Saint Thomas à Becket or Saint Thomas Becket, 1118-70, English martyr, archbishop of Canterbury, b. London. He is called St. Thomas of Canterbury and occasionally St. Thomas of London. Early Career and Chancellor He came from a middle-class Norman family and was well educated, completing his studies at the Univ. of Paris. He entered (c.1142) the household of Theobald, archbishop of Canterbury, in whose service he performed several delicate missions. Theobald apparently sent him to Bologna and to Auxerre to study law. In 1154 he was ordained deacon and appointed archdeacon of...
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