Thomas Becket and his Biographers (Studies in the History of Medieval Religion, 28) (Volume 28)

258 Pages·2006·2.403 MB·English

by  Michael Staunton

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Liber Eliensis: A History of the Isle of Ely
In the wake of his murder in December 1170,
from the Seventh Century to the Twelfth
an extraordinarily large number of Lives of
Thomas Becket were produced. They provide
Translated by JANET FAIRWEATHER
invaluable witness to the life and death of
Thomas and the dramatic events in which he
This is the fi rst translation from Latin into English of an important source for AT
was involved, but they are also works of great
English and ecclesiastical history. The Liber Eliensis is an account of the history
NH literary value, more complex and sophisticated
of the Isle of Ely compiled by a monk of Ely monastery in the later twelfth
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century. He uses evidence from the monastery’s Latin and Old English archives,
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This book, the fi rst to be devoted to the
combined with chronicle data and biographies of saints and heroes, to tell the
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story of Ely from the conversion of East Anglia to Christianity to the compiler’s M
examination of the individual Lives, followed
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A Companion to Middle English Hagiography
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Thomas Becket and his Biographers raises
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everyone, from kings to peasants, knew the stories of the lives, deaths and
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afterlives of the saints. This collection introduces the canon of Middle English
Dr MICHAEL STAUNTON is Lecturer in
hagiography; places it in the context of the cults of saints; analyses key themes E
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Medieval History, School of History and
within hagiographic narrative, including gender, power, violence and history; R
T Archives, University College Dublin.
and, fi nally, shows how hagiographic themes survived the Reformation. S
Jacket: The Becket Leaves, f. 2 v (13th century).
© The late Sir Paul Getty KKK BBB EEE aanndd tthhee WWoorrmmsslleeyy
Library.
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Thomas Becket Biog.indd 1 23/08/2006 19:37:02
Studies in the History of Medieval Religion
VOLUME XXVIII
THOMAS BECKET
AND HIS BIOGRAPHERS
In the wake of his murder in December 1170 an extraordinarily large
number of Lives of Thomas Becket were produced. They provide an
invaluable witness to the life and death of Thomas and the dramatic
events in which he was involved, but they are also works of great
literary value, more complex and sophisticated than has been recog-
nized. This book, the first to be devoted to the biographers and their
works, consists of an examination of the individual Lives, followed
by an analysis of the biographers’ treatment of the major themes in
Thomas’s life – conversion, conflict, trial, exile and martyrdom – in
the light of contemporary hagiographical, historical and theologi-
cal writing and canon law. It raises points of major significance for
the study of intellectual and literary life in the central middle ages
and provides an important reassessment of the Becket conflict and
Thomas Becket himself.
Dr MICHAEL STAUNTON is Lecturer in Medieval History, School
of History and Archives, University College Dublin.
BECKET.indb 1 21/7/06 11:13:29 am
Studies in the History of Medieval Religion
ISSN: 0955–2480
General Editor
Christopher Harper-Bill
Previously published volumes in the series
are listed at the back of this volume
BECKET.indb 2 21/7/06 11:13:30 am
THOMAS BECKET
AND HIS BIOGRAPHERS
MICHAEL STAUNTON
THE BOYDELL PRESS
BECKET.indb 3 21/7/06 11:13:30 am
© Michael Staunton 2006
All Rights Reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation
no part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system,
published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast,
transmitted, recorded or reproduced in any form or by any means,
without the prior permission of the copyright owner
The right of Michael Staunton to be identified as
the authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with
sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents act 1988
First published 2006
The Boydell Press, Woodbridge
ISBN 1 84383 271 2
The Boydell Press is an imprint of Boydell & Brewer Ltd
PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF, UK
and of Boydell & Brewer Inc.
