History's Greatest Crimes
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History's Greatest Crimes
Episode 9- Holy Orders, Royal Rage: Canterbury's Most Notorious Murder
A friendship shattered. A cathedral desecrated. A martyrdom that forever changed England.
The story of Thomas Becket and King Henry II begins with an extraordinary bond between an ambitious clerk and a powerful monarch who shared "one heart and one mind." Their relationship embodied the complex dance between church and state in 12th century Europe, until a fateful decision transformed everything.
When Henry appointed his loyal chancellor as Archbishop of Canterbury in 1162, he expected to consolidate royal power over the English church. Instead, Becket underwent a radical transformation, becoming the church's fiercest defender against royal encroachment. What followed was a bitter six-year conflict over fundamental questions: Who held ultimate authority in England? Could the king's courts try clergymen accused of crimes? Where did loyalty to crown end and loyalty to God begin?
The confrontation reached its shocking climax on December 29, 1170, when four knights burst into Canterbury Cathedral during evening prayers. Their swords raised against a defiant archbishop, they committed not just murder but sacrilege, spilling Becket's blood and brains across the sacred stones near the altar.
This wasn't merely a medieval crime but a watershed moment that reshaped the balance of power between secular and religious authorities. Becket's swift canonization as a saint, Henry's dramatic public penance, and Canterbury's transformation into Christendom's great pilgrimage destination reveal how thoroughly this single act of violence penetrated medieval consciousness and institutions.
Beyond politics, the murder of Thomas Becket remains a deeply human tragedy – the story of a broken friendship, miscalculated ambitions, and the terrible consequences when words spoken in anger are taken as commands.
Welcome back to History's Greatest Crimes. I'm Michael.
Speaker 2:And I'm Elena Join us as we step back into the shadows of the past, uncovering the motives, methods and consequences of history's most shocking transgressions of history's most shocking transgressions.
Speaker 1:Tonight we travel back to 12th century England, a world of powerful kings, burgeoning law and an equally powerful church. Our destination Canterbury Cathedral. On a bitterly cold evening, december 29th 1170.
Speaker 2:Inside Vespers, the evening prayer service is underway. Monks are chanting, candlelight flickers across stone pillars, but the sanctity of the moment is about to be shattered. Four knights loyal to King Henry II of England burst into the sacred space clad in armor, swords drawn. They are shouting for one man.
Speaker 1:Where is Thomas Beckett, traitor to the king and the kingdom? They ask the man they seek. The Archbishop of Canterbury stands defiant. Minutes later he lies dead on the cathedral floor, his skull brutally cleaved upon, his blood staining the flagstones near the altar this was more than just murder.
Speaker 2:It was an act of profound sacrilege as well as a political assassination. It was the culmination of a years long bitter feud between church and state, personified by two towering figures Archbishop Thomas Becket and King Henry II of England.
Speaker 1:And woven through. It all is a story of friendship turn and midi, of loyalty twisted into betrayal. Archbishop Becket had once been King Henry's closest confidant, his chancellor, his right-hand man.
Speaker 2:So how did this loyal servant become the turbulent priest whose death the king seemed to demand? How did a monarch's angry outburst, possibly misinterpreted, lead to one of the most infamous crimes of the Middle Ages?
Speaker 1:Tonight on History's Greatest Crimes. We investigate the murder of Thomas Becket. Will traces unlikely rise, Explore the explosive conflict with King Henry II, follow him into exile and witness his fatal return, and then we'll examine the shocking aftermath that transformed a murdered archbishop into a powerful saint and forever altered the course of English history.
Speaker 2:To understand the crime we need to understand the victim, and Thomas Beckett's path to power was not typical for his time. He wasn't born into the high nobility. He entered the world around 1119 or 1120 in London. His parents, Gilbert and Matilda, were Norman immigrants. We have to remember that at this point the kingdom of England included not just England but also most of Western France. This connection between England and France, particularly from the Normandy region, had existed since the Norman invasion of England in 1066, when William the Conqueror invaded and took over. So Thomas Beckett, as well as his parents, likely spoke medieval French as their first language, despite living in England. It wouldn't be cool to speak English in England until the 15th century due to the Hundred Years' War.
Speaker 1:Thomas' parents were part of the merchant class, perhaps dealing in wine or textiles. Often called the 12th century renaissance by historians, the 12th century in Europe was a time of economic and cultural growth. The climate warmed slightly around this time, resulting in better crop yields. The Viking raids were mostly over, so people started feeling safe enough to start traveling and trading extensively again, and the result was the rise of capitalism, bigger cities and the spread of a new intellectual and cultural ideas and trends. As a result, a merchant class began to emerge in medieval Europe that was different from the traditional three medieval social categories of peasants, the religious clergy and the royal and noble elite.
