The Anglo-Catalan Connection: The Cult of Thomas Becket at Terrassa—New Approaches

Abstract

The wall paintings adorning the south transept apse of Santa Maria at Terrassa are among the most notable surviving items pertaining to the iconography of St. Thomas Becket. Recently found documents in which diplomatic archives reveal English connections are essential for understanding the quick reception of the Becket cult in the Crown of Aragon. The presence of an Anglo-Norman canon—Arveus or Harveus (Harvey)—and his position of scribe during the second half of the twelfth century when Reginald, probably also of English origin, was prior there—seem to be the likely source of inspiration for this project. These English connections, which are essential for understanding the quick reception of the Becket cult in the Crown of Aragon, stemmed from the endeavours undertaken some years earlier south of the Pyrenees by the abbot of Saint-Ruf at Avignon, Nicholas Breakspear, who subsequently became Pope Adrian IV.

1. Introduction

The murder of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket, on 29 December 1170, by four knights belonging to the royal circle of Henry II of England, is one of the most striking episodes of the European Middle Ages. The brutality of the crime, the miraculous events that took place around Becket’s tomb and his canonization at the hands of Pope Alexander III in March 1173, turned the Saint into an object of great devotion. Miracles and pilgrims made Canterbury one of the most important pilgrimage sites in the whole of Christendom, almost as popular as Jerusalem, Santiago de Compostela and Rome.1

The murder in Canterbury Cathedral was the culmination of a dispute between Thomas Becket and Henry II that lasted from 1162 to 1170; a tragic outcome of a volatile relationship that went from friendship to outright conflict, culminating in a heroic death. The reason for the dispute was an ideological clash between temporal and spiritual power consisting of a defence of the freedom of the Church of England against ecclesiastical control by the monarchy.

The violence of Becket’s murder, the miracles that occurred by his tomb and the rapid circulation of the Vita and Miracula contributed to the propagation of the cult of St. Thomas Becket, that extended beyond the borders of England (Duggan 1980, 2012; Slocum 2018). Proof of this are the numerous churches, chapels, altars and hospices dedicated to him throughout Christendom, from the date of his canonization in 1173 until the transfer of his remains to the recently completed Trinity Chapel at Canterbury Cathedral, in 1220.

The propagation of the cult in the territories of the Crown of Aragon was closely related to the role of the Augustinian houses, especially those attached to the congregation of Saint-Ruf in Provence, which became one of the main agents for the spread of the cult. This was done by means of manuscripts recounting Becket’s life and miracles, but also through monumental works of art such as the paintings in Terrassa (Sánchez Márquez 2014, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021).

In regard to the Crown of Aragon, we find two precedents that almost certainly contributed to the emergence of a favourable context for the surprising veneration of the English martyr: on the one hand, the relationship established between Catalonia and England from the middle of the twelfth century thanks to the abbot of Saint-Ruf, Nicholas Breakspear. On the other, the agreements between Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona, and Henry II of England, that resulted in an important alliance during the siege of Toulouse.

In addition to the active role played in the dissemination of the cult by the congregation of Saint-Ruf at Avignon, the agents who were most likely instrumental in the materialization of the iconographic cycle of Terrassa were two canons with Anglo-Norman origins: Harvey and magister Reginald. Harvey, a priest and canon of Saint-Ruf played an important role in the community of Santa Maria and is known for being the most prolific scribe in the writing of juridical documents there between 1158 and 1201. We also propose a foreign origin for prior master Reginald, who governed the Santa Maria de Terrassa chapter in 1184.

2. A painted Tragedy: The Hagiographic Cycle of Terrassa

The paintings at Santa Maria de Terrassa were discovered on 21 September 1917, during the restoration work carried out inside the Romanesque church of Santa Maria (Figure 1). This pictorial cycle immediately caught the attention of scholars (Soler i Palet 1917; Puig i Cadafalch 1923; Gudiol i Cunill 1917, 1927), and in 1927 a private collector, Lluís Plandiura, financed the restoration of the paintings, that were detached and then remounted in the apse by Arturo Cividini.2

The Terrassa paintings are arranged in three registers, consisting of a theophanic image of Christ accompanied by two other figures (in the semi-dome), a hagiographical cycle dedicated to Thomas Becket (central register) and a band of fictive curtains (lower register). From an iconographic point of view, the most interesting scenes are those in the central register, depicting the assassination of the Archbishop of Canterbury at the hands of King Henry II’s men (Figure 2).3

The paintings are arranged in three registers, consisting of a theophanic image of Christ accompanied by two other figures (in the semi-dome), a hagiographical cycle dedicated to Thomas Becket (central register) and band of fictive curtains (lower register). Beginning from the left, we see the initial encounter between Thomas, accompanied by Edward Grim and three knights, who adopt a threatening or hostile attitude. One of the knights points a finger at the archbishop, while another readies himself to draw his sword.

