A letter from Thomas Becket ()

Translated letter:

Thomas archbishop of Canterbury to empress Matilda. We thank God, who illumined your nobility with signs of virtue greater than of birth, and one whom he brought forth most brilliant by blood in the Roman orb, he did not fail to light with good works in the world. For your name is great in the Lord from East to West, and the churches of the saints recount your alms. Although the subsidy of temporal things which you extend to him in his members pleases God greatly, we believe he is no less pleased by sollicitude for ecclesiastical peace and liberty which, as it is rumored, you strive for with such feeling, so that you may say with the Apostle: Who is sick and I am not sick? Who is offended and I not burn? Wherefore we who by reason of your humanity and beneficence, consider it to be properly responsible if we speak very confidently in your ear about the peace of the church, asking and praying assiduously to the Lord for your salvation and the temporal as well as eternal glory of your son, that you charge him diligently to procure peace for the church with the assiduousness of devotion with which he desires to procure the peace of God for his heirs and his lands through the merits of the saints. What particularly saddens us: it is spoken of from East to West that he afflicts the churches of his kingdom intolerably and requires unheard of and unaccustomed things from them, which if ancient kings sought them, they should not have. It may be that in his time from one on whom God conferred such wisdom such affliction can in some way be tolerated, but perhaps after his day, will rule those who wish to devour the church with their mouths, and who, hardened, will say with Pharaoh: “I do not know the Lord and I shall not let Israel go.” Let him remember, we beg, by your prayers and exhortations, how [God] lifted him beyond the titles of his noble fathers and extended his boundaries beyond the boundaries of his elders [or betters in station]. What good will it do a ruler if he transmits sins to his heirs and makes them enemies of God and the church in his testament? What good to his ancestors if, having seized the occasion of their crimes, he offends God as if by hereditary right? God was to be placated, most serene lady by other services, it was fitting to offer other gifts for the salvation of elders and redemption of sins. Sacrifices from plunder do not please God, unless perhaps it may please the father that his son be sacrificed. If he came to his senses, the Father of mercies is prompt to forgiveness, but beyond doubt he will render judgment without mercy to those who exercise no mercy. He is powerful and the powerful punish powerfully; he is terrible and destroys princes so the tortured may threaten the stronger more forcefully. He stretched his bow and readied it and put the vessel of death in it; he will shoot soon, unless his bride, for whose love he deigned to die, is set free, and allowed to be honored with the privileges and dignities which he bought for her with his blood on the cross. You ought, if you please, employ the diligence of a mother and the authority of a lady [female of lord] to recall him to duty, you who acquired the kingdom and duchy for him with much effort and transmitted hereditary rights to him in succession, by the use of which the church is now oppressed and trampled, innocents punished, and the poor intolerably afflicted. We willingly do what we can for your salvation and his soul, imploring the mercy of God by our prayers as best we can continuously. We will pray more confidently if, with peace restored to the churches, he returns to God, his author and benefactor, with prompt devotion. Let him not be ashamed to humble himself before God in penitence, when to ancient kings who are blessed in memory, nothing was a source of greater glory than the title of penitent, the zeal for divine law, veneration of priests, and most faithful humility, guardian of virtues. For by such sacrifices, David, Hezekiah, Josiah, and Constantine pleased the Lord, and achieved glory among men from generation to generation.

Original letter:

THOMAS Cantuariensis archiepiscopus, MATHILDI imperatrici. Gratias agimus Deo, qui nobilitatem vestram insignibus virtutis magis illustravit quam generis: et quam sanguine clarissimam extulit in orbe Romano, bonis operibus clarificare non desinit in mundo. Nam ab Oriente in Occidentem magnum est nomen vestrum in Domino, et eleemosynas vestras narrant ecclesiae sanctorum. Quamvis enim Deo plurimum placeant subsidia temporalium, quae ei erogatis in membris suis, ei tamen minus placere non credimus sollicitudinem pacis et libertatis ecclesiasticae, quam tanto, ut fama est, zelatis affectu, ut cum Apostolo dicere valeatis: Quis infirmatur, et ego non infirmor? Quis scandalizatur, et ego non uror? Unde nos, qui ratione humanitatis et beneficii vestri merito nos vobis obnoxios esse recolimus, pro salute vestra, et filii vestri gloria, temporali pariter ac aeterna, de pace Ecclesiae fiducialius loquimur in auribus vestris, rogantes attentius, et obsecrantes in Domino, quatenus eum diligentius conveniatis, ut ea devotionis sedulitate pacem procuret Ecclesiae, qua sibi, haeredibus suis et terris suis per merita sanctorum pacem Dei desiderat procurari. Nam unde plurimum contristamur, divulgatum est ab Oriente usque in Occidentem, quod ecclesias regni sui intolerabiliter affligit, et exigit ab eis inaudita quaedam et inconsueta. Quae si quaesierint, quaerere tamen non debuerunt antiqui reges. Potest autem fieri, ut in tempore suo, cui multam Deus contulit sapientiam tanta afflictio utcunque valeat tolerari. Sed forsitan post dies ejus tales sunt regnaturi, qui devorare Ecclesiam cupient toto ore, et indurati cum Pharaone dicent: Nescio Dominum, et Israel non dimittam. Meminerit, quaesumus, ad preces et exhortationes vestras, quomodo eum extulerit Deus ultra titulos nobilium patrum, et ultra terminos majorum suorum, et praeter eorum spem dilataverit terminos ejus. Quid proderit ei apud Dominum, si ad haeredes transmittat peccata sua, et quasi adversarios Dei et Ecclesiae constituat in testamento? Quid prodest antecessoribus ejus modo, si iste sumpta occasione ex delictis eorum Deum quasi haereditario jure offenderit? Aliis erat, serenissima domina, Deus placandus obsequiis, alia munera pro salute majorum et peccatorum redemptione offerri oportebat. Non placent Deo sacrificia de rapina, nisi forte Patri placere possit, ut ei Filius immoletur. Si resipuerit, Pater misericordiarum adhuc est promptus ad veniam: procul dubio judicium facturus sine misericordia in eos, qui non exercent misericordiam. Potens est, et potentes potenter punit. Terribilis, et aufert spiritum principum, ut fortioribus instet fortior cruciatus. Tetendit arcum suum, et paravit illum, et in eo posuit vasa mortis, jaculaturus in brevi, nisi sponsam suam, pro cujus amore mori dignatus est, liberam esse permiserint, et privilegiis ac dignitatibus, quas sanguine suo ei comparavit in cruce, sustinuerint honorari. Debetis autem, si placet, in eo revocando, et matris diligentiam adhibere, et dominae auctoritatem: ut quae ei regnum et ducatum multis laboribus acquisistis, et ad eum haereditaria successione jura transmisistis, quorum occasione nunc premitur et conculcatur Ecclesia, proscribuntur innocentes, et pauperes intolerabiliter affliguntur. Nos quod possumus pro salute vestra et illius, animo libenti facimus, Dei misericordiam precibus, quibus possumus, jugiter implorantes: fiducialiter oraturi, si pace ecclesiis reddita ad auctorem et benefactorem suum Deum prompta devotione redierit. Nec pudeat eum coram Deo humiliari per poenitentiam, cum antiquis regibus, quorum memoria in benedictione est, nihil magis ad gloriam ascribatur, quam poenitentiae titulus, legis divinae zelus, veneratio sacerdotii, et fidelissima virtutum custos humilitas. Talibus enim hostiis David Ezechias, Josias, et Constantinus Domino placuerunt, et gloriam assecuti sunt apud homines a generatione in generationem.1

Historical context:

This is apparently the letter to which Matilda responded, see her letter to Thomas; in this letter Thomas praises her devotion to the church, strongly criticizes her son’s oppression of it, and presses her to persuade him to stop.

Scholarly notes:

1. There are minor differences in the PL: an added nos, and Deus, plural verbs for singular in one sentence, fiducialiter for fiducialius; more significant, two probable misreadings, regis for legis and domini for David in the last two sentences. Since I published this version, Anne J. Duggan has published a definitive edition of Thomas Becket's letters (Oxford: Clarendon, 2000), with translations.

Printed source:

PL190 ep. 188 c663-64 and HGF16 ep.19 p225.