Henry the Second was one of -the greatest-monarchs who" have-qccupiedfei
English throne* Cast upon a period of extreme difficulty'; among a powerful
aristocracy, which was breathing war and injustice on <&e:ry side, he placed a
strong'hand upon the helm, and did what lay in him to calm the storm. wkt
the first beginning of his reign he destroyed some hundreds of the;castles';iw|ich
during the reign of Stephen had been so many dens of robbers. Many eS p i'se
castles, and ,.,sbme of those which i had been most mischievous, beltifigM to
ecclesiastics; and thus in his laudable efforts'to weaken theypppressors ofihis
country, and to clear away the greatest obstacles to peace, be found^thl.c'hufch
opposed to him. , Becket,>the'man whom-Henry had raised almost from She
dust, and whom' he had loaded with favours, '"became the'“instrument of the
ehuTfih-rinuthwarting- his measures, and in’destroying-the work which fne^bag
had been so long labouring at.
- Becket was undoubtedly a very great man; wie can ^oSl^ ^ & K'iSee.' his
character through the:interested eulog.es of ./Ms*-most; zealous admirers §hd
fellow ecclesiastics,Jbut from all we can,learn his private life "was- dignified pad
amiable. But: we can hardly excuse him in public for bei'nS^tiigularlj^raud
and overbearing, from being intractable, Unc|plciHating,''and"e\ uigcful.
Thomas Becket was born at London, about the'yeaf f!1 7 f of
St. Thomas, from which circumstance lj!$ received ha-, chir-tun nJ^ne
inherited from his parents a mixture -of English
father being a London citizen who had been ^FW-'estin e^m Eh ad -tlfere
jaarried a converted Arabian maiden. The soflr-afrcr b e ip g ^ ^ a f e d in,
Merton College, Oxford, was received 'into -the household ^STHeobald^^Eh-
bishop of Canterbury, and owed to him his firit" ad\<incfment.y~ After Wing
introduced by him to-King Henry in - the - earlier part ofHfris reign, In^SkSame
a great favourite with that monarch, who gave'hixn^all his confide rick1’IlL
was with that king in his wars inr France, and hiSarnguSKedP himself i | f
his military skill, and personal strength and eoifrago
royalmaster. continued unbroken nnril after he'^^'^btainfed tbe arciibish'o|ri(
of Canterbury, the highest object of his ambition.;/ He theri1 round'that^K'
mustrohoose^between two masters, for church and state were not d n l^ ^ fe re n t
but oppdslfh: services, and he determined in. the 'favour- d f t h e ranks
Of which hq had now obtained so high a place. This step was-sool^foljQWed
by an open breach with the king, and from , that time we find the Continually
opposing himself'to the plans of the other, until, a t A"#end' of
the pre&te was obliged to fly.from'England amdjtake refuge" in prance, wljire
he remained till 1170, when his temporary reconcilement with the kjng enabled
him to return to his native country, where he spon afterwards sealed the cause
in which he had fought so obstinately by his death. '
• While in France, Becket resided first at Sens, where he attended for a short
rime on the pope, and afterward at the abbey at Pontigny, ,It istat the'former
place that the ceremonial vestments of this celebrated martyr are preserved.'