The second scene, in the centre, depicts the murder of the archbishop (Figure 3). The first of the assaulters raises his sword and removes the crown of Thomas’ head, seen immediately beneath the airborne mitre, from which lappets and blood fall, here suggested by parallel lines. In this respect, it is worth underling how important Becket’s blood was for the diffusion of the cult. Pilgrims who visited Canterbury took away with them small ampullae made of lead or tin (Jordan 2009; Koopmans 2016), containing the so-called ‘holy water of Saint Thomas’—a mixture of water and traces of blood that had a beneficial effect on the sick. These ampullae might also carry scenes of Becket's murder, often accompanied by the tituli referring to his miraculous abilities. The English prelate tilts his head and raises his hand, while a second aggressor holds the saint by his chasuble and aims a blow to his neck. In an attempt to protect Becket, Grim embraces the archbishop and is wounded in his left arm.

The cycle culminates in the right register with the martyr’s body being placed in the tomb and the ascension of his soul supported by two angels. The shrouded body is placed by two characters, and the one on the right also appears in the previous scenes of mockery and death, leading us to believe that it is clergyman Edward Grim. Antoni Borfo (Borfo 1992) identified the figure on the left as John of Salisbury, because he was a friend of Becket’s and one of the main diffusers of the cult (Borfo 1992). However, Salisbury was not present on the night of the murder, so the figure could simply be a Canterbury monk.

The upper part of the apse is dominated by an image of Christ in Majesty, enthroned within a mandorla (Figure 4). Christ blesses two characters in accordance with a very common pattern found in ordination ceremonies. In his hands he holds two objects that have been identified with books or mitres. In regard to the mitres, the artist omitted the representation of the lappets, a feature however that he chose to include in the depiction of the martyrdom in the lower register. For this reason, it is feasible to believe that the objects are books.

In this scene, we are of the opinion that Thomas Becket (on Christ’s right) and Edward Grim (on the left) are represented.4 The fact that Grim was an eyewitness of Becket’s death, together with his prominence in the scenes of the middle register, would justify his presence next to the Maiestas Domini.

The three registers of the paintings are separated by two wide strips, which originally bore two inscriptions that are partially lost. A third inscription embellished the curtains of the lower register (Figure 5). The outlines of some letters can still be seen, giving the date of Becket’s death, December 29: ‘THOMAS (…) IIII·K(alendas)·IANVARII’. The third inscription is located just below the scene of the martyrdom: ‘[TH]OMA BO[NORUM] (damaged area) [NV]S S(an)C(t)A PLVS VALET ARTE SUA’.5 Finally, in the folds that form the curtains, a third epigraph is partially preserved: ‘PRO XR(ist)O…… SPOLIARI NON DUBITAVIT VIVIT QVM (damaged area) [THO]MAS QUE(m) SEMP(er) AMAVIT’ (Guardia 1998–1999).6

As for the interpretation of the tituli is concerned, on the one hand the epigraphs evoke the miraculous powers of the archbishop (ARTE SUA),7 while on the other, they connect his Vita and Passio with those of Christ. This latter parallel was frequently developed in texts of the Vitae by authors such as John of Salisbury, who compared Becket’s Passion with the sacrifice of Christ in Epistle 303 (Millor et al. 1979, pp. 725–38). Hence, the inclusion of scenes of the Passion of Christ in some Limoges enamelled caskets (Staunton 2012, pp. 184–215).

3. The Canonry of Santa Maria de Terrassa

The Romanesque church of Santa Maria de Terrassa was consecrated on the first of January 1112 (Figure 6 and Figure 7). In the following year, on 18 October 1113, Bishop Ramon Guillem of Barcelona donated the church of Santa Maria de Terrassa to the congregation of Saint-Ruf at Avignon and its abbot Oleguer, and a community of Augustinian canons belonging to the priory of Sant Adrià de Besòs was establish there (Puig et al. 2001, doc. 104).8

