Thomas Becket: Martyred in The Cathedral

How Henry reacted at the news of his old friends brutal murder is unknown, but the initial response of most of the clergy in England was one of rejoicing. The martinet Becket was dead. But within months of his murder and the discovery that despite appearances he had in fact been leading an ascetic life, he was being venerated throughout Europe as a Christian Martyr. On 12 July, perhaps bowing to pressure, perhaps out of a genuine sense of guilt and grief, Henry walked barefoot to Canterbury in an act of public penance at the shrine of the now named Thomas a’ Becket, where he lay prostrate and was flogged, no doubt gently, by the monks. Over the next three centuries the shrine of Thomas Becket was to become one of the great places of Christian pilgrimage.

Following the murder the knights responsible fled to Hugh de Morville’s Castle at Knaresborough in Yorkshire. Henry chose not to punish them but he also chose not to defend them when the Pope issued orders of excommunication against them. Encouraged by Henry the knights travelled to Rome to beg the Pope’s forgiveness. Instead of receiving absolution of their sins they were ordered to serve for 14 years in the Holy Land. None of them returned to Europe from their enforced exile alive.

Pope Alexander III, canonised Becket at Segni, in Italy, on 23 February, 1173. The remnants of Becket’s life now became holy relics, the spot where he was was struck down a place of worship, and Canterbury water was believed to heal the sick. Tens of thousands of Christians from across Europe made the annual pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral. That was until 1538, when during Henry VIII’s disillution of the monasteries the shrine of Thomas a’ Becket was destroyed and his name banned from being mentioned in public.