Thomas Becket (1118 - 1170)

A London merchant's son and ambitious social climber who became a clerk and archdeacon under Archbishop Theobald at Canterbury. He became Chancellor to Henry II in 1155 and was promoted to Archbishop of Canterbury in 1162. To the king's dismay Becket became a staunch defender of church privileges. In 1164 at the Council of Clarendon he led the bishops' reluctance to agree to a written definition of royal and church customs. Becket was then charged with contempt for not attending a Royal Council and was subsequently accused of financial irregularities. At this point Becket fled into exile in Flanders. He returned to England in 1170 to reassert his rights over the English church and excommunicated the Archbishop of York, Roger de Pont l'Evêque, who had crowned Henry II's son, Young Henry, earlier in the year. Complaints to the king from Archbishop Roger and others about Becket's high-handed conduct provoked Henry II such that the king appeared to sanction his murder in Canterbury cathedral on 29th December 1170. Almost immediately miracles occurred at Becket's tomb and he was made a saint in 1173.