Master Sword
One of the four knights who murdered Thomas Becket in 1170.
Richard le Breton or Richard de Brito (fl. 1170) was one of the four knights who in 1170 murdered Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury. He was a member of the royal court of King Henry II and a close friend of the king's brother, Prince William. During the attack on Becket, Brito is said to have broken his sword when striking at Becket's head. He shouted 'Take that, for the love of my lord William, the king's brother!' when he delivered the fatal blow.
Lore & Background
Richard le Breton was the son of Simon le Bret, who held Sampford Brett in Somerset from the feudal barony of Dunster by military service of half a knight's fee. Simon le Bret served in the household of Henry II's brother William, Count of Poitou and was a near neighbour of the FitzUrse family of Williton in Somerset, a member of which family was another of the assassins of Thomas Becket. Simon le Bret had two sons: Richard Brito, one of the assassins of Thomas Becket, and Edmund le Bret, who adopted the surname de Sandford from his seat. 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.
Reader's Guide
After the assassination the four knights fled to Scotland and from there to Knaresborough Castle in Yorkshire. All four were excommunicated by Pope Alexander III at Easter in 1171 and ordered to undertake penitentiary pilgrimages to the Holy Land for 14 years. Brito eventually retired to the island of Jersey. A ledger stone for one of the le Bretons of Jersey survives in St Thomas's Church in Salisbury. 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.
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