It is necessary to place the foundation of the Canonry of Santa Maria de Terrassa in the context of the Catholic Church’s Gregorian Reform which, since 1059, had concentrated all efforts on correcting the life of the clergy. In the case of the Catalan counties, the implementation of the Gregorian Reformation was related directly to the congregation of Saint-Ruf at Avignon. Saint-Ruf became the forerunner of the spirit of the Gregorian Reform on the Iberian Peninsula during the 12th century (Vones-Liebenstein 1996). From that time onward, Saint-Ruf’s influence was two-fold: firstly, by introducing Augustine’s Rule and its missals and customs, that extended to the majority of new canonries founded in the country without legal dependency on the Provençal abbey (l’Estany, Sant Joan de les Abadesses, Cardona, Tortosa and La Seu d’Urgell, among others),9 and secondly, through the priories founded directly by Saint-Ruf in Catalonia. In this way, many Catalan canonries accepted the tutelage of Saint-Ruf at Avignon and remained connected to the Provence community; for example, Santa Maria de Besalú (1084), Sant Adrià de Besòs (ca. 1090), Sant Pere de Castellnou (late eleventh century), Santa Maria de Terrassa (1113), Santa Eulàlia del Camp (1155) and Sant Ruf of Lleida (1155). Some of these houses were founded directly by canons from the Provençal abbey. This was the case of Bishop Bertran of Barcelona (1086–1095), with origins in Saint-Ruf, to whom the foundation of Sant Adrià de Besòs is attributed. Around the year 1090, he refounded Sant Adrià de Besòs as a priory so that those members of the Barcelona chapter who wished to do so could establish themselves there following the Rule of St. Augustine. This foundation was highly problematic, since during much of its existence, it was subject to a tug of war between the Sant Adrià del Besòs house and Saint-Ruf at Avignon and the See of Barcelona regarding who was really in charge.

The creation of the Santa Maria de Terrassa canonry served to resolve these disputes (Soler 2017). In 1113, Bishop Ricard Guillem of Barcelona maintained the dominicature of Saint Adrian, but sent the members of this congregation to Santa Maria de Terrassa. The aim of this transfer was to strengthen Gregorian Reform on the site of the ancient Episcopal See of Ègara, where for many years the clergy resisted the breakup of their families and the loss of their property in benefit of the Church. Furthermore, with their connivance, some secular magnates had built houses, barns, silos and other buildings occupying the sagreres (sacred spaces surrounding churches), thereby enjoying special protection.

With the establishment of the Santa Maria de Terrassa canonry, the Church sought to recover this land in a long but inexorable process that lasted throughout the entire 12th century. As the canonry slowly gained power and prestige, secular power was obliged to seek new spheres of political and commercial influence. As we shall see, it is important to take this context into account in order to understand how the paintings devoted to St. Thomas Becket came about.

Between its creation and the year 1123, the canonry underwent an initial rise to prominence. The documentation conserved reveals a progressive recovery of property and income that had previously passed into secular ownership, which considerably increased the patrimony of the canonry as well as its social and political influence. However, this initial momentum declined during the 1130s and 40s, when secular power regained some of its hold over the sagreres. The canonry appeared to be weaker, with priors who found it difficult to boost their interests, to the extent that in 1140, they even considered the possibility of disbanding the canonry and moving the canons to another monastery.

Nevertheless, the Christian conquest of Tortosa and the arrival in Catalonia of highly influential members of the mother house of Saint-Ruf at Avignon brought a halt to this process of decline. While we cannot be entirely sure that Nicholas Breakspear himself, the abbot of Saint-Ruf, passed through Terrassa on his way to Tortosa in 1148, it is highly probable that he did.10 The Santa Maria canonry was, in fact, undergoing restructuring at that time, which w proven by the concession of different papal bulls devoted precisely to strengthening control over the sagreres and the management of the cemeteries around Santa Maria against the encroachment of secular interests. The first bull was issued by Athanasius IV (1154) and the second by Adrian IV (1155). It was precisely during the priorate of Guerau I, the first prior to enjoy a relatively stable period of government, when this restructuring was consolidated. In order to complete a powerful juridical corpus, in 1158 Count Ramon Berenguer IV assigned to Saint-Ruf all the assets located in his domains, especially in Besalú, Terrassa and Lleida, and also ordered that the Church and the members of the Order of Saint-Ruf should be honoured and respected throughout his realm.

After Guerau I, it is necessary to mention the importance of prior Pere de Balbs, who in 1168 emerged as the new governor of the canonry. This prior exercised a lengthy tenure that lasted until 1183. Pere de Balbs was the son of an influential family with close ties to the church of Santa Maria de Besalú which led to an association of mutual collaboration with Santa Maria de Terrassa that lasted until the end of the century. His priorate is particularly notable for the increase in the patrimony of the canonry. It was at this time that the expression “prior Terracie dictus” became widely used, which illustrates the ecclesiastic primacy of the office, with the concomitant patrimonial and de facto power. The “prior of Terrassa” eventually became a highly influential ecclesiastic authority of considerable calibre, and thus a voice that could not be ignored or excluded from any decision-making process. One may say without any doubt that the period between 1168 and 1183 was the most resplendent for Santa Maria in every respect. It is no coincidence, therefore, that between 1177 and 1183, documentary evidence provides testimony of the many architectural projects undertaken at Santa Maria de Terrassa and the parish of Sant Pere. This work was continued to a lesser degree until at least 1186, during the priorates of magister Reginald and his successor Ramon. We therefore find a period of nine years, between 1177 and 1186, of significant investment and architectural undertakings, a time of splendour that gave rise to highly favourable circumstances for the execution of the Thomas Becket cycle. During this time, steps were taken to strengthen the moral and socio-economic prestige of the canonry that outstripped secular power in Terrassa. There is no doubt that the production of the pictorial cycle devoted to Saint Thomas Becket was one of these undertakings.