Speaker 2:Merchants in the 12th century, like Thomas Beckett's parents, didn't hold official titles or large amounts of land, but many were very financially successful and became wealthy. Young Thomas Beckett received a solid education for the era, studying at Merton Priory and later in London and Paris.
Speaker 1:At this time, Merton Priory was a center of learning and diplomacy. Being a priory, the school was religious at its core. It was actually under the authority of Augustinian monks at the time, and many students at Merton Priory started their education with the intention of becoming a priest or bishop or another office connected to the Catholic Church. But it seems that Thomas was initially destined to use his education to follow in his parents' merchant footsteps. That was the plan at least, until Thomas' parents suffered some financial reverses. At that point he pivoted to becoming a clerk instead. The role of a clerk during the Middle Ages was to document and maintain the handwritten records of the day-to-day operations and business of the royal courts or other important households and organizations.
Speaker 2:Thomas's break came in the 1140s when he became the clerk for the household of Theobald of Beck, the Archbishop of Canterbury. This was a pivotal connection. The Archbishop of Canterbury was. This was a pivotal connection. The Archbishop of Canterbury was traditionally the leader of the Catholic Church in England, the pinnacle of ecclesiastical authority on the island. Under the leadership of the Archbishop of Canterbury, beckett proved himself intelligent, charming and highly capable. He undertook important missions for Theobald. He undertook important missions for Theobald, including trips to Rome, and he studied canon law abroad. His rise was swift. By 1154, he was appointed archdeacon of Canterbury, a significant and lucrative post. In exceptionally large dioceses like that of Canterbury, archbishops often had several archdeacons who helped with administrative and business duties. But unlike most posts in the Catholic Church, one did not need to be an ordained priest to become an archdeacon. They could be an educated member of the laity.
Speaker 1:It was Archbishop Theobald who saw Beckett's administrative genius and diplomatic skill. When the young, energetic Henry II ascended the throne and became king, Theobald recommended Beckett for the position of Lord Chancellor, and Henry appointed him to that position in January of 1155.
Speaker 2:This marked the beginning of an extraordinary friendship. Henry II, barely into his 20s, and Beckett, about 15 years his senior, became inseparable companions as Lord Chancellor, beckett was the king's chief minister, helping him to oversee government administration, and he also served as advisor in both spiritual and temporal matters. As a result, thomas Beckett and King Henry hunted together, traveled together. Contemporaries remarked that they seemed to share quote one heart and one mind, end quote. The king trusted Beckett implicitly, even placing his own son and heir, young Henry, in Beckett's household to be raised and educated a common practice among the nobility then.
Speaker 1:As chancellor Beckett was fiercely loyal and incredibly effective in serving the king's agenda, he essentially became the chief minister overseeing government administration. He was instrumental in Henry's efforts to centralize power and restore royal authority over the chaotic reign of King Stephen. Stephen spent most of his 20-year reign in a civil war for the throne with Empress Matilda. When Stephen unexpectedly died from stomach disease in 1154, empress Matilda. When Stephen unexpectedly died from stomach disease in 1154, empress Matilda's son, henry II, became king. When Henry became the king of England, he immediately sought to impose order and refill the royal coffers.
Speaker 2:Beckett's loyalty extended to the battlefield. He personally led 700 knights into combat during one of Henry's campaigns in France to regain lands belonging to his queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine. Eleanor, the duchess of a very important, quite large region in southwest France, had previously been married to the king of France, Louis VII, for 15 years. Apparently, that union didn't work out because in 1152, Eleanor and King Louis had their marriage annulled. Eleanor quickly remarried King Henry II of England in 1154, the arch rival of the King of France, and of course King Henry, wanted Eleanor's territory in France back from the King of France, who of course wanted to keep it. Henry II was ultimately successful in his efforts and throughout it, Lord Chancellor Thomas Becket was in every sense the king's man enforcing royal policy, even when it clashed with the church's interests.
Speaker 1:And he certainly enjoyed the rewards. Becket lived a life of immense wealth and ostentation. His trip to Paris in 1158 was legendary for its extravagance 250 servants, wagons loaded with English beer, a mobile chapel and 24 changes of clothes for himself. He held a vast estate and he gifted to him by the king and he maintained a personal army. He was known for lavish parties and fine living. One story tells of him spending an astronomical sum on a dish of eels. This worldly powerful figure, deeply enmeshed in royal service and personal friendship with the king, seemed the furthest thing from a future martyr.
