The Martyrdom of Thomas a Becket
Caterbury Cathedral
Immortalized by Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, the Cathedral was the site of many pilgrimages during the Middle Ages. Pilgrims came to view the shribe of St. Thomas a Becket, who was struck down by four knights of Henry II as he knealt in prayer. Although Becket had been very ambitious and successful in his clerical career before Henry's reign, and in his political career early in the reign, after Henry appointed him Archbishop of Canterbury, he surpirsed Henry by forceully defending the rights of the Church against the State. He rejected Henry's Constitutions of Clarendon, angering his monarch and eventually forcing Becket into exile on teh continent. He returned in 11...., once again opposing the dictates of Henry. In a fit of anger, Henry is said to have remarked: "Will no one rid me of this low-born priest?" Four knights who heard this assumed that Henry meant for Becket to be assasinated. Storming Canterbury, they assaulted Becket as he knealt in prayer.
The site where the shrine of Becket once stood
the worn steps at Canterbury
the stairs up to the shrine have been worn by the thousands of pilgrims who flocked here in teh Middle Ages
The altar which marks the site where Henry II's knight struck Becket as he knealt in prayer
the four swords above represent the weapons with which the assaulted Becket. So vicious was the assault that Becket's crown was thrown off.
The door through which Becket walked for the last time
The inner view of the door, nearest the altar where Becket was struck down
Henry II would return to centerbury to do public penance. The monks there each took their turn in whipping him on the back. He returned politically unscathed by his conflict with Becket, and the later part of his reign was strong, vibrant, and marred only by the treachery of his own children and thier mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine. Becket's martyrdom eventually brought canonization. Although his life in court makes him an unlikely saint in the eyes of many, was he not, after all, one who gave everything in that one, crucial moment when this was what his faith called him to do?
Return to Dr. Vess's World Civilization Virtual Library