Why was the murder of Thomas Becket such a mystery?

Answer 1

1. Tensions existed in England in the 12th century between church and state.The Archbishop of Canterbury was the head of the church in England, answerable only to the Pope, and he and King Henry II often differed over church rights.

2. When the archbishop died, the king had his close friend and chancellor, Thomas Becket, made archbishop. He did this believing that Becket would side with the king in all matters out of friendship.

3. Becket - who had lived a good and luxurious life before this - performed his duties as archbishop with surprising sincerity. When a priest was arrested for murder, Becket insisted that he be tried (as was the custom) in an ecclesiastical court, not in a civil one. His dispute with the king over this and other church-state matters led to his self-imposed exile in France for several years.

4. When Becket returned to England, he and the king made a shaky peace. The king, still troubled by Becket, said to some of his knights in a fit of anger, "Can no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?" Many doubt that Henry really intended to have the archbishop killed, but four of his knights rode to Canterbury Cathedral where Becket was saying Vespers. Though sensing that his life was in danger, the doors were unbarred, per his directions. Becket was murdered before the altar, one sword blow cutting off the top of his head, his brains scattering on the floor.

5. He was soon declared a martyr, and Henry II did public penance at his tomb, which later became a shrine, a site of religious pilgrimage for centuries. It was destroyed by order of King Henry VIII some 400 years later during the Protestant Reformation, when the king confiscated the riches of the shrine, and ordered the saint's body to be burned. Many though think that it was secretly reburied by cathedral monks and still exists. A book on this topic is titled "The Quest for Becket's Bones", by John Butler.

Hans J.

Answer 2

It is not a mystery, they knew who did it and why.

Answer 3

It never was a mystery: it was most likely that King Henry the 8th did it.