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Colleague, Critic, and Sometime Counselor to Thomas Becket

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Colleague, Critic, and Sometime Counselor to Thomas Becket JOHN OF SALISBURY: COLLEAGUE, CRITIC, AND SOMETIME COUNSELOR TO THOMAS BECKET By L. Susan Carter A DISSERTATION Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of History–Doctor of Philosophy 2021 ABSTRACT JOHN OF SALISBURY: COLLEAGUE, CRITIC, AND SOMETIME COUNSELOR TO THOMAS BECKET By L. Susan Carter John of Salisbury was one of the best educated men in the mid-twelfth century. The beneficiary of twelve years of study in Paris under the tutelage of Peter Abelard and other scholars, John flourished alongside Thomas Becket in the Canterbury curia of Archbishop Theobald. There, his skills as a writer were of great value. Having lived through the Anarchy of King Stephen, he was a fierce advocate for the liberty of the English Church. Not surprisingly, John became caught up in the controversy between King Henry II and Thomas Becket, Henry’s former chancellor and successor to Theobald as archbishop of Canterbury. Prior to their shared time in exile, from 1164-1170, John had written three treatises with concern for royal court follies, royal pressures on the Church, and the danger of tyrants at the core of the Entheticus de dogmate philosophorum , the Metalogicon , and the Policraticus. John dedicated these works to Becket. The question emerges: how effective was John through dedicated treatises and his letters to Becket in guiding Becket’s attitudes and behavior regarding Church liberty? By means of contemporary communication theory an examination of John’s writings and letters directed to Becket creates a new vista on the relationship between John and Becket—and the impact of John on this martyred archbishop. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS With this work, I am grateful to stand upon the shoulders of giants and peer into the future. My deep thanks go to my partner and wife, the Reverend Dr. Linda C. Johnson, who helped prepare the path of this scholarship. As well, I dedicate this to my daughter Amanda Weinstein, MSW, who is following her passion with further studies of her own. I offer gratitude to my committee members, Dr. Liam Brockey, Dr. Michael (Mickey) Stamm, Dr. Arthur Versluis, and most especially Dr. Emily Tabuteau. Their perseverance, patience, and kindness have been noted and welcomed. Thanks go also to Tara Reyelts and Katie Carline. To you, I hand the baton. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 RESEARCH METHODS 7 Research Framework 7 Communication Theory Applied 16 Overview of Previous Scholarship on John and Becket – Where this Work Resides 29 CHAPTER 1 – ENGLAND IN THE TIME OF JOHN OF SALISBURY 39 Henry I and the Concern About Succession 46 Stephen and the Record of His Reign 60 CHAPTER 2 – JOHN OF SALISBURY: HIS LIFE 65 John’s Education in France 66 John’s Experience of Education and the Metalogicon 78 Theobald of Bec as Archbishop of Canterbury 81 John at the Canterbury Household 84 The Alleged Disgrace 89 CHAPTER 3 – THOMAS BECKET: HIS LIFE 96 Becket’s Early Life 98 Becket in Archbishop Theobald’s Employ 101 Becket and John – Early Encounters 103 Becket as Henry II’s Chancellor 104 Becket’s Rise to Prominence at Canterbury 108 A Changed Man 111 Becket in Exile 120 Becket and Henry: Reconciliation Attempts 130 The Return to Canterbury 133 Pending Death and Martyrdom 138 CHAPTER 4 – JOHN OF SALISBURY AND THE ENTHETICUS 140 John’s Reasons for Dedicating the Entheticus to Becket 144 The Audience for the Entheticus 149 The Entheticus Compared to John’s Other Works 153 CHAPTER 5 – JOHN OF SALISBURY AND THE METALOGICON 157 Motivation and Purpose for Writing the Metalogicon 159 Thomas Becket and the Metalogicon 167 Writing the Metalogicon – A Matter of Time and Place 174 iv CHAPTER 6 – JOHN OF SALISBURY AND THE POLICRATICUS 178 The Structure of the Text 180 Motivations for Writing the Policraticus 186 The Question of Intended Audience 195 John’s Precautions in Writing the Policraticus 197 CHAPTER 7 – THE CHURCH IN THE TWELFTH CENTURY 209 Brief History of the Church’s Power 210 Gratian and the Decretum 219 The Historica Pontificalis Regarding the Church’s Power 222 Assessing the Historica Pontificalis 229 CHAPTER 8 – BECKET’S MURDER AND MARTYRDOM RECORDED IN VITAE 231 Becket’s Swift Ascension to Sainthood 234 The Many Biographies of Thomas Becket 237 A Close Reading of John’s Vita 241 CHAPTER 9 – JOHN OF SALISBURY: HIS CORRESPONDENCE 247 The First Volume of Letters 253 The Second Volume of Letters 261 What John’s Letters Tell Us 270 CHAPTER 10 – ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF JOHN’S TREATISE 289 Using Communication Theories to Assess the Impact of John’s Writings on Becket 290 The Entheticus Reviewed 298 The Metalogicon Reviewed 302 The Policraticus Reviewed 306 CHAPTER 11 – CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN JOHN AND BECKET REVIEWED 311 Treatises’ Quotes and Allusions in Letters to Becket 325 CONCLUSION 331 BIBLIOGRAPHY 337 Primary Sources 338 Secondary Sources 340 v INTRODUCTION The murder of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, on December 29, 1170 has held a position of fascination and esteem in the lives of the faithful. The charismatic and complicated cleric was famous in life for his contentious relationship with Henry II of England. The former chancellor became the king’s fierce adversary. In fact, their once close relationship grew bitter and ultimately led to Becket’s death. Their conflicted relationship and Becket’s assassination resulted in the archbishop’s canonization only three years after his murder. His place of death and entombment then became one of the most visited Christian pilgrimage sites and remained so for more than three hundred years. 