Speaker 2:It's this very image the loyal, effective, worldly chancellor, deeply invested in the king's power and enjoying its benefits that makes what happened next so dramatic. His very success in strengthening royal authority, sometimes at the church's expense, set the stage for an incredible reversal when his role changed. The depth of the friendship also adds a layer of tragedy. This wasn't just a political dispute that turned deadly. It was the shattering of a profound personal bond, which likely fueled the bitterness and intensity of the conflict to come.
Speaker 1:So what changed? Well, the turning point came in 1161, with the death of Theobald, the Archbishop of Canterbury. King Henry II, seeking to consolidate his control over all aspects of the kingdom, saw a strategic opening. He wanted to bring the powerful and often independent English Catholic Church more firmly under his royal authority.
Speaker 2:It's interesting because, as we explained, henry II was attempting to regain control and assert his power over England after the crazy reign of King Stephen before him. But his efforts to expand authority and control as king were also part of a larger trend going on in Western Europe at the time. Over the course of the 11th century, the power of the Catholic Church, and specifically the Pope, over Europe and rulers had grown consistently, culminating in the First Crusade of 1096. However, during the 12th century, the tide changed and rulers like Henry II of England began to try to claw back some of the power the crown had previously lost to the church and the nobility.
Speaker 1:And who better to help Henry achieve this than his most loyal chancellor, Thomas Becket?
Speaker 2:That's right. Michael Henry's calculation was clear Appoint his closest friend and most effective administrator to the highest office in the English Catholic Church. Archbishop of Canterbury, becket Henry assumed would continue to prioritize the crown's interests, effectively making the king master of both church and state.
Speaker 1:It was, on the surface, a politically astute move, but also an unconventional one. Beckett, as we've heard, was living a very secular life, enjoying the finest of foods and experiences the world had to offer. More significantly, beckett wasn't even ordained as a priest. He had been educated to be one and often had worked closely with them and with the church officials, like Theobald of Beck, the Archbishop of Canterbury. But he had only been a clerk then and then later held the office of deacon, for which one could be just a member of the laity.
Speaker 2:When King Henry voiced his suggestion that Beckett become ordained and take the post of Archbishop of Canterbury, beckett was hesitant. He reportedly warned Henry that directly appointing him Archbishop would fundamentally change the relationship and that he could not serve two masters king and god in the way Henry envisaged. He foresaw the conflict that Henry seemed blind to.
Speaker 1:But Henry, perhaps dismissing Beckett's concern as false modesty or underestimating the power of the office, pressed ahead with his plan. Beckett was nominated and his election confirmed by the royal council in May of 1162. He was swiftly ordained as a priest on June 2nd and consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury the following day, june 3rd 1162.
Speaker 2:Henry must have felt triumphant. He had his man in place, but his expectation of continued loyalty was immediately and dramatically shattered. Beckett underwent a profound transformation, the reasons for which remain debated by historians to this day.
Speaker 1:One of his first acts as archbishop was to resign the chancellorship. This was a crucial symbolic break. It signaled that his primary allegiance had shifted from the king to the church, directly thwarting Henry's plan to unite both roles under his influence.
Speaker 2:Thomas's lifestyle changed completely. The extravagant courtier vanished, replaced by an ascetic churchman. He reportedly gave away his wealth, adopted simple clothing, perhaps even the famously uncomfortable hair shirt worn as penance, and dedicated himself to prayer, study and charitable works. He embraced his new role with the same intensity and dedication he had previously shown the king, but now his focus was solely on defending the rights and liberties of the church.
Speaker 1:So what drove this change? Was it a genuine spiritual awakening, a deep conversion experience prompted by the weight of his new office? Or was it a more calculated move, recognizing that his power base now lay within the church hierarchy, requiring him to champion the church's cause instead? Perhaps it was simply Beckett's character a man driven to excel in whatever role he occupied, applying his formidable administrative skills and determination now on the church's benefit.
Speaker 2:We can't know for sure. The lack of a definitive explanation from contemporaries adds to the enigma of Thomas Beckett. But whatever the internal motivation, the external result was clear the king's loyal friend had become the church's staunch defender, setting the stage for an epic confrontation. Henry's political masterstroke had backfired spectacularly.
Speaker 1:The conflict between King Henry II and Archbishop Thomas Becket wasn't slow to ignite. With Becket transformed into a zealous defender of ecclesiastical rights, clashes became inevitable.
