ACTIVITY 1
Ella’s essay:
Why did Henry II and Thomas Becket
fall out with each other?
King Henry II and Thomas Becket were very good friends. Henry was a man
who had a reddish, freckled face with a large round head and grey eyes. Henry
could become angry very easily. He was the son of Matilda and Geoffrey of
Anjou. In 1162 King Henry II thought he could use Thomas to help him control
the Church. You see the problem was that the priests of England followed the
orders of the Pope in Rome and not of the King in England. The King did not like
the fact that powerful priests could ignore what their King said. He wanted
Thomas to help him. So in 1162 Henry made Thomas the Archbishop of
Canterbury. Thomas had been born in 1118. This was the most powerful job in
the Church of England. Only the Pope was more powerful. The idea was that if
his friend were the Archbishop, then the English priests would be made to follow
the King’s orders instead of the Pope’s. However, Henry’s plan was spoiled
when Thomas told him that he would not follow his orders, but instead said that
the Pope was in charge of religion, and so priests should follow the Pope’s
orders and not the King’s. For example Thomas refused to allow a priest who
had killed and raped a woman to be tried in the King’s court. He put the priest in
a bishop’s prison so that the King’s men could not arrest him. As you can
imagine Henry II was furious. He was so angry that he told Thomas that he was
to leave England. Thomas sailed to France and he remained there for six long
years. After these six years had passed King Henry II asked Thomas to come
back to England again. He was probably hoping that Thomas had learnt his
lesson, and that when he came back to England he would follow the orders of the
King. Henry was wrong. He and Thomas argued again. Henry did start to
attack parts of Ireland. When Henry II died his son Richard I took over as King.
This time Thomas went back to Canterbury Cathedral. Yet again King Henry
became very angry that his once close friend had refused to follow his orders.
Henry told his soldiers about these arguments. Four knights listening to Henry
were also very cross that Thomas was refusing to do what the King of England
had asked. Henry asked, “Who will get rid of this turbulent priest for me?” These
knights felt that this meant the King wanted Thomas killed. They set out on
horses and headed for Canterbury Cathedral. Murder was about to happen.
Becket became a saint in 1172.