Thomas Becket
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Thomas Becket, chancellor turned archbishop, who was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral and whose tomb became a centre of pilgrimage across Europe.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the man who was Henry II's Chancellor and then Archbishop of Canterbury and who was murdered by knights in Canterbury Cathedral (depicted by Matthew Paris, above). Henry believed that Becket owed him loyalty as he had raised him to the highest offices, and that he should agree to Henry's courts having jurisdiction over 'criminous clerics'. They fell out when Becket agreed to this jurisdiction verbally but would not put his seal on the agreement, the Constitutions of Clarendon. The rift deepened when Henry's heir was crowned without Becket, who excommunicated the bishops who took part. Becket's tomb became one of the main destinations for pilgrims for the next 400 years, including those in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales where he was the 'blisful martir'.
With
Laura Ashe
Associate Professor of English at Worcester College, University of Oxford
Michael Staunton
Associate Professor in History at University College Dublin
And
Danica Summerlin
Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of Sheffield
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
Last on
LINKS AND FURTHER READING
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READING LIST:
Frank Barlow, Thomas Becket (Orion, 1997)
Robert Bartlett,听The Making of Europe: Conquest, Colonization and Cultural Change 950 鈥� 1350 (Penguin, 1994)
James A. Brundage,听Medieval Canon Law听(Routledge, 2016)
John Butler, The Quest for Becket's Bones (Yale University Press, 1995)
David Carpenter,听The Struggle for Mastery: The Penguin History of Britain 1066-1284听(Penguin, 2004)
C. R. Cheney,听From Becket to Langton: English Church Government, 1170-1213听(Manchester University Press, 1986)
Anne Duggan, Thomas Becket (Bloomsbury Academic, 2004)
John Guy, Thomas Becket: Warrior, Priest, Rebel (Random House, 2012)
David Knowles, Thomas Becket (Adam & Charles Black, 1970)
Beryl Smalley, The Becket Conflict and the Schools (Blackwell, 1973)
R.W. Southern,听The Penguin History of the Church: Western Society and the Church in the Middle Ages听(Penguin, 1990)
Michael Staunton, The Lives of Thomas Becket (Manchester University Press, 2001)
Michael Staunton, Thomas Becket and his Biographers (Boydell & Brewer, 2006)
William Urry, Thomas Becket: His Last Days (Sutton Publishing Ltd, 1999)
Wilfrid L. Warren, Henry II (Yale University Press, 1973)
Paul Webster and Marie-Pierre Gelin (eds.),听The Cult of St Thomas Becket in the Plantagenet World, c. 1170-c.1220听(Boydell & Brewer, 2016)
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Credits
| Role | Contributor |
|---|---|
| Presenter | Melvyn Bragg |
| Interviewed Guest | Laura Ashe |
| Interviewed Guest | Michael Staunton |
| Interviewed Guest | Danica Summerlin |
| Producer | Simon Tillotson |
Broadcasts
- Thu 14 Dec 2017 09:00大象传媒 Radio 4 FM
- Thu 14 Dec 2017 21:30大象传媒 Radio 4
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