Two further papal bulls, one issued by Alexander III (1173–1176) and the other by Callixtus II (1192), put an end to any secular pretensions to the sagreres. Indeed, given the problems regarding the exertion of any kind of influence over churches, secular power, in collusion with the Count, had long before made an alternative decision that would help them to form a parallel political group to combat the growth of ecclesiastic influence. Throughout the 1180s, around an old dwelling that belonged to the Count, a new town had emerged called the vila de Palau de Terrassa, first referenced in 1193.

4. Institutional Agents: The Congregation of Saint-Ruf

The rapid canonization of Becket, just three years after his death, hastened the dissemination of his cult throughout the Latin West, especially relevant in England, France and Italy. The cult of Becket was also adopted early in the Iberian Peninsula, particularly in the Kingdoms of Castile and León (Guardia 2009, 2011; Cavero 2013). Remarkable imagery of Becket is also preserved, such as the relief from San Miguel de Almazán (Figure 8), the pictorial cycle of San Nicolás de Soria (c.1300) or the effigy of Becket preserved in the church of Santo Tomás Cantuariensis at Salamanca. Promotion of the cult in Castile and its consequent impact on the arts must be connected to Eleanor of England (1162–1214), daughter of Henry II, who married Alfonso VIII of Castile in the same year as Becket was martyred (Slocum 1999; Cerda 2016). Indeed, in 1179 the Queen supported the endowment of a chapel dedicated to the Archbishop of Canterbury, which had been founded two years earlier at the Cathedral of Toledo.

The worship of Becket was also quickly adopted in the Kingdom of Aragon. In 1186 an altar was consecrated in the cathedral of Barcelona (Mas 1906, p. 40), and shortly afterwards, in 1190, a chapel dedicated to Thomas Becket is documented at Prat de Dalt. Around 1180 the cult is also recorded in two documents at the monastery of Ripoll (Gros i Pujol 2004). There was also a chapel dedicated to Becket in the ambulatory of the Cistercian monastery of Veruela in 1220 (Dailliez 1987, p. 50), and a document dated between 1178 and 1180 records the disposition of Pope Alexander III for all the clergy and laity of San Salvador of Zaragoza to celebrate the feast of the English martyr (Canellas 1989, doc. 535, pp. 313–14).

However, Terrassa is the most monumental testimony of the spread of Becket’s cult in Spain. Why did the canons of Santa Maria de Terrassa decide to endorse the cult of the English martyr? First, the implantation of the cult and the creation of the wall paintings of Terrassa must be attributed to the role of the houses of the canons regularly attached to the Augustinian abbey of Saint-Ruf at Avignon (Sánchez Márquez 2018, 2020, 2021). Saint-Ruf became one of the main agents for disseminating the devotion to and iconography of St. Thomas Becket in the Iberian Peninsula at the end of the twelfth century. In the years following the martyrdom, a large amount of documented evidence demonstrates that the cult of Becket spread quickly in the Hispanic houses: the construction of chapels, the celebration of his feast day and especially the existence of a rich liturgical corpus–psalters, breviaries, missals, martyrologies–dedicated to the Archbishop of Canterbury.

A landmark in the expansion of the congregation of Saint-Ruf in the Iberian Peninsula was the foundation of Santa Cruz de Coimbra in Portugal. During the second half of the 12th century, it became the most important monastic scriptorium in Portugal–along with Alcobaça–and its library was enriched with numerous codices. It is no coincidence that one of the most interesting manuscripts of Thomas Becket’s passion and miracles, which is now preserved in the Municipal Public Library of Porto (BPMP Santa Cruz 60), comes from Coimbra. As Anne Duggan has pointed out quite clearly (Duggan 1998, 2003), this is a manuscript from the first third of the thirteenth century that consists of several books for the celebration of the divine office and mass and contains in two different codices the Passio sancti Thome Cantuariensis archiepiscopi et martyris by the anonymous author IV and the collection of miracles (Liber miraculorum beati Thome).

