Page:Outlines of European History.djvu/486

 414 Outlines of European History minister and defended the king's interest even against the Church. He was fond of hunting and of war and maintained a brilliant court from the revenues of the numerous church positions which he held. It appeared to Henry that there could be no better head for the English clergy than his sagacious and worldly chancellor. He therefore determined to make him Archbishop of Canterbury. In securing the election of Becket as Archbishop of Canter- bury, Henry intended to insure his own complete control of the Church. He proposed to punish churchmen who committed crimes, like other offenders, to make the bishops meet all the feudal obligations, and to prevent appeals to the Pope. Becket, however, immediately gave up his gay life and opposed every effort of the king to reduce the independence of the Church. After a haughty assertion of the supremacy of the Church over the king's government,^ Thomas fled from the wrathful and disappointed monarch to France and the protection of the Pope. In spite of a patched-up reconciliation with the king, Becket proceeded to excommunicate some of the great English prelates and, as Henry believed, was conspiring to rob his son of the crown. In a fit of anger, Henry exclaimed among his followers, " Is there no one to avenge me of this miserable churchman ? " Unfortunately certain knights took the rash expression literally, and Becket was murdered in his own cathedral of Canterbury, whither he had returned. The king really had no wish to resort to violence, and his sorrow and remorse when he heard of the dreadful deed, and his terror at the consequences, were most genuine. The Pope proposed to excommunicate him. Henry, however, made peace with the papal legates by the solemn as- sertion that he had never wished the death of Thomas and by promising to return to Canterbury all the property which he had confiscated, to send money to aid in the capture of the Holy Sepulcher at Jerusalem, and to undertake a crusade himself. 1 See below, section 75.