Sir Richard le Breton or Richard de Brito (

fl. ''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for 'flourished') denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indic ...

1170) was one of the four

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

s who in 1170 murdered

Thomas Becket Thomas Becket (), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and then as Archbishop of Canterbury fr ...

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...

Origins

Roger Brito is listed in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086 as holding land under the

overlord An overlord in the English feudal system was a lord of a manor who had subinfeudated a particular manor, estate or fee, to a tenant. The tenant thenceforth owed to the overlord one of a variety of services, usually military service or ...

ship of the Church of Long Sutton in Somerset, in which county the family was later seated at

Sampford Brett Sampford Brett is a village and civil parish situated at the south-western edge of the Quantock Hills, Somerset, England, less than south of Williton, just off the A358 road to Taunton. Geography It lies in a shallow valley cut by the Sampford ...

(''alias'' Sandford-Bret). During the reign of King Henry I (1100–1135) Sampford Brett was held by Simon le Bret, from the

feudal barony of Dunster The feudal barony of Dunster was an English feudal barony with its ''caput'' at Dunster Castle in Somerset. During the reign of King Henry I of England, Henry I (1100–1135) the barony (or "Honour (feudal barony), honour") comprised forty knigh ...

military service Military service is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, air forces, and naval forces, whether as a chosen job (volunteer military, volunteer) or as a result of an involuntary draft (conscription). Few nations, such ...

of half a

knight's fee In feudal Anglo-Norman England and Ireland, a knight's fee was a unit measure of land deemed sufficient to support a knight. It would not only provide sustenance for himself, his family, and servants, but also the means to furnish himself and h ...

. He served in the household of Henry II's brother William, Count of Poitou and was a near neighbour of the FitzUrse family of

Williton Williton is a large village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Somerset, England, at the junction of the A39 road, A39, A358 and B3191 roads, on the coast south of Watchet between Minehead, Bridgwater and Taunton. Williton station i ...

in Somerset, a member of which family was another of the assassins of

. Simon le Bret had two sons: Richard Brito, one of the assassins of

and Edmund le Bret, who adopted the surname ''de Sandford'' from his seat.

William the Conqueror William the Conqueror (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), sometimes called William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England (as William I), reigning from 1066 until his death. A descendant of Rollo, he was D ...

granted a manor in the eastern part of the parish of Great Stambridge in Essex and another in Sanford in Somerset to a Norman named Auvrai Le Breton following the Norman conquest of England. A later relative, Simon Le Breton, had two sons, Richard and Edmund, who inherited their share of Sanford and Great Master Bridge. Both were part of the royal court of King Henry II; in particular Richard Le Breton was a close friend of the king's brother, Prince William.

Becket assassination

During the attack on Becket in 1170 by the four knights, Sir Reginald Fitzurse, Sir Hugh de Morville, Brito and Sir William de Tracy, Brito is said to have broken his sword when striking at Becket's head. According to Edward Grim: He shouted "Take that, for the love of my lord William, the king's brother!" when he delivered the fatal blow. It was believed by William's friends that the count had died of a broken heart after Thomas Becket refused to allow his marriage.

Aftermath

After the assassination the four knights fled to Scotland and from there to Knaresborough Castle in

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

. All four were excommunicated by the

Pope Alexander III Pope Alexander III (c. 1100/1105 – 30 August 1181), born Roland (), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 7 September 1159 until his death in 1181. A native of Siena, Alexander became pope after a Papal election, ...

at Easter in 1171 and ordered to undertake penitentiary pilgrimages to the

Holy Land The term "Holy Land" is used to collectively denote areas of the Southern Levant that hold great significance in the Abrahamic religions, primarily because of their association with people and events featured in the Bible. It is traditionall ...

for 14 years. Brito eventually retired to the island of

Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

. A

ledger stone A ledger stone or ledgerstone is an inscribed stone slab usually laid into the floor of a church to commemorate or mark the place of the burial of an important deceased person. The term "ledger" derives from the Middle English words ''lygger'', '' ...

for one of the le Bretons of Jersey survives in St Thomas's Church in

Salisbury Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...

. The Brett family of Whitestaunton in Somerset are said by the Duchess of Cleveland to be descended from the Brettes of Sampford Brett, and are the ancestors of the present Brett family, Viscounts Esher.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Breton, Richard Le 12th-century English nobility 12th-century murderers English assassins English people of Breton descent Medieval assassins Medieval English knights People excommunicated by the Catholic Church Thomas Becket