Coimbra also exerted a notable influence on subordinated priories such as San Vicente de Fora (Lisbon), where a late-12th-century sacramentary was made containing prayers for the Mass of Saint Thomas Becket (Vilares 1985). In the Kingdom of Castile, the foundations of Saint-Ruf were directly related to the figure of Pope Adrian IV (1154–1159), Nicholas Breakspear, who had been abbot of Saint-Ruf at Avignon between 1143–1146 and 1149. On 8 February 1156, Pope Adrian IV asked king Alfonso VII to be generous with the congregation and provide the canons of Saint-Ruf with a place to settle in the diocese of Toledo. The monarch granted them the church of San Vicente de la Sierra, located in a rural area near the city of Toledo, which housed an important monastic scriptorium during the second half of the twelfth century. A Ritual for Canons Regular (BNE MSS/10100, Janini 1969, pp. 132–33) originates from this Saint-Ruf house and also contains prayers dedicated to the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The interest of Saint-Ruf followers in the veneration of the martyr, and the consequent materialization of frescoes of an extraordinary monumentality such as those in Terrassa, should be related to the strong ties forged in the middle of the twelfth century between the Crown of Aragon, Saint-Ruf at Avignon and England. During the government of the Englishman Nicholas Breakspear as abbot of Saint-Ruf, close ties were established between the Provençal abbey and the Crown of Aragon, which were maintained after his proclamation as Pope on 4 December 1154 (Egger 2003). Breakspear and the Saint-Ruf congregation became Ramon Berenguer IV's best allies in the ecclesiastical reorganization of the conquered territories (Sánchez Márquez 2021, pp. 73–78).

Nicholas Breakspear can be regarded as a key figure in the relations between Catalonia, Saint-Ruf at Avignon and England in the mid-twelfth century. Even though Saint-Ruf had no daughter houses in England, many English Augustinian priories, such as Merton—where Becket and probably also Breakspear were educated—came into contact with the Provençal congregation because of the role played by Breakspear. His eminent position, first as abbot of Saint-Ruf and later as Pope, would have enabled him to facilitate the arrival in Provence of English canons, who would later be sent from the mother abbey to other houses. Given his background, it is reasonable to assume that Nicholas endorsed the rise of some of his countrymen to important positions within the same congregation, but also within the Roman Curia. In fact, we know that in 1158 Breakspear (Pope as Adrian IV) chose a Saint-Ruf canon named Walter, previously documented in the diocese of Chichester, as cardinal-bishop of Albano (Egger 2003).

5. Canon Harvey and Magister Reginald

In addition to the active role played by the congregation of Saint-Ruf at Avignon in the dissemination of the cult, the prime mover behind the paintings of Thomas Becket at Terrassa was likely a canon with Anglo-Norman origins called Harvey, a very common name in England during the 11th and 12th centuries. Harvey played an important role in the community of Santa Maria at Terrassa and is the scribe who was most prolific in the writing and signing of documents there during the second half of the 12th century (Soler 2017). He was involved in the production of at least twenty-eight surviving documents (Figure 9).

Of course, there is no way of knowing the precise role played by the canon and scribe in the process whereby the cult was received, nor can we prove with absolute certainty that Harvey directly participated in the commission of the paintings. However, given his origins, Harvey is the most likely candidate to have endowed an altar in the south transept chapel (Figure 10 and Figure 11), and organized its consecration in honour of the Archbishop of Canterbury, just as Pere de Ripollet had endowed an altar of Thomas Becket in the Cathedral of Barcelona in 1186.

In this regard, it should be noted that there are numerous examples of chapels dedicated in Hispanic territory to the Archbishop of Canterbury, both by canons and lay people. An altar was devoted to the English martyr in the Seu Vella of Lleida (Fité et al. 2001, pp. 12–39) and in the Cathedral of Toledo (Hernández 1985, doc. 180, pp. 173–74).11 In Sigüenza, the chapel of the Archbishop of Canterbury was consecrated by Bishop Joscelmo (1168–1178)12; a chapel dedicated to Becket in the ambulatory of the Cistercian monastery of Veruela is mentioned in 1220 (Dailliez 1987, p. 50), and Archdeacon Mateo endowed a chapel dedicated to the Becket in the Cathedral of Burgos around 1202.13 There was also an altar dedicated to him in the Cistercian monastery of Las Huelgas (Burgos), referred to in a document from the year 1279 (Garrido 1987, doc. 597, pp. 112–23).

Nevertheless, who exactly was canon Harvey? The etymology of his name clearly indicates that he was a canon born in an English or Norman environment who was later to appear in Terrassa in 1158, after quite probably having spent a formative period at Saint-Ruf at Avignon. His long-term presence in Terrassa after his arrival is well documented between 1158 and 1201. We have chosen not to differentiate the periods during this time in order to better understand his role in Terrassa and in the commission of the pictorial cycle devoted to the death of the archbishop of Canterbury.