Speaker 2:At its heart. This was a fundamental struggle over sovereignty in England. Where did ultimate authority lie? With the monarch, responsible for law and order throughout the realm, or with the church claiming spiritual authority and specific legal privileges granted by God and tradition?
Speaker 1:This abstract conflict manifested in very concrete disputes. Beckett began aggressively trying to recover church lands and properties he felt had been wrongly alienated over the years. He challenged the king's right to levy certain taxes on the church holdings and he asserted the church's independent right to excommunicate individuals, even the powerful elite, without seeking the king's permission first. This was a direct challenge to royal authority over the nobility.
Speaker 2:But the issue that truly brought the conflict to boiling point was the long-simmering problem of criminous clerks. This wasn't just about a few misbehaving priests. In the 12th century, the definition of clergy was broad, including not just priests and monks, but anyone who had taken even minor holy orders, potentially encompassing scribes, teachers and a significant portion, perhaps as much as a fifth, of the adult male population.
Speaker 1:Under longstanding tradition, known as benefit of clergy, these individuals claim the right to be tried exclusively in ecclesiastical courts, in the Catholic Church, rather than in the kingdom's royal courts, and this was a right that apparently could be claimed by a segment of a population regardless of the crime committed. Henry II, deeply invested in reforming and centralizing the English legal system under the royal control, saw this as a major impediment to his political goals.
Speaker 2:The key problem was the disparity and punishment. Church courts, guided by canon law, were forbidden from imposing sentences that involved shedding blood. This meant that a cleric convicted of a serious felony like murder or rape might face penalties such as fines, flogging, imprisonment or being defrocked, stripped of their clerical status. In contrast, the same crime tried in the king's secular courts could result in brutal punishments like mutilation or execution. Punishments like mutilation or execution. King Henry II argued this system allowed criminals to escape proper justice simply because they had some connection to the Catholic Church, undermining law and order across the kingdom.
Speaker 1:The context of this is interesting. As we explained, king Henry II had a general plan to grow his power and authority in England, just like many other rulers. At the same time, however, king Henry was particularly angry about one notorious case involving a church canon named Philip de Bois. Philip was, and had been, accused of murdering a knight, but he was acquitted in a church court. Unhappy with the outcome, one of the king's officials sought to reopen the case in the king's court, but Philippe de Bois refused to be tried again on the grounds that he was a cleric, and he apparently told the king's officials that he could not be tried, and he used some rather foul language to do so. When King Henry II learned about what happened, he insisted that the man be tried again for the murder and anew for his insulting, foul language. But instead Philip was merely banished, showing the woeful inadequacy of the Catholic Church in punishing serious crimes.
Speaker 2:Specifically concerning people connected to the Church who were accused of crimes. King Henry proposed a solution that involved a two-step process. A cleric accused of a crime would first be brought before a royal court. If it was confirmed that he was indeed a cleric, the trial itself would proceed in the church court, but, crucially, a royal official would observe the proceedings to represent the king's presence. And if the church court found the cleric guilty and defrocked him, he would then be handed back to the king's court now as a layman, to receive the standard secular punishment.
Speaker 1:Beckett fiercely resisted this proposal. He argued it violated the principle of clerical immunity from secular courts. Furthermore, he contended it constituted double jeopardy punishing a man twice for the same offense, first by defrocking in the church court, then by secular sentence in the king's court. He stood firm on the Catholic church's exclusive right to judge and punish its own.
Speaker 2:The confrontation escalated dramatically at the Council of Clarendon in January 1164. Henry presented 16 specific articles called the Constitutions of Clarendon, and he demanded the bishops swear a formal oath to uphold them. The act of writing them down and demanding sworn allegiance represented a significant attempt to permanently limit church autonomy and lock in royal interpretation against evolving canon law.
Speaker 1:The constitutions asserted royal power in other key areas. They required the king's permission for clergy to leave England or appeal cases to the pope in Rome, limiting the church's power of excommunication. And giving the king control over revenues from vacant bishopries and abbeys.
Speaker 2:Under intense pressure from the king, Beckham initially seemed to waver giving a verbal assent to the customs, but when faced with the written constitutions and the demand for an oath, he ultimately refused to give his formal seal, specifically objecting to the clauses that undermine church authority. The king was furious.
Speaker 1:King Henry II did not take Beckett's defiance lightly. The refusal of Clarendon was followed swiftly by retribution. In October 1164, he summoned Beckett to a council at Northampton Castle.
Speaker 2:This wasn't a negotiation and it was effectively a show trial. Beckett faced a barrage of charges, including contempt of court for failing to appear previously in a land dispute and, more seriously, accusations of embezzlement and financial irregularities dating back to his time as chancellor. King Henry seemed determined to ruin Beckett, force his resignation and or imprison him.
