Beck·et  (běk'ĭt)  English Roman Catholic martyr. Chancellor to Henry II after 1154, he was appointed archbishop of Canterbury (1162) and fell into disfavor with the king. Charged with misappropriating crown funds (1164), Becket fled the country. Upon his return (1170) he was embroiled in the controversy surrounding Henry's appointment of his son as archbishop of York and was murdered by four knights in Canterbury Cathedral. He was canonized in 1173. |
An English bishop of the twelfth century. Becket was archbishop of Canterbury and thus leader of the Christian Church in England. He defended church interests against interference by the king. Four of the king's men, thinking that the king wanted Becket put to death, went to Becket's cathedral and murdered him.
Note: The killing of Becket is dramatized in plays by T. S. Eliot (Murder in the Cathedral) and the French playwright Jean Anouilh (Becket).
Note: Soon after Becket's death, people from all over England began to go to his burial place in Canterbury to pray, especially sick persons, who prayed for healing. The storytellers in The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer, are on their way to Becket's tomb.