THE TRAGICALL HISTORYE OF THE SAINTLY AND DEVOUTED THOMAS Á BECKETT AND HIS QUARRELSOME DISPUTE WITH THE RUTHLESS AND IMPETUOUS HENRY PLANTAGENET, KYNGE OF ENGLAND

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Thomas Becket was a clever Londoner dedicated to the wine trade, a prosperous business at that time. Thomas was sociable and knew everybody in town and at court. Henry II, King of England, Duke of , Duke of Aquitaine, Count of Anjou, and Lord of Ireland took notice of him.

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Henry II was a man with boundless energy that could never be sitting down for more than two seconds. He passed laws, and laws, and laws, and more laws, and then he indulged himself in continuous amorous adventures because his mercurial wife, the beautiful Eleanor of Aquitaine and him, did not have a good relationship. Thomas joined Henry II in a constant parade all through the Kingdom. And wherever they went, falcons, falconers, dogs, horses, knights, beaters, warriors, cooks, ladies, hunters, musicians, dancers, acrobats, and minstrels followed them. Being close to Henry II was a ticket to la dolce vita. However everything wasn't a bed of roses for these two partners in crime Henry and Thomas, and although Henry II was a cheerful and friendly man, he had one defect: he would never accept being second best to anyone. So on occasions, Becket had to let the King beat him at cards, at horsemanship, at hunting, at dice, and in amorous conquests.

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Only one person would be a match for Henry II, and that was Philip Augustus, the homicidically brave King of France. Pour le roi! La liberteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeè!!! To teach him a lesson, Henry determined to do what his ancestors had wanted to do for many years: to invade France. But Henry had another problem. If he wanted to attack Philip Augustus, he needed soldiers and money. So he sought the help of the Holy Church so they could give him some money for the glorious enterprise. The Church thought that was their chance to bringing the proud King down a peg or two. Ha-ha-ha... the power! Your Majesty, if you want money from the Church of England, you will have to admit, publicly, that you're the first man of England, only after God. After God!... And the angels. And the saints. And the Pope. And the Archbishop. And the archdeacons. And the priests. Too many "ands" for Henry II. He didn't feel in the mood of submitting himself to a bunch of priests, especially when such gallant prospects awaited him in France, so he thought: "What about if I appoint my friend Thomas á Becket as Archbishop of Canterbury? This way I can command, do, undo, commission, appoint and disappoint in the way that best pleases me. I'm sure my dear friend Thomas would accept what I say out of gratitude. After all, without my influence, he would be a nobody, counting cartons in his silly meaningless pointless fruitless senseless useless wine shop in London."

2 SLIDE 4 So Thomas á Becket came to be the first authority of England in... spiritual matters. Only the Pope was his boss... in theory. But far from contenting himself with being Henry's puppet, Thomas suddenly realized something: He wanted to serve God. After a life of fun and games and all sorts of debauchery, he felt something completely new to him: compassion for human beings. Therefore, he started a fairly competent program to favour the Church's prerogatives and, by the way, give a hand to the poor people that walked through the streets, and all those wretched commons that came to ask for assistance from the Holy Church. After all, the wine- seller knew about accounts better than anyone! And because he knew people started feeling a bit more optimistic, he thought he would remain by their side and protect them, if necessary, with his life.

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Now Henry thought that, having Becket as his right-hand man, he would generously hand over the money for the war with France. So in the best of moods, Henry approached Thomas: - Thomas. Thomas. Thomas! Tom? Tommy?... My Lord Archbishop?? - Yes, my son? - Son? Ehm... er... Ah, OK, we have to play the game, alright. I like that, Thomas! Ehem ehem... Please... Can I have... some money... yeah... so I can invade France?... Could I... please? - Money? My son, what about your soul? Is your soul clear? - My soul? My soul is... perfectly clear. And so is my bank account. Will you give me the money, please??? (big smile) - Mmm. Let me think about it... Mmmm... No!

3 Henry couldn't be believe his ears. He expected all kinds of treachery from his wife and sons Richard and John, but Thomas! His dear beloved friend Thomas! So at that point he started to suck his thumb, calling for his mum. Nevertheless, he wasn't going to allow Thomas to overshadow him. Henry asked nicely, politely, seductively, and when Becket said no once again, once again did Henry use his charm for persuasion: "Traitor to the Crown, to the State, to the Holy Church of Jesus Christ, to the Holy Pope, and to all that is sacred on the Earth!" But Becket felt not intimidated by Henry's insults and carried on being a bigger pain than France had ever been. Because he excommunicated all the members of the Church and the court who supported Henry's illegal and arbitrary actions. These people made a bad use of their power, and the courageous Becket delivered excommunications like they were peanuts. After a bit of quarrelling they made a truce. To add up to Henry's humiliation, the King of France mediated between Henry and Thomas: - My dear friend Thomas á Becket, Lord Archishop of Canterbury, and my dear dear dear beloved friend Henry II, King of England and Lord of Ireland. - And Count of Anjoy! And Duke of Acquaitine! - Yeah, I've heard something of that. It would be a great pleasure for the French Crown that you and the Archbishop were friends, for the welfare and the well-being of your little pretty island. , and they embraced each other as friends again. After this, it was expected that Becket would retire his excommunications, but he didn't do it. Whoever offended God needed to respond to God only. And this is when Henry II finally exploited: 'I'm surrounded by cowards. Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest?'

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And here can you see the four riders: Reginald FitzUrse, Hugh de Morville, , and , all of them wanted in seven or eight counties, that went to Canterbury Cathedral, where Becket was at pray. The Knights burst into the Church violently, and found Becket kneeling down before God's image. In spite of everyone's protest for having invaded the sacred space, the four knights tried to arrest Becket. The archbishop resisted corageously but the knights were well prepared, so in the end, Thomas surrendered as he said: "For the name of Jesus and the protection of the Church, I am ready to embrace Death!". So it was that Thomas á Becket was assassinated by the four unfortunate ones, who opened his skull with their swords and brought him down mercilessly.

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Henry II had no idea that the four knights would go as far as that, but the word was spread that he had given the order for the killing. Consequently, on the 26th of May 1171, Henry II, King of England, Duke of Aquitaine, Count of Anjou, and Lord of Ireland, was flogged by 80 bishops as a public penance for the assassination of the Archbishop St. Thomas á Becket. After this day, all sorts of miracles started taking place around the holy town of Canterbury, and pilgrims from all the Kingdom of England went to worship the saint. 's shrine remained within the Cathedral of Canterbury, until a few centuries later, the Henry VIII destroyed the martyr's monument. There is one thing people were never sure about. Did Henry really ask the four knights to assassinate Becket? Was he completely innocent of that? We will never know.

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