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THOMAS BECKET

Thomas Becket (Thomas A Becket) was an English archbishop of Canterbury. He was born in 1117 or 1139 at London and died in 1170 when he was assassinated in Canterbury Cathedral, on the 29th of December. He was educated at Oxford and Paris, and was sent, by the favour of Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury, to study civil law at Bologna in Italy, and on his return made Archdeacon of Canterbury and Provost of Beverley.

In 1158 Henry II appointed him high-chancellor and preceptor to his son, Prince Henry - the first instance after the Conquest of a high office being tilled by a native Englishman. At this period he was a complete courtier, conforming in every respect to the humour of the king. He was, in fact, the king's prime companion, held splendid levees, and courted popular applause. On the death of Theobald in 1162, he was consecrated archbishop, when he affected an extraordinary austerity of character, and appeared as a zealous champion of the church against the aggressions of the king, whose policy was to have the clergy in subordination to the civil power.

Thomas Becket was forced to assent to the Constitutions of Clarendon, but a series of bitter conflicts with the king followed, ending in Becket's flight to France, when he appealed to the pope, by whom he was supported. After much negotiation a sort of reconciliation took place in 1170, and Becket returned to England, resumed his office, and renewed his defiance of the royal authority. A rash hint from the king induced four barons, Keginald Fitz-Urse, William de Tracy, Hugh de Morville, and Richard Breto, to go to Canterbury and murder the archbishop while at vespers in the cathedral. He was canonized in. 1172, and the splendid shrine erected at Canterbury for his remains was, for three centuries, a favourite place of pilgrimage.
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