1. Henry II, Thomas Becket and the Church

2. Before we go on… The Norman Kings and who they were:
King William the Conqueror
King William Rufus (son of William)
King Henry I (William Rufus brother)
King Stephen (nephew of Henry I)

3. More Kings and who they were
King Henry II (grandson of Henry I)
King Richard I (third son of Henry II)
King John (fifth son of Henry II)
King Henry III (son of John)
King Edward I (son of Henry III)
King Edward II (son of Edward I)
King Edward III (son of Edward II)

4. And some more!
King Richard II (grandson of Edward III, son of the Black Prince)
King Henry IV (grandson of Edward III, son of John of Gaunt)
King Henry V (son of Henry IV)
King Henry VI (son of Henry V)
King Edward IV (youngest son of Edward III )
King Richard III (uncle of Edward V)

5. But you do not need to know all these!
I just thought you might like a list somewhere!
(as they are not in your textbook)

6. So far…
….we have looked how England was controlled by the king (all about castles, and who was given land, the owing of allegiance etc)
We have looked at the lives of the poor people and the rich people in the villages and towns
And there was a passing mention of how important the Church was

7. So today we are going to look at..
the reign of King Henry II (grandson of Henry I)
the murder of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket - a very well known event
And why it happened
And this has a lot to do with the influence of the church over the state (the government of the country)

8. Church and state In medieval times the Church was very important.
One reason for this was obvious - the Church helped people to worship God.
Also many churchmen could read and write, unlike the majority of the population.
So the clergy were relied on to write documents like receipts (showing you had paid your taxes), or contracts (for when you sold your land).

9. Church and state
Another reason was that the Church owned a lot of land, and that meant money and power.
And finally the top men in the Church were the bishops.
They were very important people and usually belonged to powerful families.

10. Bishop and King
The most powerful churchman in England was the Archbishop of Canterbury.
The Archbishop and the King had to work very closely together.
If they did not, then it was almost impossible to run the country.

11. Bishop and King
In 1154, when Henry became king, Theobald was Archbishop
Henry asked Theobald for advice on choosing his government ministers.
On the suggestion of Theobald, Henry appointed Thomas Becket as his chancellor

12. King and Chancellor
Becket's job was an important one as it involved running the country on a day –to-day basis.
The king and Becket soon became close friends.
They both enjoyed wealthy, privileged lifestyles.
They had both enjoyed lots of hunting and feasting together.

13. Bishop and King
When Theobald died, Henry wanted his friend Becket to become Archbishop of Canterbury
Becket did not really want the job, as he said it spoil their friendship
But Henry insisted

14. Bishop and King There was a battle developing between state and church
And Henry thought that with Thomas in charge of the church, he would have fewer problems
Henry, of course, assumed that his friend would take his side
He was SO wrong!

15. Bishop and King
What no one realised was that Becket would take his new role quite so seriously.
He gave notice of this by resigning the chancellorship.
He wore a hair shirt under his colourful archbishop’s robes
He regularly fasted
He took the church’s side in everything

16. Disagreements between Henry II and Becket
Some Secondary evidence
Henry and Becket argue. From the 'Chronicle of England' by Peter of Langtoft
England;
circa

17. Disagreements between Henry II and Becket
The crunch came with Henry's attempts to deal with the problem of 'criminous clerks'.
About one in six of the population of England were clergymen, many of whom were not ordained to the priesthood.

18. Disagreements between Henry II and Becket
These lay clergy could claim the right to be tried in ecclesiastical courts like the ordained priests.
There, they would almost always receive a lighter sentence than if tried in the criminal courts of the land.

19. Disagreements between Henry II and Becket
Before Henry, Stephen and Matilda had ruled and a lot of criminal behaviour had gone unchecked
For Henry, the problem was to restore order after the chaos
This included sorting out the 2 court system

20. Disagreements between Henry II and Becket
But Becket saw the problem more as one of the power of the church being kept in tact

21. Disagreements between Henry II and Becket
The problem was brought to a head by the case of Philip de Brois, a canon of Bedford who was acquitted in the court of the Bishop of Lincoln of the charge of murdering a knight.

22. Disagreements between Henry II and Becket
The Sheriff of Bedford tried to re-open the case in the Royal court, but he failed.
Henry angrily demanded justice on the charge of murder and on an additional charge of contempt.

23. Disagreements between Henry II and Becket
Becket attempted to solve the problem by banishing Philip,
but the whole affair merely showed up how inadequate the canon (church) law was in punishing robbers and murderers.

24. Disagreements between Henry II and Becket
Henry tried to solve this by proposing that clergy convicted of such serious crimes in the church courts should be handed over to the secular (state) courts for punishment.
It was a neat compromise, but ….

25. Disagreements between Henry II and Becket
…..it meant that a man handed over to criminal law was no longer a clerk.
This did away with church protection
This was why Becket could not accept it, and nor did any of the bishops

26. Disagreements between Henry II and Becket
After lots of discussion, Henry bullied the bishops into accepting many of the things they disagreed with
Becket signed it but said that he would repent afterwards!
The king was furious!
It meant that although Becket had signed, the Pope would never give permission as he knew what Becket thought, and Becket was a favourite of his.

27. Henry and Thomas Henry was known to have a bad temper
In the end Thomas fled England, as Henry tried everything to get his own back
Henry had him tried on trumped-up charges, he took away his land and exiled many of his relatives.

28. In the end …
They made up, with the help of the Pope and Thomas returned to England.
But no sooner did Henry leave for France, then Thomas excommunicated several churchmen, including the Archbishop of York, who had supported the King whilst he was away.
Excommunication was very serious, as it meant you were condemned to Hell FOREVER!

29. When Henry heard …
Henry was furious, and shouted to his knights "Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest?"
Nobody knows whether he meant this as a death threat.

30. But … What we do know is that four knights left immediately
Led by one Reginald Fitz Urse, they slipped across the Channel to Canterbury
There they tried to force Becket to return with them and face the King's wrath.
He refused and they retired to bed.

31. When Henry heard …
Next day, while he was leading mass, they tried to drag him out of the cathedral.
In this struggle he received a blow on the head which seems to have tipped the whole thing over into violence
The four knights fell on him with their swords. He died later that afternoon on 29 December 1170.

32. Afterwards The whole of Europe was shocked by the murder.
Henry walked barefoot from London to Canterbury to show he was sorry.
After his death, Becket was made a saint, and Canterbury Cathedral became a shrine for pilgrims to visit.

33. Afterwards
The fact that so many people thought Becket was a saint affected the way they wrote about him after his death.
Historians have found it hard to find accounts of the events of 1170 which are not in favour of Becket.
And Henry had to give in over the church courts

34. Who was to blames – and who wasn’t?
It was their fault
It was not their fault
Knights
King Henry
Thomas

35. Homework Next week we will open up Radio Canterbury.
The date: 30 December 1170
The day before Thomas had been murdered.
Everyone has an opinion and they are all different.
I will be the interviewer and I want you each to put forward your case – so you are going to have to be prepared to talk! So make sure that your microphones are working!
You have each been given a role – see the homework sheet – you may prepare your answers and read them or you can just think about what to say and do it that way. You have to give in homework every week so all I want is a few brief notes as to what you are going say!