Thomas Becket was born around 1118 in London to Norman parents. He became chancellor to King Henry II in 1155 and was later appointed Archbishop of Canterbury in 1162. As archbishop, Becket opposed the king's attempts to assert royal power over the church. In 1170, four of the king's knights murdered Becket in Canterbury Cathedral. Becket's shrine became a popular pilgrimage site and he was regarded as a martyr for the church's independence from royal power.

1. Kayla Hansknecht & Mariah Dimick

2. Earliest
Years:

 The exact date of his birth is unknown, but they
believed he was born in London on December 21, 1118.
Thomas Becket’s parents traveled from Normandy to
England some years before his birth. His parents had
some mark, or some note of nobility to them. Thomas
had been taught well from a very early age. He learned
to read at Merton Abby, then he attended school in
Paris.

3. Early Career:

 After school Thomas Becket became a secretary.
Then around 1141 he entered the service of
Theobald, the Archbishop of Canterbury. He won
the archbishop’s favor and became one of the most
trusted clerks.

4. The Road To Becoming An
Archbishop:

 Even though he spoke with a slight stutter, Thomas
Becket was loveable and winning in his
conversations. Theobald recognized his intelligence
and ordained deacon in 1154. Thomas Becket was
also given the title of Archdeaconry of Canterbury.
At the same time Henry II became king, and made
Becket his chancellor at the age of thrity-six.

5. Archbishop of Canterbury:

 In 1161 Archbishop Theobald died, and in the course
of the next year King Henry II named Thomas Becket
the new Archbishop of Canterbury. This meant that
Thomas Becket became the head of the Roman
Catholic church in England. During this time
Thomas obtained England the privilege of keeping
the feast of the Blessed Trinity, and than a century
afterwards this custom was adopted by the Papal
Court.

6. The Feud:

 The Archbishop of Canterbury opposed the king’s
attempts to establish royal rights over the church.
One of these rights was, the right of royal courts to
punish clerics who had committed crimes. Some say
that King Henry II, who was so enraged by the
Archbishop’s opposition, questioned whether or not
someone would get rid of the archbishop of him.
Some of the king’s knights took his words to heart.

7. The Murder:

 Four of King Henry II’s knights went to Canterbury
on December 29, 1170 and immediately started to
search for the archbishop. Thomas Becket fled to the
Cathedral, the knights found at the altar and began
to hack him to death, finally splitting his skull open.
Becket’s death unnerved King Henry II so much that
the king, donning a sack-cloth and walking barefoot
through the streets of Canterbury while monks
flogged him with branches. Hordes of pilgrims
transformed Canterbury Cathedral into a shrine For
Thomas Becket.

8. Legacy:

 The shrine for St. Thomas of Canterbury was one of
the wealthiest and most famous in Europe. Thomas
Becket’s remains were believed to have been
destroyed in September, 1538, when almost all of the
shrines in England had been destroyed, but some
people still believe that the skeleton found in a crypt
in January of 1888, was the body of St. Thomas.

9. Sources:

 Information:  Pictures:
 Slide 1:
 http://www.newadvent.
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk
org/cathen/14676a.htm /NORbeckett.htm
 http://www.eyewitness  Slide 2:
http://images.google.com/hosted/life
tohistory.com/becket.ht /f?imgurl=feac0120c49eeb78
m  Slide 3:
http://neveryetmelted.com/categories
 British Literature book. /history/traditions/hagiography/