Two notable clergymen, Bergr Gunnsteinsson and Jón Hestr have left behind stories of the life of Bishop Thomas Becket of Canterbury, each in his own way telling of the fate of the holy man up to his martyrdom.
Neither of the two, however, told what the causes were leading to the persecution, which the Church of England had to tolerate; over them, we are instructed by the Speculum historiale. The causes are specifically found in the poor examples set by the previous kings; each successor viewed it as a disgrace to give back what the predecessor had taken with force for himself.
The prehistory that we will tell here begins with William the Bastard who wore the crown of England. He had three sons: the oldest named William, the second Robert and the third Henry. All three were promising young men but Robert stood out from his brothers through manly beauty and diligence.
As King William grew old, he called together a council and decreed that the sons should succeed him, one after the other, and the one on the throne should provide the younger son or sons with sufficient money and goods. This decree was then made law. Soon after, the king died in 1088 and on the Holy Day of saints Cosmas and Damian (known as the twin martyrs), his son William was crowned king by Lanfrancus, the archbishop of Canterbury, who had also overseen his upbringing. Not long thereafter Lanfrancus died, and Anselm, until now the bishop of the Bec Monastery in Normandy, was appointed archbishop.
At this time, the reigning pope was Urban II22 who was involved in a great conflict with Earl Guibert of Ravenna. Guibert wrote to King William asking him to support him in the conflict against the pope, causing William to let himself be moved to prohibit payment of the Peter’s pence23 although Anselm strongly opposed this rule.
In the meantime the news had come to Europe that Jerusalem and other cities in the holy land were occupied by the heathens. As a result many brave men undertook a crusade, among them the king’s son Robert. With him went two other counts, Godfrey and Balduin. The money that King William had given to his brother Robert he then tried to recoup through levies of intolerable taxes on the bishoprics, closters and churches.
Archbishop Anselm required the bishops to resist the king’s order but in fear of the king’s wrath, they soon gave up their resistance. Only Anselm remained obstinate until the king’s persecution forced him to leave the country.
King William gathered the taxes from the holy places even more ruthlessly. The bishops complained and assured that they were unable to pay so much, but the king retorted, “Don’t you have large cabinets full of bones covered with gold and silver? Undress them and give that to us!”
The bishops actually obeyed the order and robbed their own churches. Even the crucifixes weren’t spared when they contained valuable metal. But God soon showed how he detested this carrying on, then never before was England targeted with so many earthquakes, storms, failed harvests, frost and snowstorms as in the time of William II. In the second year of his reign on October 15, the wind tore a man-sized hole in the church of Ibericeltumba and broke a column inside into pieces, one of which tore off the right hand of a crucifix and destroyed a picture of the Virgin Mary. The wind left such a stench that the monks had to remove it with baptismal water. At another location the storm tore the roof from St. Mary’s Church and threw it in a flat field.
The same signs appeared each year, but the king refused to be disturbed; in fact, his pride grew day to day. Each day he required new hosiery, and each pair had to cost at least a mark. As the current taxes were not sufficient to meet the expenses, Runolf24 advised the king to issue a new order that forbade church canons and monks from electing new bishops or abbots to replace those who died. Instead, the king would appoint replacements, who were to direct all income to the state treasury.
In this way, both personal and real assets both in towns and the countryside from the hands of the church to those of the king, and remained with the crown under William’s successors, first with Henry and then Stephan as well as later for Henry of Anjou who was in conflict with Archbishop Thomas Becket. But William II was the originator of the subjugation of which Thomas became a victim.
Heaven’s wrath would, however, reach King William in his strongest manhood. Shortly before his death, he and others had unusual dreams. He dreamt once that he bled profusely and the bloodstream ascended to heaven so that the clear day became as dark as night. A monk who had just returned from Jerusalem dreamt that he saw the king in a haughty manner enter a church. He then hurried to a crucifix and began to gnaw on it with his teeth. The crucifix tolerated this abuse for some time but then it kicked him so strongly that the king fell backward to the floor. From his mouth there arose such a powerful flame that the smoke darkened everything.
A trusted person told the king of this dream, but the king just laughed and said the monk was trying to earn a gratuity with it. But he would soon learn that these dreams were the omens of his death. He was riding one day on a hunt, following an elk. One of his companions, the Frenchman Galterus, shot an arrow at it. But the arrow turned in the air and went through the king.
And so God’s enemy met his end after a reign of twelve years. It is said that during this whole time he never called together a synod, and that he had taken together three bishoprics and twelve abbeys by the time of his death. It is also said that he had taken an abbess as mistress.
Following William’s death, Anselm returned to his bishopric in Kent. As proof of his holiness we tell still one more story that occurred while he was still a prior at Bec.
An elderly monk in the monastery had such a hate for Anselm that the monk could not stand to look upon him. Then, the old monk became deathly ill. One evening as the brothers had gone to bed, the old monk cried out saying that two fierce wolves were biting his throat and trying to tear out his soul.
The monk in the next bed was startled awake and was so terrified that he ran to the prior and told him what had happened. Anselm immediately stood up from the reading with which he was deeply engrossed, withdrew for a moment in prayer and then followed the startled brother. As soon as he entered the room of the sick old monk, he raised his hand and spoke a blessing. The sick monk immediately became quiet, smiled at ambrosia25 and said that through the words of the blessing a fiery spear had flown out of the monk’s mouth, scaring away the wolves.
Anselm requested that the monk confess and to prepare himself for his final hour, “…then before the brothers begin their none26 prayers, you will die”. The sick monk confessed, received absolution from Anselm and when the time of prayers came, he died.
22The original sources err in saying Urban III.
23The Peter’s pence was first started in 8th century England as a voluntary payment which then became a de facto church tax. It eventually spread throughout Europe. In England, it again became voluntary around 1860. Proceeds were originally meant to carry out papal apostolic and charitable works, but occasionally the money went toward building St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
24Ranulf Flambard, governmental minister to kings William I (the Conqueror) and William II (a.k.a. William Rufus).
25This may be a metaphoric reference regarding Anselm’s blessing as life saving, a mythical trait of ambrosia.
26The hour of afternoon prayers, 3 p.m.