True Crime Medieval

31.Christmas Episode: The Murder of Thomas Becket, Canterbury 1170

December 16, 2020 Anne Brannen and Michelle Butler Season 2 Episode 31
True Crime Medieval
31.Christmas Episode: The Murder of Thomas Becket, Canterbury 1170
Show Notes

After years of annoying each other, and fighting about the boundaries between church power and royal power, Henry II of England lost his temper with Thomas Becket, at Christmas, and said something (we don't actually know what, exactly) which caused four knights who didn't know him very well (and hence didn't realize that he lost his temper all the time and would be getting over it in a while) to go down to Canterbury and murder the Archbishop. Bad career move, really. And Thomas Becket, who was then after all a martyr, started healing people and performing miracles pretty much immediately.  Henry was very sorry. Or, at least, he said so. In this episode, we explain it all for you, and Michelle has a lot to say about drama.  Not surprisingly.

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