The first reference we find to Harvey is dated 1158. This means that he arrived at Santa Maria de Terrassa having already completed his preparation for this position and must therefore have been between 21 and 25 years of age. It is worthwhile pointing out that every Saint-Ruf canon must have passed through the mother house in his period of training, since only in this way could he have acquired the specific dignity required for belonging to the Order of Saint-Ruf (Vones-Liebenstein 2020). As a canon, he must have received the necessary preparation, and thus must also have quite perfectly known the Ordo antiquus or also the so-called Praeceptum sive Regula Tertia in accordance with the Rule of Saint Agustine. He must also certainly have heard the precepts of the Liber ordinalis and the Liber ecclesiastici et canonici ordinis in claustro Sancti Rufi, drawn up by the abbot Lietbert of Saint-Ruf in the early 12th century. He may even have had to hand the Scutum canonicorum by Arno de Riechberg, dated 1153, in which the way a Saint-Ruf canon should conduct his religious life is explained.

At the mother house of Saint-Ruf, Harvey had also learned how to write documents of a juridical nature, and on his arrival at Santa Maria de Terrassa he was already able to work as a scribe. Indeed, he immediately began to write such documents that show a steady hand, although with some mistakes corrected between the lines. Harvey chose to employ a cursive style of the transitional Caroline system belonging in some respects to the so-called diplomatic minuscule used in European chanceries, a script that supports the belief that he came from abroad. In particular, the preparation of the parchment dryly scored with lines to ensure an even distribution of the text, an unmistakable sign that we find ourselves at a transitional juncture. However, Harvey demonstrates expertise in the knowledge of the most common juridical clauses used at that time in Catalonia, since he shows himself to be highly familiar with the formulary and/or had been carefully instructed by a teacher close to him.

During this period Harvey signs in the following manner: “Signum + Harvei, canonici Sancti Rufi”. It will be the only occasion when he uses the initial capital “H”, by which he appears to demonstrate the perception of the vulgar Latin form of his own name. Rather than a Gongorism, it would seem to be a vestige of the vocalised and aspirated “h” that in the English of that time was pronounced as it is now with the termination “ch”, as for example in Scottish.

After 1160, Harvey goes to Terrassa, and we do not hear of him again until 1167. We do not know where he went, although we do know that he pursued his work as a scribe and did so on many occasions. His return to Terrassa coincided with the arrival in 1168 of the prior Pere de Balbs, who was also a canon at Saint-Ruf and came from Santa Maria de Besalú. It was under this prior that Harvey gained his reputation as a scribe and a highly trustworthy person. He worked intensely and uninterruptedly at Santa Maria until 1175.

From 1168 on, he developed a highly personal style of writing. For instance, we clearly observe a generous elongation towards the left of the downstrokes of the letters “q”, “s”, “g” and “p”, the second stroke of the “h” and an upper elongation of the first stroke of the letter “r”. A very personal characteristic is that of the nexus of “de”, which is made by a single flourish and with the “e” written at the upper part of the straight line of the “d”. The capital “Q” is also distinctive for its leaf-shape or that of a drop of rain, as in the chancery style; as is the capital “V”, with an initial point of contact very much to the left of the letter, the first stroke extending to the right. This way of writing the “V” is also used for the lower case “y”, which in many cases is pointed. The capital “S” is written with flattened, elongated strokes. The nexus “ct” remains conjoined, but only by a very subtle line from the “c” to the upper point of contact of the “t”. It is also worth pointing out the use of the Tironian note “7” instead of the conjunction “et” or “&”, and especially significant is its use as a generic sign of abbreviation. Finally, also noteworthy is the use of the very ancient nota iuris ÷ for “est”, in the manner of the Irish insular minuscule. This last feature is highly specific to Harvey and may also be associated with the influence of his cultural background and his origin. Many of these characteristics and the highly cursive ductus of his script are clearly influenced by the cursive minuscule as practised at Anglo-Norman and French Chanceries. This system of writing eventually arrived in Catalonia, Harvey being one of the very first known scribes to put it into practice.

Harvey was constantly involved in documentation work during this period and became a canon of significant status in the community, a standing he achieved, on the one hand, thanks to his knowledge of law and of the juridical formulary, and furthermore his own experience and the possible contacts he had made outside the canonry, as well as the trust placed in him by the prior Pere de Balbs, who assigned to him almost exclusively the drafting of the most important financial transactions. No reference is made in the documentation conserved in Terrassa to other positions in the monastery below that of “prior”. However, in Harvey’s case we believe that he adopted the functions of procurator or conrerius, who in the Sant Ruf priorates was responsible for the administration of the main expenses of the canonry and for managing its external affairs.

