Thomass Divided Consciousness Thomas Becket Thomas Wolsey and

Thomas’s Divided Consciousness: Thomas Becket, Thomas Wolsey, and Thomas More in Church, State, and Memory

Historiographical Intervention St. Thomas Becket Window, created in 1919 from fragments of 13 thc. glass, Photo: Canterbury Cathedral. Thomas Becket, 1118 -1170 Sampson Strong, Portrait of Cardinal Wolsey, 1610, painting on panel, Christ Church, University of Oxford. Thomas Wolsey, 1473 -1530 Hans Holbein the Younger, Portrait of Sir Thomas More, 1527, oil on oak, Frick Collection, New York. Thomas More, 1478 -1535

Methodology & Definitions - Historian John Guy’s theory of “divided consciousness” explains the much broader, more significant struggle shared between the three men: how to best pursue the betterment of society, and whether to do so via service to the church or state. - Research Questions: How do representations of Becket, Wolsey, and More in popular culture portray their divided consciousness? Does the format, theatrics, and presentation of popular history sacrifice complexities of each man as indicated by primary sources? - Argument: For all three men, their iconic status in popular culture as either a spiritual saint or a secular villain functions to obscure, rather than illuminate, their multifaceted historical significance.

Becket’s Divided Consciousness “I had intended to return to your presence, my lord, but fate is drawing me to that afflicted Church, [. . . ] perhaps to die to prevent her destruction. Whether we live or die, we will always be yours in the Lord, and whatever happens to us and ours, may God bless you and your children; may your highness always prosper, most serene Lord. ” Becket’s final letter to Henry II, The Correspondence of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1162 -1170. New York: Clarendon Press, 2000.

Theatre: T. S. Eliot’s 1935 Murder in the Cathedral Becket’s death in Murder in the Cathedral, Photo courtesy of the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma archives. Cover of T. S. Eliot’s Murder in the Cathedral, 1935, Harcourt Publishing.

Wolsey’s Divided Consciousness “I see the matter against me now as it is framed; but if I had served God as diligently as I have done the King, He would not have given me over in my gray hairs. ” Wolsey’s final lament, as according to George Cavendish’s The Life and Death of Cardinal Wolsey, Edited by Richard Standish Sylvester (London: Published for the Early English Text Society by the Oxford University Press, 1959), 174.

Film: Fred Zinnemann’s 1966 A Man for All Seasons Wolsey (above), Fred Zinnemann’s A Man for All Seasons. New York: Sony Pictures Entertainment, 1966. Sir Thomas More (left) and Henry VIII (right), A Man for All Seasons. New York: Sony Pictures Entertainment, 1966

More’s Divided Consciousness “I die the king’s good servant, but God’s first. ” More’s final words, according to “The Paris Newsletter” in Nicholas Harpsfield’s The Life and Death of Sir Thomas More (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1963), appendix 3, 266.

Historical Fiction- Hilary Mantel’s 2009 Wolf Hall “[Henry VIII] says Parliament is behind [him, ] I say all the angels and saints are behind me” Mantel, Wolf Hall (London, England: Fourth Estate Publishing, 2009), 244. Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall. London: Fourth Estate Publishing, 2009.

Conclusion - The three men not only share lifetimes marked by public and private trials, but they have also been subjected to a certain generalized, essentialized image, used for a variety of purposes. - Over time, these tropes have come to dominate public consciousness, crystallize certain narratives, and shape scholarly inquiry. - From this comparison of divided consciousness emerges not only unexplored insights about their collective struggles and similar identities, but also new understandings of each individual man, the time period during which they lived, and their historical and historiographical mistreatment.