Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, was assassinated on 29 December, 1170. He was almost immediately venerated as a martyr and, on 21 February, 1173, Pope Alexander III canonised him. From turbulent priest to Chaucer’s “holy blissful martir”, “stubborn man” to counter-culture agitator, Becket has been reinterpreted over the centuries to suit the purposes of the […]
A Turbulent Priest: The Story of Thomas Becket by Jemahl Evans
1159, Toulouse. Thomas of London, Chancellor of England, has spent a lifetime as a clerk, administrator, and ambassador. Now he must prove himself a warrior and leader of men, if his friend and master King Henry II of England is to achieve his ambition to rule all France. The fiery King and calculating Chancellor are […]
The Other Conquest – 850th anniversary of the Norman invasion of Ireland
Author Ruadh Butler writes about the Norman invasion of Ireland on its 850th anniversary
Crime and Punishment under Henry II
E.M. Powell on how Henry II laid the foundations of English Common Law. King Henry II of England is best known in the popular imagination for the murder of Archbishop Thomas Becket, a murder for which the King was blamed. Four knights broke into Canterbury Cathedral on 29 December 1170 and slew Becket in the most […]