The Murder Of Thomas Becket

Wolsey was a cardinal and statesman, Henry’s lord chancellor and most faithful servant, whom he was most reliant upon. From 1515 to 1529 Wolsey’s rule was undisputed. Henry VIII delegated more and more state business to him, including near complete control of England’s foreign policy. Wolsey’s finest hour was arranging the Field of Cloth of Gold. Wolsey used his wealth to indulge his passion for building, his grand style of living made him increasingly unpopular. Wolsey’s failure to arrange an annulment for Henry was quickly followed by his downfall. In this essay I will look how far this was the main reason for his collapse

After this was when things started to get harder for Charles V. He was faced with Religious differences as a challenge to political authority. Charles V.

Henry took a big step against the Catholic Church when he began the, “Dissolution of the Monasteries” in 1538. Henry had sent inspectors to watch the behavior of the monks and if the monasteries were being run as Henry wanted. Henry discovered that doing the complete opposite of what he wanted or

It emphasised the part political greed placed on individuals sparking rebellion as “a last-ditch attempt by those who were out of favour at court to restore their political fortunes by seizing on the discontents and puzzlements of others”. The Earl of Essex had gained a good reputation and worked his way up to be Elizabeth’s favourite courtier. However, he was short of money and so attempted to rule the court and oppose his rival Cecil which caused the Queen to turn against him. On one occasion during a heated Privy Council debate on the problems in Ireland, the Queen reportedly “cuffed an insolent Essex round the ear, prompting him to half draw his sword on her”. The incident meant Essex felt he had been publically shamed and was sent from court consequently losing all his influence at court. Political factions were central to the cause of this revolt as the Earl resented the influence that Robert Cecil had at court and thought by showing force in the form of a rebellion would lead the Queen to readmit him to court and to her favour. The Essex rebellion is very significant in showing how the corruption of the patronage system by Essex, and the dominance of Cecil, continued to affect politics after the Tudor period had ended into James’ I reign where political instability let to the Catholic dominated Main, Bye and Gunpowder plots. This underpins the argument that

In 1533, Henry VIII became obsessed with Anne Boleyn. Henry VIII asked the pope to annul his almost 20 year marriage to Catherine de Aragon. When the pope refused, Henry VIII founded his own church. He named is Church of England and he proclaim himself to be the head of the new founded church. People started to move to America where they wanted freedom of religion (Khle, 2009).

The kings were able to control the church because the society had lost faith in the church due to the Black Death. Kings attacked the church by taxing them and controlling who the head clergy were. In older times there was no questioning of the church, so it was believed that if you prayed enough your ascension was inevitable, so if the king spoke up over the church then the church would excommunicate them and tell them they were going to hell. But when the Black Death struck, the first reaction was that if you prayed then you would be spared but that wasn’t the case because even some popes contracted the bubonic plagued. Faith was lost in the church.

St Thomas Becket (December 21, 1118 – December 29, 1170) was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 to 1170. He engaged in a conflict with King Henry II over the rights and privileges of the Church and was assassinated by followers of the king in Canterbury Cathedral.

Henry IV of France was able to act as a "fox" by evaluating what mattered more to him. When Henry converted to Catholosism out of being a Hugenot during the Saint Bartholomew 's Day Massacre, it was clear that he valued his own life over religion. Even when he coverted back to Calvinism afterwards, he soon relized his valued of being in power over religion would cause him to convert, once again, back into Catholism. “Paris is worth a Mass," he said as he gave into the Roman Catholic Church for the leadership of France. This value of state over religion made him a politique, believing that no religious truth was worth the ravages of cicil war. He kept France from futher civil war by issuing the Edict of Nantes which acknowledged Catholicism as th official religion of France but guaranteed the Hugenots the rights to worship. He was wise to recognize that tolerance can help establish peace in his nation and also to convert to Cathalosism because of their bigger population in France.

The issues between Pope Boniface and King Philip IV relate to the case of Thomas Backet and Henry II because both disputes were conflicts between church and state. Henry II thought that by electing Beckett as his Archbishop he would be able to rule over the church and the state. However, Becket did not give Henry that power and he would eventually be assassinated.

King Henry's wife Catherine of Aragon was unable to give Henry a son, and also the fact that King Henry fell in love with Anne Boleyn drove him to get a divorce from Catherine. He requested that the Pope give him a divorce so he could re-marry, however it was unethical to Catholics to get a divorce, the Roman Catholic Church did not allow it. King Henry then went to the Archbishop of Canterbury to grant him the divorce, but William Warham didn’t agree. Matters were getting worse as Anne was pregnant, Henry needed to marry her or else the child wouldn’t be legitimate. However, King Henry was lucky, and William Warham had died, so he appointed Thomas Cranmer to be the next Archbishop and he gave King Henry the divorce. In 1534, two years after the divorce, the Act of Supremacy took place, and this was caused the break from the Roman Catholic Church, and Henry became the supreme head of the Church of England. This caused King Henry to gain a lot more power than he already had. After a while in around 1536, the dissolution of

   Anouilh's Becket offers the story of the relationship between Thomas Becket and Henry II, King of England.  The relationship begins with the two being fun-loving and teasing friends, develops into a rough-and-tumble relationship, and then ends in cold hatred.  Because he will not give in to his demands Henry has Becket executed in Canterbury Cathedral.  Becket had been Henry's friend and loyal supporter until he became Archbishop of Canterbury.  At that point, he was determined his first loyalty was due God and not Henry even though he had supported Henry against the church previously.  Becket fled to France in exile before returning to Canterbury where Henry had four barons murder him.  It was

James Patrick Bulger was born on the 16th of March, 1990, to Ralph and Denise Bulger in Kirkby, Merseyside.

The monarchs only listen to god not their own subjects.Divine right was the idea that God made the monarchs.During the the war between the church and the protestants,leaders tried to get a grip on the church,and war and death broke lose from this

King Henry V also touched on a subject very pertinent to many people of that time: God. In many instances, he places God before all else. In Act 1, scene 2, England receives a message from France in the form of tennis balls. This is when he decides to make war with France final. He tells his lords:

Some MP’S were alarmed by others who printed the Grande Remonstrance to the public journal in order to make people see. The Parliament did not appreciate this fact as they did not want the other people to know about the politic affairs. Adding to this, a rebellion in Ireland broke down as Catholics rose up against their Protestant rulers and 400 of the Protestants were killed. A rumour spread that Charles was behind this rebellion to make England turn into a Catholic country. Having no intention to restore Catholicism or govern without any reference to the law, Charles did not understand why the MP’s feared the Catholic tyranny.