BECKET

THOMAS, Archbishop of Canterbury, born 1 1 18, was the son of a wealthy London merchant. He learned arithmetic in his father's counting house, which fitted him for the office of Chancellor, and he learned French, the language of the Courts of Europe, by studying theology at Paris. He became Chancellor in ii55« and Archbishop of Canterbury in 1162. He quarrelled with Henry II. because the King wished all cases to be tried by civil law, whereas he wished ecclesiastics to have a court of their own. He was defeated in his wishes, and murdered in 1170 while in Canterbury Cathedral. People used to make pilgrimages to his tomb to be cured of their ailfncnts, but it was found out later that the tomb did not contain his bones. They had been removed with his mitre and other appurtenances elsewhere.