668 Mt Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620, USA
website: www.boydellandbrewer.com
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library
This publication is printed on acid-free paper
Typeset by David Roberts, Pershore, Worcestershire
Printed in Great Britain by MPG Books Ltd, Cornwall
BECKET.indb 4 21/7/06 11:13:30 am
Contents
Acknowledgements vi
Abbreviations vii
1 Introduction: The Lives and their context 1
2 The forerunner: John of Salisbury 19
3 Telling the story: Edward Grim, Guernes and Anonymous I 28
4 Criticism and vindication: Anonymous II and Alan of
Tewkesbury 38
5 The view from Canterbury: Benedict of Peterborough and
William of Canterbury 49
6 Observation and reflection: William Fitzstephen 56
7 Breaking the rules of history: Herbert of Bosham 63
8 Conversion 75
9 Conflict 97
10 Trial 129
11 Exile 153
12 Martyrdom 184
Conclusion 216
Bibliography 220
Index 242
BECKET.indb 5 21/7/06 11:13:31 am
Acknowledgements
This book has had a long gestation and I have incurred many debts of grati-
tude. My first thanks are to Dr Jennifer O’Reilly, University College Cork,
who introduced me to the subject as an undergraduate and has continued to
help me since. I am also very grateful to the help and direction given to me
while researching a PhD on the Lives of Anselm and Becket at the University
of Cambridge and working on the research project ‘The Acta of Henry II’, in
particular Dr Gillian Evans, Professor Christopher Brooke and Professor Sir
James Holt. I also benefited greatly from the assistance and knowledge of a
number of people during my time working at the University of St Andrews,
especially Dr Haki Antonsson, Dr Julie Kerr, Professor Robert Bartlett and
Professor John Hudson. In addition, I am very grateful for the generous advice
given to me by Professor Anne Duggan, King’s College, London. The main
part of the book was written at University College Dublin, and there are too
many people whose help should be acknowledged, but special thanks are due
to Professor Seymour Phillips, Ms Kate Breslin, Dr Gillian O’Brien and Dr
Michael Laffan.
BECKET.indb 6 21/7/06 11:13:31 am
Abbreviations
AASS Acta Sanctorum, ed. J. Bollandus et al. (Antwerp, Brussels etc.,
1643–)
ACM Acts of the Christian Martyrs, ed. and trans. H. Musurillo (Oxford,
1972)
ANS Anglo-Norman Studies
Augustine, Enn. Ps. Augustine, Ennarrationes in Psalmos, ed. E. Dekkers
and I. Fraipont (1956), CCSL 38–40
Barlow, Becket F. Barlow, Thomas Becket (London, 1986)
Bernard, Opera Bernard of Clairvaux, Sancti Bernardi Opera Omnia, ed. J.
Leclercq, C. H. Talbot, H. M. Rochais, 8 vols. (Rome, 1957–77)
BHL Bibliotheca Hagiographica Latina, ed. Socii Bollandiani: Subsidia
Hagiographica, 2 vols. (Brussels, 1898–1901)
CCCM Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis
CCSL Corpus Christianorum Series Latina
Councils and Synods Councils and Synods with Other Documents Relating to
the English Church, I, AD 871–1204, part 2: 1066–1204, ed. D.
Whitelock, M. Brett, C. N. L. Brooke (Oxford, 1981)
CSEL Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum (Vienna, 1866–)
CTB The Correspondence of Archbishop Thomas Becket, ed. A. J.
Duggan, 2 vols., OMT (Oxford, 2000)
Decretum Decretum Gratiani, Corpus Iuris Canonici, ed. E. Friedberg, 2 vols.
(Leipzig, 1879), vol. 1
Duggan, Becket A. Duggan, Thomas Becket (London, 2004)
Duggan, Textual History A. Duggan, Thomas Becket: A Textual History of his
Letters (Oxford, 1980)
Eddius Eddius Stephanus, The Life of Bishop Wilfrid by Eddius Stephanus,
ed. B. Colgrave (Cambridge, 1937)
EHR English Historical Review
Gregory, Mor. Gregory the Great, Moralia in Job, ed. M. Adriaen, 1985,
CCSL 143–143B
Guernes Guernes de Pont-Sainte Maxence, La vie de Saint Thomas Becket,
ed. E. Walberg, Les classiques français du moyen age 77 (Paris,
1936)
Hardy T. D. Hardy, Descriptive Catalogue of Materials Relating to the
History of Great Britain and Ireland: To the End of the Reign of
Henry VIII, 4 vols., RS 26 (London, 1862–71), vol. 2
HN Eadmer, Historia Novorum in Anglia, ed. M. Rule, RS 81 (1884)
JMH Journal of Medieval History
BECKET.indb 7 21/7/06 11:13:32 am
viii THOMAS BECKET AND HIS BIOGRAPHERS
LJS The Letters of John of Salisbury, vol. 2: The Later Letters (1163–
1180), ed. and trans. W. J. Millor and C. N. L. Brooke, OMT
(Oxford, 1979)
Lombard Peter Lombard, Commentarii in Psalmos, Commentarii in Epistulas
Pauli ed. J.-P. Migne, 1854–5, PL 192–3
MGH Monumenta Germaniae Historica, inde ab anno Christi quintesimo
usque ad annum millesimum et quingentesimum (Hanover/Berlin,
1924–)
MTB Materials for the History of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of
Canterbury, ed. J. C. Robertson and J. B. Sheppard, 7 vols., RS
67 (London, 1875–85)
NMC Nelson’s Medieval Classics (later Texts)
O’Reilly, ‘Double Martyrdom’ J. O’Reilly, ‘The Double Martyrdom of
Thomas Becket: Hagiography or History?’, Studies in Medieval
and Renaissance History 7 (1985): 185–247
ODNB The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, ed. H. C. G.