Speaker 1:The atmosphere was hostile. Standing there before Henry II while his barons shouted traitor at Beckett, he realized his position in England was untenable. He stormed out of his fake trial and made a dramatic escape, fleeing under the cover of darkness to the coast of England. There he crossed the Channel into France, where he endured a six-year exile under the protection of Henry's political enemy, King Louis VII of France.
Speaker 2:His first refuge was a Cistercian abbey in Burgundy, a central French region that belonged to the French crown. Here Beckett lived an ascetic life, joined by some members of his household who had followed him, but the peace the abbey offered only lasted a year. At that point in 1166, King Henry threatened to expel the entire Cistercian order from his extensive territories in England and France if they continued to shelter Thomas Becket.
Speaker 1:Both Archbishop Becket and King Henry appealed to Pope Alexander III. The Pope, however, was in a precarious position himself. He was currently engaged in a struggle with the Holy Roman Emperor. Frederick Barbarossa, who supported a rival, anti-pope Alexander was residing in exile in France and desperately needed the powerful support of rulers, especially King Henry II.
Speaker 2:This meant Pope Alexander had to perform a delicate balancing act. He clearly sympathized with Becket's defense of church liberties and refused Henry's request to depose the archbishop, but he couldn't afford to completely alienate the English king. Consequently, he pursued a path of diplomacy, sending Papal legates in 1167 and 1169 to mediate and negotiate a settlement. But these efforts proved fruitless.
Speaker 1:The conflict remained deeply personal and intractable. Henry pursued Becket relentlessly, issuing edicts against him and confiscating the lands and revenues of the Sea of Canterbury and of Becket's relatives and supporters back in England.
Speaker 2:Beett, from exile, wielded his spiritual authority. He excommunicated several of Henry's key advisors and bishops who had sided with the king, including the influential Bishop of London. He repeatedly threatened to place all of Henry's lands under interdict.
Speaker 1:That's right, elena. Under interdict, the residents of an affected region would not be able to experience any public church services or sacraments, essentially risking their spiritual health, their relationship with God or even getting into heaven. The idea behind placing the lands of someone, generally a ruler or powerful political leader, under interdict was to encourage the residents to revolt against their ruler and pressure them back down to the church.
Speaker 2:For six years this stalemate persisted. Beckett, convinced he was fighting for fundamental principles of church freedom, refused to compromise. King Henry, equally stubborn, refused to yield on what he considered his royal rights as king. Neither side would budge.
Speaker 1:After six long years of exile and stalemate, the deadlock began to break, ironically, triggered by King Henry's actions concerning his own succession. Determined to secure the throne for his eldest son, also named Henry, the king decided to have him crowned as junior king during his own lifetime. This practice of crowning a king's nominated successor while the original king was still alive was something the French Capetian dynasty had used for about 200 years at this point, and it had the effect of easing instability during successions and deepening the association between the dynasty and the kingdom, since the Capetians were able to provide their subjects with an already crowned and anointed junior king ready to step into the senior role.
Speaker 2:However, the traditional right to crown English monarchs, whether they were junior kings or real kings, was supposed to belong solely to the Archbishop of Canterbury. With Becket still in exile, Henry II controversially had the Archbishop of York perform the coronation ceremony in Westminster Abbey in June of 1170.
Speaker 1:This was a calculated insult and a flagrant violation of Canterbury's privileges. Becket was furious. So was Pope Alexander III, as well as King Louis VII of France, although King Louis was mad primarily because his daughter, margaret, who was married to the young Henry, hadn't been crowned alongside him. The Pope, on the other hand, was mad all the way around and threatened Henry's continental territories with an interdict.
Speaker 2:Facing this significant pressure, Henry was finally forced to seek a genuine reconciliation with Beckett. The two met in Normandy in July of 1170. An agreement was reached. Henry promised to restore Beckett to his sea and return the confiscated properties and revenues of Canterbury. In return, Beckett could come back to England.
Speaker 1:But this reconciliation was deeply flawed, it seemed. The fundamental issues that had driven the conflict, particularly the constitutions of Clarendon and the jurisdiction over criminous clerks, were not definitively resolved. They were essentially papered over. Beckett himself reportedly expressed foreboding at the end of the meeting, telling Henry quote my Lord, my heart tells me that I depart as one whom you will not see again. End quote.
