THOMAS À BECKET. LIFE BEFORE HIS ELECTION (1162).
Source.—Roger of Wendover, Annal 1162. Bohn's Libraries. G. Bell & Sons.
The same year, the clergy and people of the whole province of Canterbury assembled at Westminster, where Thomas, the King's Chancellor, was solemnly elected, without opposition, to be Archbishop. This happened on Whitsunday: the Chancellor was ordained priest, by Walter Bishop of Rochester, in the church of Canterbury, and on the following Sunday was consecrated by Henry Bishop of Winchester, and solemnly enthroned. Messengers were immediately despatched to Rome, but they met the Pope on this side of the Alps entering France, and they returned to England, bringing with them the pall; which was placed on the altar in the Church of Canterbury. Thomas then, having taken the usual oaths, received the pall from the altar, and reverently put on him the robes of a high-priest. But this change of habit was preliminary to a change of heart also, for he now renounced secular cares, and attended only to the spiritual concerns of the Church and the gain of souls. He sent messengers to the King in Normandy, renouncing the Chancellorship and resigning the great seal. This act sank deep into the mind of the King, who looked upon himself alone as the cause of his resignation. This was the first occasion on which the King's feelings were ruffled towards Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury. Now this Thomas was a native of the City of London, and from his childhood was adorned with many virtues. From his birth, he used to take pleasure in invoking the blessed virgin, and, next to Christ, reposed all his hopes upon her. When he had finished his schooling, he entered the service of Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury, and by his industry, soon won his way to intimacy and familiarity with him. Of his services and labours for the cause of God's Church, how he more than once visited the threshold of the apostles on matters of business, and how he successfully discharged his commissions, it is not easy to relate, seeing that his whole mind was devoted to examining and deciding causes and to instructing the people. He was first promoted by the Archbishop to be Archdeacon of Canterbury, and shortly after he was made King's Chancellor, in which capacity he wisely and prudently checked the rapacity of those kites, who, in servility to the King, had conspired to plunder the property both of the provincials and of the church.