded and in medieval-ese but it all amounted to the same thing.  Technically, it seems whatever form of words you ascribe to, Henry did not actually say 'Please go and kill him, that would make me really happy' but he might have hinted it really quite loudly.  Four knights, Reg, Hugh, Bill and Dickie, all cantered off to Canterbury and told Thomas Becket that he had to return with them to Winchester and say sorry to the King for being such a boring killjoy.  Thomas said he was busy and so they came back with their swords and much stabbing commenced...

The Murder of Thomas Becket (no date) Thomas Stothard

Now, for all parents among you who know the Stick Song from Hey Duggee, you can swap the word 'stick' for 'stab' and that pretty much sums up what happened in Cantebury Cathedral.  The Kentish Gazette from the 10th October 1865 had a very gory description of the whole affair, including a proper fight where Thomas Beckett holds his own quite respectably against four knights, but then gets his head cut open and someone pulls his brains all over the floor just to make sure he's dead.  Lawks, that is a pretty tough thing to clean up.  All this took place on 29th December 1170, so possibly HenryII had just had a bad Christmas. I get in a funny mood between Christmas and New Year (I believe that is a recognised thing and the period is called 'Twixtmas) and would probably wish a sticky end to people who got on my nerves. Maybe not.  Anyway, the upshot of all that was Thomas Becket was canonised two years after his murder/martyrdom and Henry II was made to say he was very sorry indeed, as were his naughty stabby knights.  The knights had to go to Rome and say they were especially sorry, and they were made to do their penance by being knightly over in the Holy Lands, forming what was then known as the Order of St Thomas.

A slightly icky footnote to all this is that in church renovations in 1852, a small wooden cup was found in the back of a statue of the Virgin Mary.  The church was at Kewstock, near Woodspring, on lands owned by the daughter of one of Becket's murderers.  The age of the cup and the context in which the cup and its associated objects were found led archaeologists to suggest the contents of the cup, extremely dried blood, was that of Becket. Well, that's delightful. 

I'll catch you tomorrow...