Thomas Becket, a London merchant’s son, was a complex person – in his youth he was a normal ebullient young man, stormy and proud, selfish and arrogant, vain, and anxious to please, but in later life, became one of the most pious and devout Archbishops of the 12th century.
Thomas a Becket HUKDespite differences in their status Thomas’s greatest friend was Henry, who was later to become King Henry II of England. They hunted and played chess together, people said the two men ‘had but one heart and one mind’.
When at the age of 21 Henry became king, Becket became his Chancellor. Both furious workers, they laboured tirelessly to bring law and order to Henry’s realm.
It was during Henry’s reign those legal terms such as ‘trial by jury’ and ‘assizes’ (sittings) became so familiar in the English language. The king’s judges travelled the country administering the common law – the law of all free men.