1 Geoffrey Chaucer even celebrated it in The Canterbury Tales. 2 Subsequent stage plays and films have continued the obsession with Becket’s cathedral murder, long after the dissolution of monasteries and the destruction of Becket’s shrine by Henry VIII in 1538. 3 1 David Knowles, Thomas Becket (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1971), 1. Becket’s shrine at the Cathedral in Canterbury was one of the top three destinations for pilgrims in the centuries following his death (the other two being Rome and Santiago de Compostela). The actual shrine was established in 1220, when his remains were translated to a finished chapel at the cathedral but was then destroyed in 1538 under orders of Henry VIII. See: “Thomas Becket Shrine,” Canterbury Historical and Archeological Society , accessed February 5, 2020, http://www.canterbury-archaeology.org.uk/becket-shrine/4590809614 . Becket’s relics were returned from Hungary in 2016 from where they had resided. See also: “Becket’s bones return to Canterbury Cathedral,” Anglican Communion News Service , May 23, 2016, https://www.anglicannews.org/news/2016/05/beckets-bones-return-to- canterbury-cathedral.aspx, accessed February 5, 2020. 2 Chaucer’s lengthy poem concerns the journey of thirty-one pilgrims, himself included, and the stories they share along the way. All are to tell two stories on the way to Canterbury, and two on return to Southwark. The best storyteller claims a free supper at the Tabard Inn at journey’s end. “ The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer,” British Library , accessed February 5, 2020, https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/the-canterbury-tales-by-geoffrey- chaucer . 3 Stage plays and films include Becket (1964) starring Richard Burton as Thomas Becket and Peter O’Toole as Henry II. IMD, accessed February 5, 2020, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057877/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1and . The stage play Murder in the Cathedral (1935) by T. S. Eliot is also the basis of a television drama and an opera, Assassinio nella cattedrale , Ildebrando Pizzetti, Alberto Castelli, Italo Delle Cese, and T. S. Eliot. Assassinio nella cattedrale: tragedia musicale in due atti e un intermezzo (Milano: Ricordi, 1958). The debut performance was at La Scala in 1958. 1 As a lawyer and a cleric—ordained in the same apostolic tradition as Thomas Becket, no less—it is natural that I should have interest in Becket and his career. The legal struggles and the priestly challenges apparent in Becket’s story are not unfamiliar to me, even more than eight hundred years later. Yet, as a journalist and academic, I am just as fascinated by the communication processes that surrounded and affected Becket. Enter John of Salisbury, a colleague and critic of Becket, who was prodigious in his efforts to mold Becket’s behavior. John also sought to alter the attitudes of those associated with Becket when Becket was chancellor to Henry II, and then archbishop of Canterbury, and Henry’s antagonist. 4 Ultimately, John was one of the leaders who pressed for Becket’s canonization with his Vita Sancti Thomae and targeted correspondence. Thus, my own attraction to the story of Thomas Becket is less about the man and more about the circle with which he surrounded himself: his advisors and his companions. Certainly, among the most notable of these was John of Salisbury, a secular cleric, one of the most educated men living in the second half of the twelfth century, 5 and a member of the Canterbury household. John’s acquaintance with Becket began in 1155 when he joined the court of Archbishop Theobald at Canterbury, where Becket, himself a secular cleric—a deacon—was already employed. 6 Through Becket’s initial time at Canterbury, through the years he was chancellor to 4 For a detailed examination of John of Salisbury, see for example: Clement C. J. Webb, John of Salisbury (London: Methuen & Co., 1932); Michael Wilks, ed. The World of John of Salisbury (Oxford: The Ecclesiastical Historical Society, 1984); Cary J. Nederman, John of Salisbury (Tempe: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2005). 5 Nederman, John of Salisbury , 1; Encyclopædia Britannica , “John of Salisbury, English Scholar,” Encyclopædia Britannica , accessed February 5, 2020, https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-of-Salisbury.
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