Murder in the Cathedral
Twelve merry fun-filled Christmas nights?
No! Four very well-armed, murderous knights!
Some items of the knights hand luggage on their journey from Calais to Dover.
The four knights who took it upon themselves to travel to Canterbury that fateful Christmas were:Richard Brito, William de Traci, Reginald fitzeUrse and Hugh of Morville. They were devoted to Henry and his hurt was their hurt. These men were intent on making Beckett an offer that he could not possibly refuse!
‘An offer from the king that I can’t possibly refuse?
In my position as Archbishop, I have absolutely nothing left to lose’!
( Thomas Beckett).
They would attempt to persuade Beckett to withdraw the writs of excommunication that he had issued upon the bishops loyal to Henry.
The Archbishop must submit to our gracious sovereign’s will!
If not, we will have no choice but to go in for the kill!
These men were angry! They had had to leave the comfort of the royal palace at the height of the festive season and travel the sea in the middle of winter! The copious amounts of food and drink that they had consumed at the Christmas celebrations would almost certainly have ended up adorning the waves of the English Channel, as the currents swung their little ship to and fro, making them impossibly ill with sea sickness.
As the night sky was filled with the sound of thunder
More than one Norman knight did violently chunder!
However, the experience could not have served to cool their hostility to the errant Archbishop.
‘For this sickening inconvenience, Beckett is going to pay!
And almost certainly before this coming New Year’s Day’!
The knights arrived at Canterbury on December 29th and it appears that their arrival in the city did not come as a total surprise. The clerics urged Beckett to flee, but the Archbishop rejected their heartfelt pleas and resolved to stand his ground on the flagstones of the Cathedral.
Beckett stood unflinchingly as the knights came into his presence. His stance clearly conveying an uncompromising defiance in the face of a superior, malignant force. After an acrimonious exchange, fitzurse moved forward and struck a blow to Beckett’s head. His companions also unsheathed their swords and the Archbishop was brutally and swiftly slain, his brains flowing across the Cathedral floor.
A scene depicting the manner of Beckett’s death.
‘His great intellect now but mere grey matter flowing across the sacred floor!
The four assassins turned on their heels and marched out through the Cathedral door!
Leaving behind them, a scene of unimaginable gore’!
All Christendom shuddered. Henry retreated into a stupor of total shock. Whatever Henry may have said about Beckett at the Christmas festivities in Normandy, he was distraught with grief when he learnt of the Archbishop’s death. The king claimed that the words uttered that fateful Christmas night were not meant as orders to harm the Archbishop. Nevertheless he would be held responsible for Beckett’s death.
In order to receive absolution!
Henry would have to accept retribution!
Ouch!
Henry agreed to the Pope’s demand to modify the Constitutions of Clarendon in the Church’s favour.
Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!
At Thomas Beckett’s tomb, your majesty, you gotta crouch!
In August of 1172 Henry did penance by walking barefoot to Beckett’s tomb in the Cathedral where he had been slain while monks whipped his bare back. Only then did Pope Alexander grant Henry absolution for the horrific act.
The king must be scourged!
If his heinous sin is to be purged!
Very soon, Beckett’s tomb became a place of pilgrimage for Christians who claimed that miracles had occurred there. For almost four hundred years, pilgrims would visit and leave objects of value as offerings to St Thomas, ‘God’s holy martyr’. In the sixteenth century another king Henry, the eighth of that name would desecrate and close the shrine and rob it of the huge amount of valuables so piously offered by so many pilgrims.
Henry VIII.
All he does is stand and smile!
After performing an act at Canterbury so mean and vile!