Meanwhile the affair of Thomas Becket finally blew up in Henry II’s face in 1170. Although the dispute had not been settled, and despite warnings, the archbishop insisted on returning to England where he was as noisily intransigent as ever.
At his Christmas court at Bures in Normandy, where Eleanor was keeping him company, Henry cursed his maddening archbishop; perhaps he did not actually say, ‘Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?’, but clearly he said something very like it.
Four of his magnates – not mere knights – set out to do so, despite vain efforts to stop them by messengers whom the king sent in pursuit. On the night of Tuesday 29 December they hacked the archbishop to death in his own cathedral at Canterbury, deliberately spilling the brains out of his skull onto the pavement.
The killing horrified all Christendom. Pope Alexander III would not allow Henry’s name to be mentioned in his presence for a week after hearing the news, Louis VII called him a ‘rebel against humanity’, and the count of Blois spoke of a ‘horrible… unparalleled crime’.
Although Henry was not excommunicated and his kingdom was not laid under an interdict, he had to undergo many humiliations that culminated in 1174 with his being scourged at the archbishop’s tomb by the monks of Canterbury.
Source:
Seward, Desmond. “Eleanor’s Sons.” Eleanor of Aquitaine. New York: Times , 1979. 120. Print.
Further Reading:
Thomas Beckett / Saint Thomas of Canterbury / Thomas of London / Thomas à Becket
Henry II of England / Henry Court-manteau (Henry Curtmantle) / Henry FitzEmpress / Henry Plantagenet
Aliénor d'Aquitaine / Alienora (Eleanor of Aquitaine)
Roland of Siena / Pope Alexander III
Louis VII of France / Louis le Jeune (Lois the Younger or Young)
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