Speaker 2:Beckett prepared for his return to England, but he wasn't coming back entirely in a spirit of peace. Armed with papal authority, he arranged for letters of excommunication to be delivered against the Archbishop of York and the bishops of London and Salisbury for their role in the illicit coronation. These were delivered either just before he sailed or immediately upon his landing in England on December 1st of 1170. There he was greeted by enthusiastic crowds hailing him as a returning hero.
Speaker 1:When the excommunicated bishops rushed to complain to Henry, who was holding his Christmas court in Normandy at the time, the king fell into one of his notorious rages.
Speaker 2:King Henry II had quite the temper, huh.
Speaker 1:I mean, he was a king. They kind of all do. But King Henry of England was apparently quite short in stature, with bright red hair, a round, freckled face and gray eyes that grew bloodshot in anger frequently as a result of his formidable temper. And now Beckett had returned, defied him immediately and punished his most loyal bishops.
Speaker 2:It was in this moment of fury that Henry uttered the words that would seal Beckett's fate. The most famous version of his words are, quote will no one rid me of this turbulent priest end quote. It's not clear if Henry II said those exact words, and it's likely that they were twisted to make the situation sound even more dramatic.
Speaker 1:Contemporary or near contemporary sources offer slightly different. Contemporary or near contemporary sources offer slightly different, though equally potent versions. One contemporary chronicler reported henry lamenting quote what miserable drones and traitors I have nurtured and promoted in my household who let their lord be treated with such shameful contempt by a low-born clerk. End quote. Another chronicle suggested words to the effect of quote a man who has eaten my bread has shamed my realm and no one has avenged me. End quote.
Speaker 2:Regardless of the precise phrasing, the sentiment was unmistakable the king felt betrayed and humiliated by Thomas Beckett, this lowborn clerk, and expressed extreme frustration that none of his loyal followers were dealing with the problem.
Speaker 1:And four knights of his household Reginald Fitzurce, hugh de Morville, william de Tracy and Richard Le Breton heard his words. They interpreted the king's rage perhaps correctly, perhaps opportunistically, as a desire, if not an explicit command, for Beckett to be permanently eliminated. They saw a chance to win royal favor by acting decisively. The power of the king's angry words, whether intended as an order or not, had set a deadly course. This ambiguity would later provide Henry with a degree of plausible deniability, but the incident serves as a chilling example of how a leader's rhetoric, especially when expressing fury, can be interpreted as a command by subordinates eager to please.
Speaker 2:The four knights acted swiftly. They left Henry's court in Normandy without delay, crossed the English Channel, possibly gathering reinforcements along the way, and rode hard for Canterbury. They arrived late in the afternoon of December 29, 1170.
Speaker 1:Their first move was to confront Beckett in the archbishop's palace adjacent to the cathedral. They burst in, possibly interrupting his meal, and they accused Beckett of treason against the king and demanded that he absolve the excommunicated bishops and accompany them to Winchester to answer for his actions.
Speaker 2:Beckett remained calm but defiant. He refused their demands. The knights, perhaps initially intending only to arrest, grew enraged by his refusal. They stormed out, shouting threats and calling for their weapons, which they had left outside.
Speaker 1:As evening fell, the monks urged Beckett to take sanctuary within the cathedral where vespers were beginning. Beckett was initially hesitant, not wanting to show fear, but eventually they persuaded him. As they hurried him through the cloisters towards the church, the knights now armed with swords and axes were close behind.
Speaker 2:The monks rushed to bolt the heavy cathedral doors against the attackers, but Beckett forbade it, quote. It is not right to make a fortress out of the house of prayer. End quote. He declared, ordering the doors opened. It was a decision that sealed his fate but cemented his image as a martyr willing to face his destiny.
Speaker 1:Four knights, along with a double-crossing priest named Hugh de Horcet, burst into the darkening cathedral. The sound of the service faltered as panic spread among the few monks and townspeople present. The knights roared. Where is Thomas Beckett, traitor to the king and the kingdom?
Speaker 2:Beckett stepped forward from his position near the altar. Here I am, he replied. No traitor to the king, but a priest of God. Why do you seek me? End quote. The knights again demanded he absolve the bishops. Again, thomas Becket refused.
Speaker 1:The knights shouted then you shall die. And in response Becket said, quote I am ready to die for my Lord that in my blood the church may obtain liberty and peace. But in the name of Almighty God, I forbid you to hurt my people, whether clerk or lay.
Speaker 2:The knights lunged at him, trying to drag him bodily out of the cathedral, perhaps still hoping to avoid killing him within the sacred walls. But Beckett resisted fiercely, clinging to a pillar. He pushed the knight Reginald Fitzur's back, shouting quote touch me not, reginald. You owe me fealty and subjection. You and your accomplices act like madmen. End quote.
