440 BECKER and manuals of the German language passed through many editions. BECKER, Karl Friedrieh, a German historian, born in Berlin in 1777, died there, March 15, 1806. He studied in Berlin and Halle, became a teacher, and published Weltgeschichle fur Kinder und Kinderlehrer (9 vols., Berlin, 1801-'5). Woltmann added to this series a 10th volume, and A. Menzel two more ; and Adolf Schmidt's edition of 1860-'67 contains 20 vol- umes, including Arnd's Geachichte der letzten merzig Jahre and its continuations to 1867. The same author's Qeschichte der Jahre 1867- 1871 (1st vol., 1872) is also to serve as a sup- plement. Becker's original nine volumes con- tinue to be the most popular part of the work, especially among juvenile readers. Equally attractive for the young are his three volumes of Erzahlungen aus der alien Well (Halle, 1801-'3 ; 4th vol. by Giinther, 1842, containing Die Perserkriege ; 9th and revised ed. by Eck- stein, 1857). BECKER, Rndolf Zartiarias, a German author, born at Erfurt, April 9, 1752, died March 28, 1822. He studied theology at Jena, and be- came a teacher and journalist at Dessau, and eventually at Gotha, where the wide circula- tion of his writings led him in 1797 to estab- lish a publishing house. Over 500,000 copies of his Nolh- und Hulfsbuchlein, oder lehrreiche Freuden- und Trauergesehichte des Dorfes Mildheim (Gotha, 1787-'98), were sold within a few years in Germany and in foreign trans- lations. He made a valuable addition to Ger- man art by his edition of Hoktchnitte alter deulscher Meitler (1808-'16). In 1814 ap- peared Becker's Leiden und Freuden in sieben- eehnmonatlicher franzosweher Oefangenschaft, a narrative of his imprisonment by the French (1811-'13) on account of his alleged conspiracy against Napoleon. BECKER. I. WUhelm Gottlieb, a German ar- chaeologist, born at Oberkallenberg, Nov. 4, 1753, died in Dresden, June 3, 1813. He studied at the university of Leipsic, was a teacher in Dessau, and became professor at the Dresden art academy (Ritterakademie) in 1782, director of the gallery of antiquities and of the numismatic museum in 1795, and of the green vaults in 1805. He edited the En- comium MoricB of Erasmus {Lob der Narrheit, Basel, 1780), and published the works of Hol- bein (Berlin, 1781). His principal works are : Augwteum, Dresdens antike Dcnkmiiler ent- haltend (2 vols., Dresden, 1805-'9 ; new and en- larged ed., 1832-'7, with 162 engravings), and an illustrated work on the coins of the middle ages in the Dresden numismatic museum (Leip- sic, 1813). II. Milliclm Adolf, son of the pre- ceding, born in Dresden in 1796, died in Meis- sen, Sept. 30, 1846. He was professor of classical archaeology at the university of Leip- sic. His Qallm (3d ed., 2 vols., Leipsic, 1863) and Charicles (2d ed., 3 vols., 1854) have been translated into English by the Rev. Frederick Metcalfe, with notes (London, 1844 and 1854). BECKET In these works the life, manners, and customs of the ancient Greeks and Romans are admi- rably depicted, accompanied by learned and elaborate excursuses. His principal work is HandlnicJi der romischen Alterthumer, com- pleted after his death by Marquardt (5 vols., 1843-'64). BECKET, Thomas a, an English prelate and statesman, born in London about 1117, assassi- nated in Canterbury, Dec. 29, 1170 His fa- ther, Gilbert Becket, a native of Rouen, was of Norman and not of Saxon blood, and his mother, generally represented as a Saracen convert to Christianity, was probably actually born at Caen. Thierry and other writers who picture Becket as a champion of the Sax- ons against the Normans, are not sustained by later critics, who find no mention of him in that character by contemporary authorities; and the contest had moreover then become one of class and not of race. At the time of his birth his father was established in London as a merchant, and Becket grew up with the feelings of an Englishman of the respectable middle class. He was educated at Merton abbey, Surrey, and at Oxford, London, and Paris. "While employed in the office of his fa- ther, who was sheriff' of London and acquaint- ed with Theobald, archbishop of Canterbury, the latter enabled him to study law in Bologna and in Auxerre, and presented him on his re- turn to England, after he had taken deacon's orders, with the livings of St. Mary le Strand and Otterford, Kent. He next employed him in missions to Rome, in one of which he suc- cessfully negotiated for the restoration of the legatine power of the see of Canterbury. The archbishop now appointed him archdeacon of Canterbury, provost of Beverley, and preb- endary of Lincoln and St. Paul's. In 1158 Henry II. made him lord chancellor of Eng- land, in which capacity he had to discharge all the functions which now devolve upon the different members of the cabinet, besides offi- ciating judicially. He was fond of the chase, and as conspicuous on the battlefield as he was at the head of the state. The valor which he displayed as a commander by the side of the king in France led to his being made tutor of his young son Henry, whose marriage with Margaret of France he negotiated. Intimately associated with the king, he yet refrained from joining in his excesses ; and though as chancel- lor and as a soldier he threw off his clerical character and was addicted to stateliness and display, his morals were exemplary and he was by no means irreligious. So powerful became his influence over Henry that in 1162, on the death of Theobald, the king pressed his election to the see of Canterbury ; and some authorities ascribe to Henry the intention of making Becket ruler in England as viceroy, while he was him- self to rule as king in France. He was the first native Englishman who held the archbishopric of Canterbury, and having been ordained as priest, he was consecrated with great pomp as