After 1175, Harvey left Terrassa again, this time to go to Santa Maria de Besalú. The reason for his departure may be associated with the arrival of the new prior by the name of Pere and with the need to improve the management of the monastery. In any case, he would not have left his post without making sure that everything was in good order. The prior Pere de Balbs remained as the main person in charge at Santa Maria de Terrassa, although the scribe’s office was held by the priest Guerau de Santfeliu, the chaplain of Sant Pere de Terrassa who was undoubtedly from Terrassa himself. Guerau learned how to draft documents directly from Harvey, which can be proved by the fact that his ductus is practically identical to that of the Sant Ruf canon. Harvey formed his own school and eventually established a fully-fledged notary’s office at Santa Maria de Terrassa.

His eight years of experience at Besalú almost certainly came to an end with the death of Pere de Balbs at Santa Maria de Terrassa in 1183. After this, we immediately find him again in Terrassa in 1184, providing support to the newly appointed prior, magister Reginald. It is not clear where Reginald came from, but the rarity of his name in Catalonia also points to an Anglo-Normand origin. The new prior needed someone to guide him after his arrival to a new house, so it is quite reasonable that Harvey should return there. According to Jean-Pierre Poly and Yannick Veyrenche, the Sant Ruf magistri were mestres or expert teachers for their extensive juridical knowledge as well as cannon law, and thus enjoyed a certain prestige in the order (Poly 1978; Veyrenche 2018). Unfortunately, magister Reginald’s stay in Terrassa was a short one and stretched only until 1186. In that same year, we find the last known documents written while Harvey was a scribe there. So what happened during this last period of time?

We believe that the arrival of an expert in canon law may have been due precisely to the need to reach an appropriate juridical agreement for the creation of a series of paintings dedicated to Saint Thomas Becket. It is quite likely that Harvey was unacquainted with the type of juridical agreement required for this purpose. However, he was essential for assisting magister Reginald in this undertaking, given his knowledge of Terrassa, the authority he had acquired throughout his career, and because he was in charge of all the administrative and external affairs of the Terrassa community. Furthermore, Harvey almost certainly spoke the same language as Reginald. The coincidence of two important figures of Anglo-Norman origin, with a mutual affinity due to their cultural background, together with the events at Canterbury, were instrumental in the creation of the pictorial cycle in Terrassa. As mentioned before, such a meeting of ways could only have occurred between 1184 and 1186, a time at which these paintings were most probably commissioned and executed.

6. An Iconographic Project versus Secular Power?

While we have the protagonists and a plausible chronology, we still lack both the budget required and the reason behind the undertaking. As we have already seen, between 1168 and 1183 with the prior Pere de Balbs, and until 1186 with the new prior magister Reginald, the canonry of Santa Maria de Terrassa experienced the most brilliant period in its existence. Documents show that it was between the years of 1177 to 1186 when the largest sums were received by means of donations and the acquisition of property. Most of the financial records during this period were drawn up by Harvey’s expert hand, except those corresponding to the time between 1176 and 1183, when he was at Santa Maria de Besalú. Making the most of this economic prosperity, both prior Pere de Balbs, in the first instance, and magister Reginald as well as canon Harvey in the second, seized the opportunity to empower the canonry of Santa Maria against secular magnates, who slowly but steadily lost their grip on the sagrera of the church in a concerted process of expulsion that enabled the priors of Santa Maria to consolidate an unquestionable political power base around the canonry. Faced with this situation, the secular powers sought to establish their own basis of counterpower and influence around the new medieval town of Terrassa. Curiously enough, this was a process that began halfway through the 1180s. So having enough money and with the determination to reinforce religious authority over that of the secular powers, the creation of a series of paintings devoted precisely to demonstrate the strength of spiritual power over the temporal through the cycle dedicated to St. Thomas Becket seems especially propitious. We believe that the commission of these works derives directly from the endeavour to expel all secular claims on the ecclesiastic grounds and holdings around Santa Maria de Terrassa, and consequently illustrates the importance of the context in which they came into being.

7. The Master of Terrassa

As far as the dating of the paintings is concerned, it is important to take into account the following guidelines. Historically, the wall paintings of Santa Maria of Terrassa have been attributed to the Master of Espinelves (Kuhn 1930; Cook and Gudiol i Ricart 1950, pp. 91–92), a painter associated with Vic and named after the altar frontal at Espinelves (c. 1187), now in the Episcopal Museum of Vic (Figure 12). This altarpiece was probably made towards the end of the twelfth century to complete the church, which had been restored and reconsecrated in 1186.