Speaker 1:The act of defiance seemed to be the final spark. Fitzurce raised his sword and brought it down on Beckett's head. At this moment, Edward Grimm, a visiting priest from Cambridge who had remained with Beckett when the others had fled, instinctively raised his own arm to shield the archbishop. Grimm's arm was nearly severed by the blow.
Speaker 2:Beckett received the remainder of the blow on his head, staggering but remaining upright. A second blow struck him. Still he stood firm. At the third blow he finally fell to his knees and elbows near the altar steps, offering himself as a sacrifice and whispering according to the injured clerk quote for the name of Jesus and the protection of the church, I am ready to embrace death. End quote.
Speaker 1:The attack descended into butchery. The third night, Richard Labretton struck Beckett again as he lay prone. The sword blow so forceful it shattered the tip of the blade on the stone floor and sliced off the top of Beckett's skull. Hugh de Morville, the fourth knight, held back the terrified onlookers.
Speaker 2:Then came the final gruesome act of desecration. Hugh de Morville, the priest who had accompanied the ninth step forward, placed his foot on the archbishop's neck and used the point of his sword to deliberately scoop out Beckett's brains and scatter them across the cathedral pavement. He reportedly shouted quote let us away, knights, this fellow will rise, no more end. Quote.
Speaker 1:The sheer brutality. The escalation from attempted arrest to frenzied killing and desecration within the holiest site in England ensured the event would horrify the medieval world and the worlds beyond.
Speaker 2:The murder of Thomas Beckett in his own cathedral on December 29, 1170 was an event of seismic proportions. News spread rapidly, sending shock waves of horror and outrage across England and continental Europe. This wasn't just the killing of a high-ranking official. It was the desecration of a sacred space and the martyrdom of the head of the English Catholic Church.
Speaker 1:Almost immediately, Beckett was venerated as a martyr who had died defending the liberties of the church against royal tyranny. Eyewitnesses and monks reportedly scrambled to collect relics from the scene, soaking cloths in his blood, gathering fragments of his skull in his brain. Later on, the blood collected was believed to possess miraculous healing powers.
Speaker 2:And the miracle stories began almost at once. Tales spread of the blind regaining sight, lepers being cleansed and the paralyzed walking, and in one famous story depicted in Canterbury's stained glass, a man named Eelward having his eyes and genitals miraculously restored after being unjustly blinded and castrated. Monks at Canterbury, benedict of Peterborough and William of Canterbury were tasked with recording these accounts, eventually compiling over 700 purported miracles attributed to Beckett's intercession within a decade of his death.
Speaker 1:This explosion of popular devotion and reported miracles put immense pressure on the papacy. Pope Alexander III, who had trod carefully during Beckett's exile, acted decisively after his death, recognizing the political and religious significance of martyrdom he spurred by overwhelming public veneration, alexander canonized Thomas Beckett, officially declaring him a saint, on February 21, 1173, just over two years after the murder. This was an exceptionally rapid canonization for the period. The swift action served multiple purposes it honored a figure seen as dying for church rights, it condemned King Henry's perceived role in the murder and it reasserted papal authority.
Speaker 2:And what of King Henry II? He was reportedly devastated and horrified when he learned of the murder. Perhaps realizing the implications of his angry words, he faced internal condemnation and the threat of papal sanctions. The four knights were excommunicated by the Pope and eventually sent to the Holy Land as penance. Some records suggest that the Knight Richard de Brittain, as well as the priest Hugh de Horcet, may have actually later committed suicides by the swords they had used on Beckett, but it's likely that such a story was added on later to bolster the image of Thomas Beckett as a martyr and a saint by 1173 or 1174, henry's reign was in crisis.
Speaker 1:His wife, eleanor of Aquitaine, and his sons, including the young King Henry, were in open rebellion against him, supported by rivals like the King of France and the King of Scotland who invaded from northern England.
Speaker 2:It seems as if the younger Henry was unhappy that, despite the title of junior king, in practice he made no real decisions and his father kept him chronically short of money. Eleanor and King Henry's marriage had been a series of battles from the very beginning, with Eleanor trying to control her husband and Henry resisting, often by engaging in extramarital affairs. By engaging in extramarital affairs, Some historians have even suggested that Eleanor was the one who instigated the revolt and encouraged her sons to rise up against their father.
Speaker 1:Regardless of who started it. To many, perhaps including Henry himself, this confluence of disasters seemed like divine retribution for Beckett's death.
