Henry II of England
King of England and son of the empress Matilda. He tried to bring the clergy under the royal courts by the Constitutions of Clarendon, drove Thomas Becket into exile, and after the archbishop’s murder did penance at his tomb.
The royal clerk Roger of Hoveden calls him throughout “king Henry, son of the empress Matilda”. In 1162, which Hoveden counts as the eighth year of his reign, he made his chancellor Thomas Becket archbishop of Canterbury, and the next year the two quarrelled over the trial of clergy accused of crimes (Roger of Hoveden, Chronicle 1162–1163). The Constitutions of Clarendon of 1164 present his claims as the customs of his grandfather, King Henry I (Constitutions of Clarendon preamble).
After the murder he swore at Avranches, before two cardinal legates, that he had neither commanded nor wished the archbishop’s death, while admitting the fear that his own anger had moved the killers; he promised to allow appeals to Rome (Roger of Hoveden, Chronicle 1172). In July 1174, in the midst of a rebellion, he walked barefoot to the tomb at Canterbury and submitted to be scourged by the bishops, priests and monks (Roger of Hoveden, Chronicle 1174).
In the timeline
- 29 December 1170, firm dateThe Murder of Thomas Becket
Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, back from six years of exile for resisting Henry II’s claims over the church, is cut down by four knights in his own cathedral. He is venerated as a martyr, and the king does public penance at his tomb.
Primary sources
Chronicle
- Roger of Hoveden, Chronicle 1162–1163sourcebooks.fordham.edu
- Roger of Hoveden, Chronicle 1172sourcebooks.fordham.edu
- Roger of Hoveden, Chronicle 1174sourcebooks.fordham.edu
The Constitutions of Clarendon
- Constitutions of Clarendon preambleavalon.law.yale.edu