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Edward Grim:
The Murder of Thomas Becket
Canterbury Cathedral |
Thomas
Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury was murdered on December 29, 1170 in Canterbury
Cathedral. Although the great struggles of Church and State in the Middle Ages were played
out between the pope and German emperors, or the popes and French kings, the conflict
between Henry II and Becket is a witness of the widespread and localized impact of the
conflict.
The murder of Becket has been the subject of much discussion. W.L. Warren in Henry
II (Berkeley: 1973) held that Becket welcomed martyrdom, and could have escaped if he
had wanted. Once dead, Becket was hailed as a saint, and his shrine became one of the most
celebrated pilgrimage sites of western Europe, and the destination of Geoffrey Chaucer's
pilgrims in the Canterbury Tales.
One of the best accounts of Becket's murder is by his biographer Edward Grim in Vita
S. Thomae, Cantuariensis
Archepiscopi et Martyris, ed. in James Robertson, Materials for the Life of
Thomas Becket, (London: Rolls Series,
1875-1885) (7 vols.) Vol. II.
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First Knight:"Where is Thomas Becket, traitor of the king and kingdom?"
Second Knight: "Where is the archbishop?"
Thomas Becket:
"The righteous will be like a
bold lion and free from fear," "Here I am, not a traitor of the king but a priest; why do you
seek me?" "Here I am ready to suffer in the name of He who redeemed
me with His blood; God forbid that I should flee on account of your swords or that I
should depart from righteousness."
Third Knight: "Absolve and restore to communion those you have
excommunicated and return to office those who have been suspended."
Thomas Becket:
"No penance has been made, so I will not absolve them."
Fourth Knight: "Then
you will now die and will suffer what you have earned."
Thomas Becket:
"And I am prepared to die for my Lord, so that in my blood the
church will attain liberty and peace; but in the name of Almighty God I forbid that you
hurt my men, either cleric or layman, in any way." "If it is me you seek, let them leave."
The Knights grab
Becket and throw him to the Ground.
Thomas Becket
"Don't
touch me, Rainaldus, you who owes me faith and obedience, you who foolishly follow your
accomplices."
Fifth Knight (Rainaldus): "I
don't owe faith or obedience to you that is in opposition to the fealty I owe my lord
king."
(Stage
Directions: He had barely finished speaking when the impious knight
(Rainaldus),
fearing that [Thomas] would be saved by the people and escape alive, suddenly set upon him
and, shaving off the summit of his crown which the sacred chrism consecrated to God, he
wounded the sacrificial lamb of God in the head; the lower arm of the writer was cut by
the same blow).
Thomas Grim: "Let
me hold Thomas in my arms."
"Behold the simplicity of the dove, behold the
wisdom of the serpent in this martyr who presented his body to the killers so that he
might keep his head, in other words his soul and the church, safe; nor would he devise a
trick or a snare against the slayers of the flesh so that he might preserve himself
because it was better that he be free from this nature! O worthy shepherd who so boldly
set himself against the attacks of wolves so that the sheep might not be torn to pieces!
and because he abandoned the world, the world - wanting to overpower him - unknowingly
elevated him."
Thomas Becket:
"For the name of Jesus and the protection of the
church I am ready to embrace death."
Third Knight: "Let me strike him
again."
Fourth Knight: "And I will slice
his crown, which is large, and separate it from his head, so that
the blood turned white from the
brain yet no less did the brain turn red from the blood; it
will stain the floor of the church with the blood of
this traitor."
First Knight:
"I will place my foot on his neck and scatter his brains and blood across the
floor." "We can leave this place, knights, he will not get up
again."
Translated by
Dawn Marie Hayes [dms0603@is2.nyu.edu]
This text is part of the Internet Medieval Source Book. The Sourcebook is a collection
of public domain and copy-permitted
texts related to medieval and Byzantine history.
Unless otherwise indicated the specific electronic form of the document is copyright.
Permission is granted for electronic
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source. No permission is granted for commercial use.
Paul Halsall May 1997
halsall@murray.fordham.edu