Speaker 2:Recognizing the political and perhaps spiritual necessity, King Henry undertook a dramatic act of public penance in July of 1174. Arriving near Canterbury, he dismounted and walked the final miles into the city barefoot, dressed humbly as a pilgrim, possibly in sackcloth.
Speaker 1:Reaching the cathedral, he went straight to Becket's tomb. In the crypt there, before the tomb of his former friend-turned-adversary, the King of England knelt, confessed his sins and submitted himself to be scourged, whipped by the assembled bishops and monks, receiving possibly hundreds of lashes. He then spent the entire night in prayer and vigil at the tomb.
Speaker 2:This extraordinary display of royal humility and contrition was a masterful piece of political theater, but perhaps also held genuine feelings for Henry. Its effect was immediate and profound. The very next day, news arrived that William the Lion, the King of Scotland, had been captured. Next day, news arrived that William the Lion, the King of Scotland, had been captured, effectively ending the northern invasion. Shortly thereafter, the rebellion of Henry's sons collapsed and they sought his forgiveness.
Speaker 1:It appeared to all that St Thomas Becket had accepted the king's penance and that divine favor was restored to Henry's rule. Henry himself seemed convinced, becoming a frequent pilgrim and patron of the Beckett cult thereafter.
Speaker 2:The murder of Thomas Beckett. His rapid sainthood and the king's dramatic penance left an indelible mark on England and Europe. What were the long-term consequences of this historical crime?
Speaker 1:In terms of the immediate power struggle between the church and state, the outcome was something of a compromise, though arguably one that favored the church's moral standing. King Henry II was forced to formally renounce the most controversial clauses of the constitutions of Clarendon as part of his reconciliation with the papacy.
Speaker 2:So Beckett and death achieved a victory for what he had fought so fiercely for Beckett and death achieved a victory for what he had fought so fiercely for.
Speaker 1:In principle, yes, the church's right to judge its own clergy and the ability to appeal to the pope were formally acknowledged, strengthening the church's independence from direct royal control in these crucial areas. Henry remained a powerful king, but Beckett's martyrdom undeniably bolstered the church's position and set limits on the royal power that would resonate for centuries. It demonstrated that even a formidable monarch could be checked by the moral and political force of the church, especially embodied in a popular martyr.
Speaker 2:And the impact of Canterbury itself was immense. Beckett's death transformed the cathedral city. Fueled by the accounts of miracles and the official sanction of sainthood, Canterbury Cathedral, and specifically Beckett's tomb in the crypt, became one of the foremost pilgrimage sites in Christendom.
Speaker 1:Pilgrims came from all over England and Europe, kings, nobles, commoners, seeking healing, forgiveness or simply be near the relics of the holy martyr. This influx brought enormous prestige and wealth to Canterbury, funding the rebuilding and expansion of the cathedral, including the magnificent Trinity Chapel built specifically to house Beckett's shrine after his relics were moved there in a grand ceremony in 1220 were moved there in a grand ceremony in 1220.
Speaker 2:It's this vibrant pilgrimage culture that forms the backdrop for Geoffrey Chaucer's famous work, the Canterbury Tales, written in the late 14th century, where diverse characters journey together to Beckett's shrine. The Beckett cult was deeply woven into the fabric of English life for nearly 400 years.
Speaker 1:Until another King, henry. King Henry VIII clashed with the Catholic Church During the English Reformation of 1538,. Henry VIII ordered the destruction of Becket's shrine, the confiscation of its treasures, and that Becket's bones be burned and scattered. He even decreed that Becket should no longer be referred to as a saint but as a traitor to his king. It was an attempt to erase the memory of a churchman who had successfully defied a king.
Speaker 2:But the story endeared. The murder of Thomas Beckett remains a potent historical event. It was a crime born of a clash of wills, a struggle for power between secular and religious authority and the tragic breakdown of a deep personal friendship. It highlights the immense power of religious belief and martyrdom in shaping medieval societies and politics.
Speaker 1:Beckett himself remains a figure of debate. Was he a principled defender of the faith and church liberty, or a stubborn, ambitious archbishop who tragically miscalculated? Perhaps he was elements of both, but his violent death in Canterbury Cathedral stands as one of history's most resonant crimes, a moment where faith, power and personal animosity collided with devastating consequences.
Speaker 2:The story of Thomas Beckett serves as a powerful reminder of the complex and often violent interplay between religious authority and state power throughout history.
Speaker 1:Thanks for joining us on History's Greatest Crimes. I'm Michael.
Speaker 2:And I'm Elena Until next time stay curious, thank you.
