The bishops were a bit responsible because they had told the king that Thomas had excommunicated them from the church and had said that the king would have no non-trouble free days and peaceful moments until Thomas Becket was dead.
King henry ii was partly to blame for the death of Thomas Becket because if he had not given the wrong impression to the knights, Thomas Becket might have lived a few more years. Henry came out badly from this because he acted as if he did not want Thomas dead, (which is the impression the knights got), and after thomas was murdered henry lost a lot of trust and respect from many people.
Thomas Becket was a bit responsible for his own death because he had done some things to hurt the bishops and he did argue with the king a lot, but every one says and does things they don’t mean. The people he argued with on the other hand took the easy way out of all this and killed the man for standing up for what he believed in. these are my thoughts at the beginning of my essay I wonder what they will be at the end.
The bishops had every right to hate Thomas Becket because he had excommunicated them from the church, just because when henry ii and Thomas Becket argued the bishops took henry ii’s side.
(Excommunicated from a church is a dreadful thing because in medieval times if you were excommunicated it would mean you were not accepted by god in heaven).
The knights thought they had every right to kill thomas as that is what they thought henry ii wanted, but, as a matter of fact the king did not actually say “knights go and kill thomas a Becket”
King henry ii also had every right to kill Thomas Becket because Thomas Becket wanted to control the church and so did he.
This led to many arguments between the two good friends and even led to Thomas Becket, who was now ARCHBISHOP OF Canterbury, TO LEAVE THE COUNTRY in EXILE FOR 6 YEARS BUT WHEN HE CAME BACK THE ARGUMENTS STARTED ALL OVER AGAIN.
THOMAS BECKET AS YOU ALREADY KNOW, WAS NOT VERY POPULAR WITH THE KNIGHTS, BISHOPS, KING AND MANY MORE BECAUSE OF WHAT HE HAD DONE. THEN ONE DAY THE KNIGHTS CAME INTO Canterbury CATHEDRAL AND ASKED THE ARCHBISHOP OF Canterbury TO LEAVE THE COUNTRY 3 TIMES, AND THOMAS SAID NO three TIMES NO MATTER WHO TRIED TO STOP HIM, THEN THE five KNIGHTS CAME BACK IN FULL ARMOUR AND MURDERED THOMAS A BECKET ON THE 29TH DECEMBER ON THE STEPS OF Canterbury CATHEDRAL.
Conclusion
We know the knights killed Thomas Becket and for this you would think that they were automatically 100% responsible but as you have seen they are not. Every body had some responsibility and some more than others did, but they all had a part to play in the death of Thomas a Becket.
This is going to show you who I thought was most responsible and who I thought was least responsible in order:
The knights 50%
The bishops 27%
King henry ii 13%
Thomas Becket 10%
This is the order I think the responsibility should have been in because the knights did actually kill him, but only because the bishops had mentioned and hinted that the king would have a better life if Thomas was dead. The king got angry when he heard that the bishops had been excommunicated from the church just as any one would be, but as a king I think he should keep his opinions to him self, because people like the knights might want to suck up, but get the wrong impression and think they were doing the king a favor might just go and kill some one.
Well these are my thoughts, I wonder what yours are now you have read this essay???