As the result of collaboration between the Magistri Cataloniae project (UAB), the Episcopal Museum of Vic (MEV), the Centre de Conservació i Restauració de Catalunya (CRBMC) and the Autonomous University of Barcelona (CETEC-PATRIMONI), the wall paintings of Terrassa and the altar frontal of Espinelves were analysed using optical (OM) and electron microscopy (SEM/EDXA), infrared spectrography (ATR) and digitalisation. The results of the studies have revealed the use of tinfoil in Terrassa (Figure 13), particularly for the candlesticks in the Christ in Majesty scene, a resource commonly used in panel painting (Verdaguer and Alcayde 2014). On the other hand, many stylistic similarities also exist between Espinelves and Terrassa. The treatment of the hair is particularly symptomatic, conceived as large blocks of colour divided by curvilinear incisions, as may be observed in the Christ of Terrassa and the Christ Child on the altar frontal at Vic. The treatment of garments is also remarkably close, where the Master of Espinelves shows great virtuosity and originality. The connection becomes even clearer when we compare the arrangement of the bodies of the characters depicted. In Terrassa, John of Salisbury slightly bends his head and stretches out his arms in the same pose used for the figure of King Melchior in the altar frontal of Espinelves (Figure 14).

As previously explained, the canonry of Santa Maria de Terrassa enjoyed a period of economic prosperity between 1177 and 1186. This period fully coincides with the final stage of canon-scribe Harvey in Terrassa and the reign of magister Reginaldus (1184–1186). It is feasible, then, to think that the paintings were made between 1184–1186. If we accept this hypothesis, it is also reasonable to assume that the painter worked first in Terrassa and was later commissioned to make the altar frontal of Espinelves. Consequently, it is more appropriate to name our artist “Master of Terrassa” rather than of Espinelves.

8. Conclusions

The murder of Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral shook the foundations of medieval Europe. As may be gleaned from these pages, the success of his cult was the result of many factors, one of which was the congregation of Saint-Ruf at Avignon, which deserves special attention in studies of the agents who welcomed and spread the veneration of Thomas Becket. As noted, Saint-Ruf canons were very active in propagating the cult of the Saint in the Iberian Peninsula.

Houses of canons regular of Saint-Ruf played a key role in disseminating the cult of Becket in Spain. In the years following his martyrdom, a wealth of documented evidence demonstrates that the cult of Becket spread quickly in the Hispanic houses, leading to the construction of chapels, the celebration of his feast day and especially the existence of a rich liturgical corpus –psalters, breviaries, missals, martyrologies—dedicated to the Archbishop of Canterbury. The veneration of the Archbishop of Canterbury at Saint-Ruf communities underwent an iconographic translation of a monumental nature in the priory of Santa Maria de Terrassa, which had been attached to the Provençal abbey since 1113. Among those preserved, the Terrassa house possesses what we may qualify as the oldest wall paintings (1184–1186) depicting the martyrdom of Thomas Becket.

Those who promoted the paintings knew from first-hand accounts about the events that took place in Canterbury, probably through the biographical texts that were copied and spread by the Saint-Ruf congregation. Equally indicative is the presence of two canons of English or Anglo-Norman origin in Terrassa (Harvey and Reginald), who as we have suggested most likely played a decisive role in the dedication of a chapel to St. Thomas Becket in the Terrassa church.

Canon Harvey played a decisive role in the consolidation of the canonry of Santa Maria de Terrassa. He was actively involved in the legal agreements that helped lead to the growth of its patrimony and acted as the right hand to priors Pere de Balbs and magister Reginald. The ecclesiastic house was intent on eradicating all secular attempts to lay claim to its sagreres by achieving a monopoly over the spiritual benefits and earthly assets of these spaces. Secular interests were erased from the sagreres and were obliged to establish a new counteracting base of power around what was originally an old dwelling belonging to the Count. Nevertheless, the period of financial prosperity of the canonry during the mandate of these two priors is not enough in itself to demonstrate a solid ecclesiastic predominance over secular power. It is necessary to delve more deeply into the moral and spiritual aspects of this religious superiority. Thus, it is our belief that only by capitalising on the arrival of magister Reginald, together with the inestimable assistance of canon Harvey, could the conditions required for bringing these aspects to the forefront be created. What better way to do so than by means of an artistic work of great visibility? The pictorial cycle devoted to Saint Thomas Becket is precisely the type adopted in many religious houses around Europe to show the irrefutable primacy of the Church over secular interests. Thanks to his expertise in canon law, magister Reginald brought to bear the juridical knowledge required for the commission of these paintings, and the Master of Terrassa did the rest.