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Murder in the Cathedral
 Thomas
Becket, a London merchant’s son, was a complex person –
in his youth he was a normal ebullient young man, stormy
and proud, selfish and arrogant, vain, and anxious to
please, but in later life, became one of the most pious
and devout Archbishops of the 12th century.
Despite
differences in their status Thomas’s greatest friend was
Henry, who was later to become
King Henry II of England.
They hunted and played chess together, people said the
two men ‘had but one heart and one mind’.
When at the age of 21 Henry became king, Becket became
his Chancellor. Both furious workers, they laboured
tirelessly to bring law and order to Henry’s realm.
It was
during Henry’s reign those legal terms such as ‘trial by
jury’ and ‘assizes’ (sittings) became so familiar in the
English language. The king’s judges travelled the
country administering the common law – the law of all
free men.
The
exception to this was the Church, which had its own
courts and own laws. Priests who murdered or raped could
avoid common-law justice by claiming ‘benefit of
clergy’, the right to be tried in the bishop’s court.
The worst that could happen here was to be issued with a
severe penance or exceptionally, expulsion (defrocking)
from the priesthood.
Much of
the power in the country at that time was enjoyed and
exploited by the rich bishops and abbots of the Church.
And, whilst the Church swore loyalty to the king, they
also insisted that their true allegiance was to God and
his earthly representative, the Pope in Rome.
On the
death of his Archbishop of
Canterbury in May 1161, Henry
saw his chance of bringing the Church to heel, by
promoting his best friend Thomas to the newly vacated
post.
With
the donning of his archbishop’s robes however, Becket’s
whole demeanour seems to have changed, as he appeared to
have experienced a religious conversion.
‘Born
again’ Thomas changed completely – from then on he wore
a sackcloth shirt which reached to his knees, and
swarmed with all forms of wildlife. He had
a very sparse diet, and his accustomed drink was water.
 King
Henry and Becket remained good friends until they
clashed over clerical privilege. Henry stated that the
church was subject to the law of the land, but Becket
insisted that the Church was above the law.
Their
confrontation came to a head at Northampton Castle in
October 1164, when supporters of Henry questioned
Thomas’s loyalty to his king by accusing him of being a
‘Traitor’.
Some
harsh words were exchanged …‘Whoremonger!’, ‘Bastard!’,
and other such choice expressions, before Thomas made a
strategic withdrawal …to France!
Thomas
spent some six years in exile before things calmed down
sufficient for him to return to Canterbury. Preaching
from the cathedral on Christmas Day 1170, Thomas again
displayed his stormy temperament when he excommunicated
some of his fellow bishops with the words …’May they all
be damned by Jesus Christ!’
Henry
became incensed when he heard of this outburst and is
said to have uttered the fateful words “Will no one rid
me of this turbulent priest!”
Four of
Henry’s knights, probably not the brightest of men, took
this as a summons to action, and left for Canterbury
immediately.
They
reached Canterbury Cathedral on December 29th,
where they found Becket before the High Altar, as he had
gone there to hear Vespers. One of the knights
approached him, and struck Becket on the shoulder with
the flat of his sword. It seems that the knights did not
at first intend to kill Becket, but as he stood firm
after the first blow, the four attacked and butchered
him.
It is
recorded that they cracked open his skull spilling his
brains onto the cathedral floor!
Henry
was horrified when he heard the news as he believed that
it was his words that had been the cause of Becket’s
death. As an act of penitence he donned sackcloth and
ashes, and starved himself for three days.
Becket
was immediately hailed as a martyr and canonised in
1173, and his shrine in Canterbury Cathedral became
famous throughout Christendom.
Unfortunately this shrine was totally destroyed at the
Reformation in 1538, but his tomb can be seen in St.
Thomas’s in Trinity Chapel behind the high altar.
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