Evening, 29 December 1170. At the behest of their king, four knights, with swords drawn, burst into Canterbury Cathedral, demanding, "Where is Thomas the traitor?" "Here I am." Becket answers. "No traitor but Archbishop and priest of God." The fifty-three year old archbishop is promptly set upon and killed. The atrocity shocks Europe (as later, in 1535, would the martyrdom of another Thomas, also an ex-Chancellor, by another Henry). In 1173 the Pope canonised Thomas; a wave of extraordinary devotion to 'the holy blissful martyr' (Chaucer,1387) swept England, and churches were built in his honour from Iceland to Spain. T. S. Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral (1935) witnessed to the abiding fascination of this man.
Until he became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1162, Archdeacon Thomas, Chancellor of England, was the compliant boon companion of the young king, Henry II. In public life, Thomas was an innovative and efficient administrator; privately, this personable and intelligent man pursued power and the wealth which came with it to support a lavish yet, to others, generous lifestyle. In other respects, his life was blameless and he, in his own way, was even devout.
Thomas warned Henry that making him Archbishop would be a mistake. Henry, sure of Thomas' genuine friendship, insisted. From then on they were at loggerheads.
Thomas changed his life completely, embracing prayerfulness, austerity and regularity. His constant disputes with the king all centred on the rights of the Church, and those of Canterbury. The struggle climaxed in 1164 when the king's hostility made Thomas flee to France and to a six years exile.
Thomas' exile lasted until 1170. When temporarily reconciled to the king, he returned to his see amid popular rejoicing (the people loved Thomas for his care for them) though not to the joy of the barons who, naturally, sided with the king, or of the the many bishops who, yielding to the king or ignoring the rights of Canterbury, had been excommunicated by Thomas. To his see -- and to Martyrdom: not in vain, for it gave both a stunned Church and king time to come to a peaceable compromise on church-state relations.
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