Henry II & Thomas À

BecketJustine Goldsborough & Taylor Conroy

Henry II

• Following the death of his father, Henry II became the ruler of Normandy and Anjou.

• His first task was reorganizing the judicial system.

• •He tried to control the Church but the archbishop refused.

• In 1169 he traveled to Ireland to assert his rule.

• After various family issues, Henry II passed away in 1189.

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Thomas À Becket

• Thomas Becket was born to a successful merchant in 1120.

• He started as an agent to the archbishop of Canterbury

• Shortly after, he became the chancellor for Henry II

• Henry II made him the archbishop, which strained their relationship

• He was exiled to France for 6 years

• Was assassinated in 1170• Became a saint in 1173

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Their Relationship

• Henry II discovered Thomas Becket after his many trips to Rome

• He made Becket his chancellor and they quickly grew close

• Henry II appointed Becket as the archbishop after the death of Becket’s old boss.

• Becket denied the position at first saying he had enough power as he wanted

• He wrote a letter to Henry II claiming this position would strain their relationship

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Conflict

• Philip de Brois is charged with the murder of a knight• Since Philip was a clerk, he had clerical immunity and was

protected by the church. Therefore, turning him over to criminal law would imply he would no longer be a clerk. Henry could not accept this and refrained from doing so.

• Becket and his Bishops highly disagreed with this and after several months of arguing, they met at the council of Clarendon in January of 1164 to discuss the issue.

• There, Henry presented the Bishops with the constitution of Clarendon defining the relationship between secular and canon law in an attempt to trick the Bishops into committing to something they had not previously agreed upon

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How it worsened

• The Bishops refused to sign the document for three days, and as a result, angered the king

• Becket spontaneously told the Bishops they had no choice but to give in and to sign the document

• Regretting his decision, Becket began to publicly repent his oath in order to divert the king’s wrath from the Bishops

• Becket again angered Henry when he asked the pope to excommunicate the Archbishop of York, who had been friends with the king.

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The assassination

• After hearing what Becket had done, the king shouted, “Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest?” Four knights had misunderstood what Henry meant and assumed he wanted Becket dead so they rode out to Canterbury to kill him.

• On December 29th, 1170, Becket had been assassinated in the Canterbury cathedral

• After the discovery of his friend’s death, Henry asked the pope for forgiveness and walked to Canterbury barefoot to pray at the spot where Becket had been killed

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Works Cited

Clouet, François. King Henry II of France. N.d. Photograph. Palace of Versailles, Versailles. Wikipedia.org. 17 June 2007. Web. 23 Sept. 2013.

Dr. Mike Ibeji. “Becket, the Church and Henry II.” BBC History.

BBC, 17 Feb. 2011. Web. 23 Sept. 2013.                            

"Henry II (1133-1189)." BBC News. BBC, n.d. Web. 23 Sept. 2013.

"Thomas Becket (c.1120 - 1170)." BBC News. BBC, n.d. Web. 23 Sept. 2013.

Trueman, Chris. "Thomas Becket." History Learning Site. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Sept. 2013.