A theologian, secretary to Archbishop Theobald and Archbishop Thomas Becket of Canterbury as well as a philosopher, John of Salisbury was born in 1115. He was taught by Peter Abelard. He went into exile in France with Thomas a Becket in 1164, and was with Becket when the latter was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170. John became Bishop of Chartres in 1176, after the rebuilding work of the mid-12th century and before the great fire of 1194. He wrote philosophical works describing his ideal society, the most famous of which were the `Policraticus' and the `Matalogicon.'
