Pope Alexander III's Letter to Thomas Becket confirming Primacy of Canterbury

This was an attempt by the Pope to end the rivalry between the ecclesiastical provinces of York and Canterbury [and the See of London] in Canterbury's favour.

Roger (of Wendover); Matthew Paris (1849). Roger of Wendover's Flowers of History: Comprising the History of England from the Descent of the Saxons to A.D. 1235; Formerly Ascribed to Matthew Paris. 

Pope Alexander wrote to archbishop Thomas as follows:—

" In accordance with the example of our predecessors Pascal and Eugenius of blessed memory, we grant to you and your successors the primacy of the church of Canterbury, as fully as it was possessed by Lanfranc, Anselm, and their predecessors. Whatever dignities or privileges are known to belong to that church, we confirm to you by this present letter, as your predecessors have enjoyed them by the authority of the apostolic see, ever since the days of St. Augustine."

References

Primacy of Canterbury - Wikipedia

Canterbury–York dispute - Wikipedia

Saint Thomas (à Becket) (2000). The Correspondence of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1162-1170: Letters 1-175. Clarendon Press. pp. 272–. ISBN 978-0-19-820892-1.

Saint Thomas (à Becket) (2000). The Correspondence of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1162-1170: Letters 1-175. Clarendon Press. pp. 40–. ISBN 978-0-19-820892-1.

Saint Thomas (à Becket) (2000). The Correspondence of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1162-1170: Letters 1-175. Clarendon Press. pp. 63–. ISBN 978-0-19-820892-1.

Canterbury–York dispute - Wikipedia

STAUNTON, MICHAEL. "The Lives of Thomas Becket and the Church of Canterbury." In Cathedrals, Communities and Conflict in the Anglo-Norman World, edited by DALTON PAUL, INSLEY CHARLES, and WILKINSON LOUISE J., 169-86. Boydell and Brewer, 2011. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7722/j.ctt81q16.16.

Robert Somerville (1977). Pope Alexander III and the Council of Tours (1163): A Study of Ecclesiastical Politics and Institutions in the Twelfth Century. Council of Tours: University of California Press. pp. 35–. ISBN 978-0-520-03184-5.

Paul Dalton; Charles Insley; Louise J. Wilkinson (2011). Cathedrals, Communities and Conflict in the Anglo-Norman World. Boydell Press. pp. 169–. ISBN 978-1-84383-620-9.

The Confirmation of Becket’s Primacy: In apostolice sedis, Lateran, 8 April 1166’, Journal of the Society of Archivists, ix (1989), pp. 197–209.

Richard Hurrell Froude; James Bowling Mozley (1839). Remains of the Late Reverend Richard Hurrell Froude: v. 2.   The Question of Canterbury's Primacy and the Council of Westminster October 1163 J. G. & F. Rivington. pp. 62–.

Jean Truax (15 May 2017). Archbishops Ralph d'Escures, William of Corbeil and Theobald of Bec: Heirs of Anselm and Ancestors of Becket. Taylor & Francis. pp. 7–. ISBN 978-1-351-95752-6.

Gilbert Foliot and His Letters. CUP Archive. pp. 91–.

Gilbert Foliot and His Letters. CUP Archive. pp. 151–.