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Medieval Times

Saint Thomas à Becket

He was famous for his struggle to save the Canterbury Church and for his dramatic death. Becket was sent to study law in Italy. He was born in London and moved around the Roman Empire and rested for a while at Canterbury in Kent.

Becket's birth date was the 21/12/1118 and supposedly he lived to the 1170's.

When King Henry the II was young, he was Becket's best friend. Together, they hunted, feasted and they both loved a good joke. When Becket became chancellor, he grew to be one of the richest and most powerful men in England. His clothes and house were finer than the King's or Queen's. But Thomas was more than a merry friend to the King, he was a clever statesmen and a brilliant chancellor.

In the 12th century, the Church ruled the country with great power and owned a large amount of land. This did not suit King Henry, who thought that the Church people should obey only his laws. So when the Archbishop of Canterbury Church died, King Henry expected that Becket would take the place of the recant Archbishop. Henry thought Becket would help him to take over the Church, by making the Church lose power. But Becket did not want to be Archbishop. So he warned the King."If I become Arch bishop, the friendship between us will soon disappear. You will ask me to do things I shall not do.'' But Henry insisted.

So Becket did become Archbishop, and it soon changed his life. He sold all his fine things and clothing, he sold his magnificent house as well. He ate plain food and drank nothing but water. Becket told Henry that he must find a new chancellor because he had to devote all his work and time to taking care of the Church. This was not what Henry had expected to happen so as Becket had predicted, they started to disagree.

 Research by Taryn and Jordan 4/5S

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This page was last modified on 24th June, 1998