Thomas Becket

Killed on 29 December 1170 in Canterbury Cathedral by four knights of Henry II, following a long dispute between the archbishop and the king.

Overview

Thomas Becket rose to become chancellor and close friend of Henry II of England, who made him Archbishop of Canterbury in 1162 expecting a loyal ally. Instead Becket defended the rights of the church, particularly over the trial of clergy in royal courts, and spent six years in exile in France. Shortly after his return, words of anger by the king were taken as a command by four knights, Reginald FitzUrse, Hugh de Morville, William de Tracy, and Richard le Breton, who killed him in his cathedral. The killing shocked Christendom. Becket was canonized in 1173, Henry did public penance at his tomb in 1174, and Canterbury became one of the great pilgrimage destinations of medieval Europe.