Becket had been Henry's chancellor and friend, but after becoming archbishop in 1162 he defended the church's rights against royal power, and spent six years in exile. Soon after his return, he excommunicated bishops who had supported the king. Henry's furious outburst, often remembered as "Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?", sent four knights to Canterbury. They cut him down near an altar. Becket was declared a saint in 1173, and Henry did public penance.
The quarrel centred on questions such as whether clergy accused of crimes should be tried in church courts, which rarely imposed heavy punishments, or in the king's courts. Becket refused to accept the Constitutions of Clarendon, which set out the king's position, and fled to France in 1164. A fragile reconciliation allowed him to return in December 1170, but he immediately renewed the conflict.
Henry, at his court in Normandy, reacted in rage; the exact words are uncertain. Four knights, Reginald FitzUrse, Hugh de Morville, William de Tracy and Richard le Breton, crossed to England. On the afternoon of December 29 they confronted Becket in his palace, then followed him into the cathedral as the monks were gathering for vespers. When he refused to go with them, they attacked him with swords. A monk, Edward Grim, who tried to protect him, was badly wounded and later wrote an eyewitness account.
Miracles were soon reported at Becket's tomb, and Canterbury became one of Europe's greatest pilgrimage sites, the destination of the pilgrims in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. In 1174 Henry walked barefoot to the tomb and was flogged by the monks.
Key people: Thomas Becket, Henry II of England, Reginald FitzUrse, Edward Grim