The 5th Day of Christmas - Rewriting History To Erase the Assassination of Thomas Becket (Series, Part 5.a.)
Henry II was forced to apologize and to do penance for his role (intentional or not) that prompted Becket’s killing.
Nearly four centuries later, about five years after Henry VIII had first sought annulment from his first wife to marry his mistress, Anne Boleyn, Henry broke from Rome, became head of England’s church, and received an English annulment instead of a Roman one.
In another five years, he (along with Protestant reformers) suppressed Becket veneration and pilgrimage, claiming it idolatrous, disliking the idea of superstitious miracles that transcended scriptural truth. Henry didn’t want his power over his church to be challenged or limited by a Becket.
Henry II was said to have pondered, "Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?" Four ambitious knights took this as a request to deal with Becket, and killed him.
Shakespeare alludes to this in Richard II, when associates of Bollingbroke hear him repeat, “Have I no friend will rid me of this living fear?” (5.4.1-6). They kill the deposed Richard.
So in Shakespeare’s England, the first four days of Christmas have special feast days, including the Holy Innocents on December 28, commemorating the slaughter of children. The English removal of the Feast of Thomas Becket on December 29 created a glaring gap [1], a silence filled in part by Shakespeare’s transformation of the Becket elements (from the 5th day of Christmas) in Richard II.
So we might say that Shakespeare’s 𝘙𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘐𝘐 covertly contains associations with Becket and with his Christmas season assassination and church feast on December 29.
Henry VIII and reformers tried to erase Becket from history: Two good sources on that include Sarah J. Biggs’ blog at the British Library [2] (from which two images in the photo collage for this post are taken),
and an article by Professor Alec Ryrie [3] (from which the center image is taken).
Still today, there are similar attempts at historical erasure and censorship [4].
[To be cont.]
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POSTSCRIPT:
The article on Thomas Becket at Britannica gives a good account of his early years as very worldly, and expresses some perplexity at his apparent repentance of his prodigality. It gives a good account of some of the issues at stake.
The Britannica article notes that Catholics and Protestants have very divergent views of Becket:
"Judgment on the character and actions of St. Thomas has been varied. From his martyrdom until the reign of Henry VIII, he was the “blisful martir” of Chaucer’s pilgrims, who had heroically defied a tyrant. Henry VIII despoiled his shrine, burned his bones, and erased his name from all service books. Thenceforth, Thomas was a hero to Catholics and a traitor to Protestants."
But Britannica's viewpoint is either that of "realpolitik" (not especially favorable to an idealistic an perhaps repentant Archbishop) or that of a nation whose monarch is at least ceremonially the head of its church, and the article is perhaps, in the end, biased a bit against the idea of the church having some authority that the monarchy should not impose upon.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Thomas-Becket/As-archbishop
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INDEX for posts in this series on the TWELVE DAYS of CHRISTMAS
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2024/12/twelve-days-of-christmas-in-churches-of.html
NOTES: All references to Shakespeare plays are to the Folger Shakespeare Library online versions: https://shakespeare.folger.edu
[1] The readings for the day for morning and evening prayer follow their own schedule, unrelated to feasts (observed or removed) such as that of St. Thomas Becket. The morning prayer reading from Isaiah 61 speaks of God’s anointed (which Christians interpreted to be Jesus) setting prisoners free. At least six Shakespeare plays involve prisoners, real or figurative, some set free only in death:
Two Noble Kinsmen;
Measure for Measure;
Hamlet (in which the prince calls Denmark a prison);
Richard II;
Richard III (Clarence and the two young princes are imprisoned);
Henry VI (Edmund Mortimer, and Henry VI).
These are not direct allusions, but again, part of the cultural-religious fabric of references to prisons and prisoners that informs Shakespeare’s use of the motif.
- The first evening prayer reading from Isaiah 62 speaks (among other things) of God as like a bridegroom who rejoices over his bride. (Are love and marriage themes in a few Shakespeare plays?)
- For the second evening prayer lesson, 2 John 1 addresses a lady, recipient of his letter, and notes, “many deceivers are entered into this world.” (Is there any Shakespeare play in which deception is not a theme?)
[2] Sarah J Biggs, “Erasing Becket,” 09 September 2011, Medieval Manuscripts Blog, British Library, https://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2011/09/erasing-becket.html
[3] Alec Ryrie, “How to erase a saint: Thomas Becket and Henry VIII,” British Museum, 5 July 2021, https://www.britishmuseum.org/blog/how-erase-saint-thomas-becket-and-henry-viii
[4] Examples: Historians who study the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., and John’s brother Robert (former senator and Attorney General) find glaring discrepancies between some of the evidence and the official position long preferred by the government: Lee Harvey Oswald may not have been one of the JFK shooters at all, the alleged killer of MLK Jr. may also have been a patsy, and the alleged shooter of RFK may have been subjected to hypnosis and/or mind-altering drugs in CIA experiments with LSD and other methods. In Florida and other states of the US, some claim the capture and selling of African as slave labor was a positive opportunity for relocation and employment.
IMAGES:
Left: Via Sarah J Biggs, “Erasing Becket,” 09 September 2011, Medieval Manuscripts Blog, British Library,
“Miniature of the martyrdom of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, at the beginning of his suffrage, which is struck through in accordance with the suppression of the saint’s cult under Henry VIII, Book of Hours (Use of Sarum), France (Rouen), c. 1430 – 1440, Harley MS 2900, f. 56v”
https://blogs.bl.uk/.a/6a00d8341c464853ef0154353a1005970c-500wi
Center: Via Alec Ryrie, “How to erase a saint: Thomas Becket and Henry VIII,” British Museum, 5 July 2021,
“Missal with the Mass for St Thomas obliterated with red ink, mid-15th century. © Cambridge University Library, MS Add. 6688, ff. 28v–29.” https://www.britishmuseum.org/sites/default/files/styles/uncropped_large/public/2022-08/Missal-St-Thomas-1024x794.jpg?itok=WgtmQwxp
Right: Via Sarah J Biggs, “Erasing Becket,” 09 September 2011, Medieval Manuscripts Blog, British Library,
“Calendar page for December, with the feast of St Thomas erased, Psalter (‘The Queen Mary Psalter’), England (London/Westminster or East Anglia?), between 1310 and 1320, Royal MS 2 B VII, f. 83”
https://blogs.bl.uk/.a/6a00d8341c464853ef014e8b5a5de3970d-500wi
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