The knights who killed Becket thought that King Henry II wanted them to kill him. The difficulty is, nobody really knows exactly what happened. The evidence is confusing. Different people have interpreted it in different ways.
Some of the interpretations they have come up with are:
- Henry was a vicious and spiteful monarch. The saintly Archbishop Becket stood up for the rights of the Church and Henry had him killed as a result.
- Archbishop Becket was certainly not a saintly man. He deliberately provoked Henry II and brought his death on himself.
- The death of Archbishop Becket was the result of a tragic misunderstanding. The knights who killed Becket thought Henry wanted him killed, but Henry was just sounding off in a rage.
Your job is to look at the sources that have been used to come up with these interpretations and see which interpretation you think makes the most sense.
- Look over the story and all the pictures, eyewitness and chronicle accounts. Pick out evidence which supports each point of view.
- You could have a mock trial or debate. Each side gets to present their case to the whole class, then the group votes on which interpretation they think is the winner. (When gathering your case together - remember it is important to back up any statements of opinion with historical facts or evidence from images, witnesses or contemporaries.)