d in 118k 5. E. a monk of Eveshatn, who dedicated his book, or wrote it by way of epistle, to Henry, abbot of Croyland. 6. William Stephens, or Fitz-Stephen, a monk of
On the other hand, Mr. Berington, in his “History of
the reign of Henry If.
” has attempted a vindication of
Becket, in which he differs considerably from lord Lyttelton and other protestant historians, but for this w must
refer to the book itself. Few men have had more biographers, if reliance could be placed on them, than Becket,
but unfortunately the greater part of them were his panegyrists, and not his historians, and too much under the
influence of the monkish principles of their days, to deserve much credit. The following list, however, of his
biographers may afford some information to the curious
inquirer, taken from Leland, Bale, Pits, and others.
1. Herbert Bosenham, or Bosscham, or de Hoscham, who
was this archbishop’s secretary, and also present at the
slaughter of him. 2. Edward, a monk, of Canterbury, the
martyr’s most intimate friend. 3. Johannes Sarisburiensis,
who accompanied Becket in his exile, but never countenanced his behaviour towards the king, being as sharp a
writer against the encroachments of the papal see, as any
man of his time. 4. Bartholomseus Iscanus, or Exonensis,
bisiiop of Exeter, where he died in 118k 5. E. a monk
of Eveshatn, who dedicated his book, or wrote it by way
of epistle, to Henry, abbot of Croyland. 6. William Stephens, or Fitz-Stephen, a monk of Canterbury, and, for
at reason, usually called Gulielmus Cantuariensis. He
said to have written three several treatises of the life,
martyrdom, and miracles of St. Thomas Becket; which
are now in the Cotton library: But that, which there carries
his name, seems to have been penned by Johannes Carnotensis, who is the same person with Sarisburiensis above
mentioned, since, in the Quadripartite History, what we
have from him is often to be found, in the same words, in
the life there ascribed to Fitz-Stephen. 7. Benedictus
Petroburgensis, abbot of Peterborough, who died in 1200.
8. Alanus Teukesburiensis, abbot of Tewkesbury, who died
about the same time. 9. Roger, a monk of Croyland, who
lived about 1214. It is observed, that St. Thomas’s miracles were become so numerous in this writer’s time, that
he had matter for seven large volumes, in composing
of which he spent no less than fifteen years. 10. Stephen
Langton, a famous successor of Becket’s in the see of Canterbury, whose work on this subject is said be in the
library of Bene't college. 11. Alexander de Hales, so
called from the monastery of Hales in Gloucestershire,
where he was educated, one of the most eminent schoolmen of his age, and master to Thomas Aquinas, Bonaventure, &c. 12. John Grandison, or Graunston, who died
in 1369. 13. Quadrilogus, or the author of a book, entitled “De vita et processu S.Thomae Cantuariensiset Martyris super Libertate Ecclesiastica.
” It is collected out of
four historians, who were contemporary and conversant
with Becket, viz. Herbert de Hoscham, Johannes Carnotensis, Gulielmus Canterburiensis, and Alanus Teukesburiensis, who are introduced as so many relaters of facts
interchangeably. This book was first printed at Paris in
1495, and is often quoted by our historians, in the reign
of Henry II. by the name of Quadripartita Historia.
14. Thomas Stapleton, the translator of Bede, in whose
book De tribus Thomis, or Of the three Thomas’s, our
saint makes as considerable a figure as either Thomas the
Apostle, or Thomas Aquinas. 15. Laurence Vade, or
Wade, a Benedictine monk of Canterbury, who lived and
died we know not when, or where; unless perhaps he be
the same person with 16. An anonymous writer of Becket’s
life, who appears to have been a monk of that church, and
whose book is said to be in the library at Lambeth. 17.
Richard James, nephew of Dr. Thomas James, some time
keeper of the Bodleian library; a very industrious and
eminent antiquary, who endeavoured to overthrow the
great design of all the above-mentioned authors, in his “Decanonizatio Thomse Cantuariensis et suorum,
” which, with
other manuscript pieces by the same hand, is in the public
library at Oxford. These are the principal writers of our
archbishop’s life besides whom, several other historians
have spoken largely of him as John Bromton, Matthew
Paris, Gervase, &c.
, abbot of Croyland, and author of the history of that abbey, was born
, abbot of Croyland, and author of the
history of that abbey, was born in London about 1030.
He received the first part of his education at Westminster,
and when he visited his father, who belonged to the court
of Edward the Confessor, he was so fortunate as to engage
the attention of queen Edgitha, who took a pleasure in the
progress of his education, and in disputing with him in
logic, and seldom dismissed him without some present as a
mark of her approbation. From Westminster he went to
Oxford, where he applied to the study of the Aristotelian
philosophy, in which he made greater proficiency than
many of his contemporaries, and, as be says, “clothed
himself down to the heel in the first and second rhetoric of
Tully.
” When he was about twenty-one years of age, ho
was iotroduced to> William duke of Normandy (who visited the court of England in 105 l) y and made himself so agreeable to that prince, that be appointed him his secretary,
and carried him with him into his. Owt dominions. In a
little time he became the prime favourite of his prince,
and the dispenser of all preferments; but he himself confesses that he did not behave in this station with sufficient
modesty and prudence, and that he incurred the envy and
hatred of the courtiers, to avoid which he obtained leave
from the duke to go on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. In
the course of this journey, his attendant pilgrims at one
time amounted to seven thousand, but either from being
attacked and killed by the Arabs, or other disasters, twenty
only of this goodly company were able to return home, and
those half-starved, and almost naked. Ingulph now resolved to forsake the world, and became a monk in the
abbey of Fontanelle in Normandy, of which he was in a
few years made prior. When his old master William of
Normandy was preparing for his memorable expedition
into England, in 1066 r lagulphus was sent by hiw abbot
with one hundred: marks in money, and twelve young men,
nobly mounted and completely armed, as a present
their abbey. In consequence of this, William raised him
afterwards to the government of the rich abbey of Croyland in Lincolnshire, in 107S. Here Ingulphus spent the
last thirty-four years of his life, governing that society
with great prudence, and protecting their possessions from
the rapacity of the neighbouring barons by the favour of
his royal master; and here he died Dec. 1, 1109. He
wrote, but in a homely Latin style, a very curious and
valuable history of Croyland abbey from its foundation, in
the year 664 to 1091. It was printed by sir H. Saville,'
London, 1596, and is among Gale’s “Scriptores.
” There
is also an edition of Francfort in