William Fitzstephen (original) (raw)

William Fitzstephen (also William fitz Stephen), (died c. 1191) was a cleric and administrator in the service of Thomas Becket. In the 1170s he wrote a long biography of Thomas Becket—the Vita Sancti Thomae (Life of St. Thomas). Fitzstephen had been Becket's personal household clerk for ten years and, when Becket became Chancellor of England, Becket gave his clerk full authority to act in his name in diocesan matters. Fitzstephen became a subdeacon with responsibility for perusing letters and petitions involving the diocese.