BECKET, John

Little is known of Becket’s origins or early life, but by the autumn of 1434 he had entered the royal household as one of the pages of the King’s chamber, and had embarked on a successful, if short-lived, career as a royal servant.1 Add. 17721, f. 38v. In June 1437 he received the first of several grants: the post of porter of Odiham castle. This, made during royal pleasure, was replaced in December following by a grant of the same for life.2 CPR, 1436-41, pp. 67, 127. The portership brought with it wages of 2d. a day from the revenues of the lordship of Odiham. Shortly afterwards the much more important office of constable of the castle there was granted in survivorship to Becket and Sir John Robessart, a King’s knight who had originally been appointed by Joan of Navarre.3 CPR, 1436-41, pp. 139, 426.

Despite his commitments in Hampshire, Becket lived mostly at Westminster, close to the royal wardrobe. In December 1437 he and Thomas Carre received a grant of six ‘wool-houses’ in the Westminster staple, which they held for nearly five years, until at the request of John Stopyndon, master of the rolls of Chancery, and the other executors of William Prestwick late one of masters of Chancery and clerk of the Parliaments, the properties were granted to the dean and canons of Westminster Abbey.4 CPR, 1436-41, p. 123; 1441-6, pp. 143-4. During this period Becket made the acquaintance of David Selby, an important local merchant, and in June 1438 the two of them were named as recipients of a gift of goods and chattels made by a mariner of Sandwich, perhaps in connexion with a business venture.5 CCR, 1441-7, p. 65. His position both within the Household and the town was established more firmly in the following spring when he and Richard Botiller were granted, in survivorship, the important post of keeper of the King’s privy palace. Botiller died at some point before October 1440, so that Becket became sole keeper, with wages of 6d. a day, and thus remained until his death.6 CPR, 1436-41, pp. 310, 386; E404/57/53, 228, 314.

As a recipient of generous royal patronage, Becket was also granted a number of other offices, situated as far away as Anglesey and Boston, but like his posts at Odiham these were probably sinecures; he evidently spent most of his time at court where he was in receipt of robes and wages as a yeoman of the chamber.7 E101/409/6, f. 22; 409/9, f. 37d; 409/11, f. 39; 409/12, f. 82v. Having won the trust of Henry VI and his council, on 25 July 1441 he was ‘assigned to goo with Elynore Cobham duchesse of Gloucestre to oure castel of Ledes and there to entende about here’. The order was made after the duchess had been subjected to a second successive day of examination concerning her alleged plot to overthrow the King with the aid of witchcraft, the accusations having been given greater weight by the recantation of Master Roger Bolingbroke on the 23rd. She was eventually handed over to the constable of Leeds castle and other royal servants, including Becket, on 11 Aug. and was kept at the castle until mid October.8 E404/57/304; R.A. Griffiths, King and Country, 241, 243, 244 n. 2. Clearly, Becket was not found wanting in these duties. It was at this point that the constableship of Odiham was re-granted in survivorship to him and John Basket*, a servant of the chancellor Bishop Stafford, and together with Basket he also acquired the post of parker of Odiham park which the latter had previously held on his own. In addition, in November he was rewarded with 6d. a day out of the farm of Queenhithe in the city of London to provide him with the remuneration usually accorded to yeomen of the Crown.9 CPR, 1441-6, pp. 97-98; CCR, 1435-41, pp. 152, 319; 1441-7, pp. 25-26.

It was at this stage in his career as a well-regarded member of the Household that, early in 1442, Becket was chosen to represent the borough of Reigate in Parliament. At the same time his colleague at Odiham, John Basket, was elected as a shire knight for Surrey. No evidence has been found of any connexion between Becket and Reigate, nor directly with the borough’s lord, John Mowbray, duke of Norfolk, and there can be little doubt that his election owed much to his position at court. Yet it seems likely that he was personally linked to the duke, for on 22 Mar., a few days before the Parliament was dissolved, he lent his support to Henry Langton* in a recognizance made concerning the post of clerk-marshal of the marshalsea of the Household, which Norfolk had granted to Langton and William Thorneholme.10 CCR, 1441-7, p. 64. In April Becket obtained letters patent formally exempting him from service on juries and appointment to any offices against his will, but he nevertheless agreed to serve as escheator of Surrey and Sussex in the autumn.11 CPR, 1441-6, p.100.

During his term of office he obtained the wardship of the manor of Littleton in Middlesex, and the joint keeping of the royal castle and manor of Stoke sub Hamdon, in Somerset, for which he was to receive 2d. a day.12 CFR, xvii. 260; CPR, 1441-6, p. 283. Yet Westminster remained the focus of his activities. More responsibility for Crown property there came his way in January 1443 when he and John Gurney were granted a constableship between the privy palace and St. Stephen’s College, as well as two chambers and the keeping of a garden;13 CPR, 1441-6, p. 142. and four months later he contracted to lease from Westminster Abbey two tenements in King’s Street, at an annual rent of £2, taking advantage of his position in the Household to negotiate a long term of 35 years.14 Westminster Abbey muns. 17759. By this time Becket was of sufficient standing to be described as a ‘gentleman’ when he acted as one of the mainpernors of Sir William Bonville*, the seneschal of Aquitaine, guaranteeing his appearance in the King’s bench.15 CPR, 1441-6, p. 424.

Becket died shortly before 22 Feb. 1445. His keepership of the privy palace of Westminster passed to John Say II* a few days later.16 CPR, 1441-6, pp. 326, 330.