Thomas Becket's murder in 1170 had a wounded eyewitness

Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, was murdered inside Canterbury Cathedral on 29 December 1170 by four knights of King Henry II, after he refused their demand that he pardon the royal supporters he had excommunicated.

The quarrel was over who judged the clergy. Becket, once Henry’s chancellor and friend, was made archbishop in 1162 and then resisted the king’s plan to try criminal churchmen in royal courts.

Did Henry II say “Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?”

Nobody can show that he did. Canterbury Cathedral’s own learning site says Henry is “alleged” to have shouted it while keeping Christmas in France, then adds that “we do not know if he ever said this”. When he did penance in 1174, Henry blamed “the words that anger brought forth” for the knights’ deed, not any order of his. He walked barefoot through Canterbury in sackcloth, was beaten by the monks and spent the night on the cathedral floor.

How do we know what happened at the altar?

One of the witnesses was struck by the first blow. The clerk Edward Grim stayed beside Becket after the monks had fled, and the first sword stroke took off the crown of the archbishop’s head and cut Grim’s arm. In his Latin life of Becket, Grim says a later blow was swung so hard that the sword broke on the stone floor. A cleric who had come with the knights then put his foot on Becket’s neck, scattered his brains across the paving and announced: “We can leave this place, knights, he will not get up again.”

The killing backfired. Reports of miracles began almost at once, Becket was made a saint in 1173, and his tomb became one of the great pilgrim destinations of Europe. The other Thomas who defied a King Henry, Thomas More, followed him to martyrdom 365 years later.