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Eye-witness to murder of Thomas Becket |
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Murder of Thomas Becket 1 |
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Henry II orders the family of Thomas Becket into exile |
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Martyrdom of three saints |
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King Henry II argues with Thomas Becket |
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Murder of Thomas Becket 2 |
This is an account by the only man present at the murder in 1170, who tried to prevent it. He was badly wounded but survived. You can also compare it with pictures of the murder.
The archbishop entered the church and the monks went to bolt the doors of the church, to protect Becket from the attackers. But Becket ordered the church doors to be thrown open, saying, 'It is not right to make a fortress of this house of prayer, the church of Christ': Immediately four knights entered the Cathedral with swords drawn.
The knights called out, 'Where is Thomas Becket, traitor to the king and realm?' In a clear voice Becket answered 'I am here, no traitor to the king, but a priest. Why do ye seek me? The Knights cried out 'restore the positions to those whom you have excommunicated...' He answered:' ...I will not forgive them.' 'Then you shall die,' they cried. 'I am ready,' he replied, 'to die for my Lord’.
Then
the Knights tried to pull and drag him so they could kill him outside the
Church, or carry him away a prisoner. But when Becket pushed him off the
knight, fired with terrible rage leapt upon him suddenly and wounded him on
the head, cutting off the top of the crown; and by the same blow he wounded my
arm. I was the only one to stay close to the archbishop and held him in my
arms.
Then
Thomas received a second blow on the head but still stood firm. At the third
blow he fell on his knees and elbows, and saying in a low voice, 'For the Name
of Jesus and the protection of the Church I am ready to embrace death.' Then
the third knight inflicted a terrible wound as he lay, by which the sword was
broken against the pavement, and the crown was separated from the head... The
fourth knight prevented any from trying to stop the murder. As to the fifth,
he was no knight but a clerk who had entered with the knights, he put his foot
on the neck of the holy priest and, scattered his brains and blood over the
pavement, calling out to the others, 'Let us away, knights; he will rise no
more'.
This is Edward Grim's eye-witness account, written between five and seven
years after Becket's death in 1170.
After his death,
Becket became a saint. In this picture Becket is shown kneeling at prayer at
the altar in his cathedral church. This made his murder particularly shocking.
The reliability of this picture is questionable however, as his killers are
wearing 15th century armour from the time when the picture was painted, not
the time when the event happened.
Taken from the 'The Hastings
Hours', a book of hours probably produced at Ghent in Flanders for William, Lord
Hastings.
Exile: This means to be
sent away from an area or country.
It was usual for the family of someone who had angered the king to suffer punishment as well. Thomas Becket quarrelled with King Henry II and his family was sent into exile after he was killed. In the picture below you can see the two small children: one is carried on its mother's back; the other is still a newborn babies. Again we need to think about how reliable it is as the picture was painted about 150 years after the event.
Saints were
popular in medieval life, as people believed they could put in a good word
with God for you. Thomas Becket was one of the most popular English saints.
You can see him here in the top picture about to be killed by the four
knights. In the bottom left picture you can see another saint, St Margaret who
is shown fighting back at the Devil. St Catherine another Saint is shown to
the right. She was also killed.
Taken from 'The Huth Psalter',
probably produced at Lincoln or York, between 1170 and 1285.
Source 5.
argues
with Thomas Becket.
In 1162 King Henry II persuaded his Chancellor Thomas Becket, to become Archbishop of Canterbury, although Becket warned him that his chief loyalty would then be to the Church and not to the king. They disagreed about many matters. One of the most important was whether clergy who had broken the law could be tried in the King's courts or whether they could appear only before the Church courts. Eventually in 1170 Becket was murdered by three of the King's knights and Henry was blamed.
This is taken from 'Peter of
Langtoft, Chronicle of England'. This manuscript was probably written and
pictures added during the reign of Edward II (1307-1327).
Source 6.
One of the knights is armed with a falchion, a sword with one curved edge. Another is in the front of the group cutting into Thomas Becket's head with a
gold sword.
This is taken from the 'The
Luttrell Psalter'. This is one of the most famous English books of the Middle
Ages. Although it is a religious book, containing psalms and prayers, many of
its pages show pictures of everyday life in the 14th century. The Psalter was
made for Sir Geoffrey Luttrell, a wealthy knight of Irnham in Lincolnshire. The
pictures are very detailed and clear, which makes them one of the best sources
for what we know about life in the 14th century.
© The British Library Board 1994
THOMAS
BECKET’S DEATH.
AIMS: To learn how to use evidence to investigate an
event.
To learn about Thomas
Becket’s death.
Read each source on the internet and answer the
following questions. Copy and paste this worksheet in ‘your documents’. You
can then add your answers and print out when complete.
1). Read Source 1.
Match the following sentences in Section A to those
in section B and write the answers in the space below.
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The Monks went to bolt the doors of the church because |
they didn’t want to kill him in a holy place. |
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The Knights tried to drag Becket out of the Cathedral because |
lept upon Becket and wounded him on the head. |
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The first Knight |
four blows to the head. |
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Thomas Becket died after |
they wanted to protect Becket from the attackers |
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The fifth Knight put his foot on |
the neck of Thomas and scattered his brains and blood onto the pavement. |
ANSWERS:
1).
2).
3).
4).
5).
2). Read Source 2.
Why was his murder considered particularly shocking?
3). Read Source 3.
Why were Thomas’ family sent into exile after he
was killed?
4). Read Source 4.
Why were saints popular in Medieval Life?
5). Read Source 5.
Why did Henry and Beckett argue in the first place?
6). Read Source 6.
What does the picture show about how Thomas Beckett
died?
7). Complete the following table using each source.
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SOURCE |
AUTHOR/ BOOK |
PRIMARY/ SECONDARY |
WHY? (P/S) |
RELIABLE? Y/N |
WHY? (RELIABLE) |
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3 |
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4 |
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MAIN TASK:
The year is 1170. You are an English reporter and
have been asked to write a newspaper article on Thomas Becket’s murder. Use
all the information you have learned in class and from the internet to write
this report.
Click on the ‘newspaper outline’ below, (or you
can design your own). Click on ‘file’ and ‘save as’. Save this outline
in ‘your documents’. You can then add words and diagrams and print out a
copy when you have finished. Good luck.
Newspaper
Name Article/Story
Headline Begin your report Your story continues. Change this box to a clip art picture.