Matthew and B. Harrison (Oxford, 2004)
OMT Oxford Medieval Texts
Orderic Orderic Vitalis, The Ecclesiastical History of Orderic Vitalis, ed.
and trans. M. Chibnall, 6 vols., OMT (Oxford, 1969–80)
PL Patrologia cursus completus, series latina, ed. J.-P. Migne et al, 221
vols. (Paris, 1844–64)
RS Rolls Series: Rerum Brittanicarum Medii Aevi Scriptores, Chronicles
and Memorials of Great Britain and Ireland during the Middle Ages,
99 vols. (1858–96)
Saga Thómas Saga Erkibyskups, ed. E. Magnússon, 2 vols., RS 65
(London, 1883)
SC Sources Chrétiennes
Sédières Thomas Becket: Actes du colloque international de Sédières 19–24
août 1973, ed. R. Foreville (Paris, 1975)
Shirley Garnier’s Becket, trans. J. Shirley (1975, repr. Felinfach, 1996)
Smalley, Becket Conflict B. Smalley, The Becket Conflict and the Schools
(Oxford, 1973)
Stud. Mon. Studia Monastica
TRHS Transactions of the Royal Historical Society
VA Eadmer, Life of St Anselm, ed. and trans. R. W. Southern, NMT
(London, 1962); repr. OMT (Oxford, 1972)
Walberg E. Walberg, La tradition hagiographique de saint Thomas Becket
avant la fin du XIIe siècle (Paris, 1929; repr. Geneva, 1975)
BECKET.indb 8 21/7/06 11:13:32 am
1
Introduction: The Lives and their context
The first reaction to Thomas Becket’s murder on 29 December 1170 was
shock, but well before the shock had faded another emotion had come to the
fore: the desire to make sense of the most remarkable episode in recent his-
tory. ‘Where shall I begin?’, wrote John of Salisbury to a friend in its immedi-
ate aftermath. ‘One can hardly speak for the abundant, overflowing, tide of
the theme.’1 Around the same time another of Thomas’s clerks, Herbert of
Bosham, began his report, ‘In writing this I stopped and hesitated, wonder-
ing what kind of expression I could use to bring before you the horrifying
and savage murder of the Lord’s anointed.’2 Both writers are employing a
literary convention,3 but they also express certain truths. Thomas’s life and
death presented a new theme and posed new questions: What did the murder
of the archbishop of Canterbury in his own cathedral by agents of the king
mean? If Thomas was a saint, as strikingly suggested by the nature of his death
and his prodigious posthumous miracles, how was his controversial life to be
explained? And if Thomas was the greatest saint of his time, what was his
place in Christian history? This theme found expression in literary produc-
tions as remarkable for their historical and literary value as they are for their
volume. An unusually large number of biographical works about Thomas
were written in the twelfth century, though the exact number is difficult to
gauge: some are lost, including one written by a woman;4 others survive in
fragmentary form; a few do not easily fit any literary category. This book deals
mainly with ten works: the Vitae by John of Salisbury, Edward Grim, William
of Canterbury, William Fitzstephen, Guernes of Ponte-Ste-Maxence, Herbert
of Bosham, Anonymous I and Anonymous II, Benedict of Peterborough’s
Passio and Alan of Tewkesbury’s supplement to John’s Life. All were com-
pleted within seven years of Thomas’s death, with the exception of Herbert’s
Life, which was written between 1186 and 1188.
1 LJS no. 305, pp. 724–5.
2 MTB no. 735, 7. 429 (writing to the pope in the name of Archbishop William of
Sens).
3 See E. R. Curtius, European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages (London, 1953), p. 159.
4 ‘I hear frequent inaccuracies in all the other narratives that have been written, whether
it be by clerks or laymen, monks or a lady (dame)’, Guernes v. 161–2.
BECKET.indb 1 21/7/06 11:13:33 am