Editing Thomas Becket (section)

==Early life==
Becket was born c. 1119,<ref>Butler and Walsh ''Butler's Lives of the Saints'' p. 430</ref> or in 1120 according to later tradition,<ref name=ODNB/> at [[Cheapside]], London, on 21 December, the feast day of St Thomas the Apostle. He was the son of Gilbert and Matilda {{not a typo|Beket}}.<!-- Source spelling omits the "c"-->{{refn|There is a legend that claims Thomas's mother was a [[Saracen]] princess who met and fell in love with his English father while he was on Crusade or [[Christian pilgrimage|pilgrimage]] in the [[Holy Land]], followed him home, was baptised and married him. This story has no truth to it, being a fabrication from three centuries after the saint's martyrdom, inserted as a forgery into [[Edward Grim]]'s 12th-century ''Life of St Thomas''.<ref>Staunton ''Lives of Thomas Becket'' p. 29.</ref><ref>Hutton ''Thomas Becket&nbsp;– Archbishop of Canterbury'' p. 4.</ref> Matilda is occasionally known as Rohise.<ref name=ODNB/>|group=note}} Gilbert's father was from [[Thierville]] in the lordship of Brionne in [[Normandy]], and was either a small landowner or a petty knight.<ref name=ODNB/> Matilda was also of Norman descent<ref>Barlow ''Thomas Becket'' p. 11.</ref> – her family may have originated near [[Caen]]. Gilbert was perhaps related to [[Theobald of Bec]], whose family was also from Thierville. Gilbert began his life as a merchant, perhaps in textiles, but by the 1120s he was living in London and was a property owner, living on the rental income from his properties. He also served as the sheriff of the city at some point.<ref name=ODNB>Barlow "[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/27201 Becket, Thomas (1120?–1170)]" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''</ref> Becket's parents were buried in [[Old St Paul's Cathedral]].

[[File:Thomas Becket Memorial Plaque on Cheapside.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Plaque marking Becket's birthplace on [[Cheapside]] in London]]
One of Becket's father's wealthy friends, Richer de [[L'Aigle]], often invited Thomas to his estates in [[Sussex]], where Becket encountered hunting and hawking. According to Grim, Becket learned much from Richer, who was later a signatory of the [[Constitutions of Clarendon]] against him.<ref name=ODNB/>

At the age of 10, Becket was sent as a student to [[Merton Priory]] south-west of the city in [[Surrey]]. He later attended a grammar school in London, perhaps the one at St Paul's Cathedral. He did not study any subjects beyond the [[Trivium (education)|trivium]] and [[quadrivium]] at these schools. Around the age of 20, he spent about a year in Paris, but he did not study canon or civil law at the time and his [[Latin]] skill always remained somewhat rudimentary. Some time after Becket began his schooling, Gilbert Becket suffered financial reverses and the younger Becket was forced to earn a living as a clerk. Gilbert first secured a place for his son in the business of a relative – Osbert Huitdeniers. Later Becket acquired a position in the household of Theobald of Bec, by then [[Archbishop of Canterbury]].<ref name=ODNB/>

Theobald entrusted him with several important missions to Rome and also sent him to [[Bologna]] and [[Auxerre]] to study [[canon law]]. In 1154, Theobald named Becket [[List of Archdeacons of Canterbury|Archdeacon of Canterbury]], and other ecclesiastical offices included a number of [[benefice]]s, [[Prebendary|prebends]] at [[Lincoln Cathedral]] and St Paul's Cathedral, and the office of [[Provost (religion)|Provost]] of [[Beverley]]. His efficiency in those posts led Theobald to recommend him to King [[Henry II of England|Henry II]] for the vacant post of [[Lord Chancellor]],<ref name=ODNB/> to which Becket was appointed in January 1155.<ref name=Handbook84>Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 84.</ref>

As Chancellor, Becket enforced the king's traditional sources of revenue that were exacted from all landowners, including churches and bishoprics.<ref name=ODNB/> King Henry sent his son [[Henry the Young King|Henry]] to live in Becket's household, it being the custom then for noble children to be fostered out to other noble houses.{{citation needed|date=March 2020}}