Lesson video

Hello, everyone.

How are you today?

I hope you're feeling well.

My name is Ms. Afzal, and I'll be your teacher for this lesson.

I'm feeling pleased about that because I think we have an interesting topic ahead.

It's quite a serious topic.

Our lesson is called "The Murder of Thomas Becket".

I wonder if you know much about this subject, or perhaps it's new to you.

Either way, we will be getting into it today.

Our lesson comes from the unit of work, "England Under Henry II: How Successfully Did Henry Reassert Authority?

" So if you're ready to get into this topic, if you have focus, energy, and enthusiasm, we'll begin our lesson now.

The outcome for today's lesson is "I can describe Henry II's conflict with Thomas Becket and explain the impacts this had on Church and crown.

" I hope this sounds interesting to you.

Let's begin our lesson.

We have some keywords in our lesson, and I'd like us to go through them one at a time, saying them out loud, my turn, your turn.

Excommunicated.

Cathedral.

Martyr.

Penance.

Pilgrimage.

Good to hear those keywords.

Now I'd like you to turn to someone and share with them.

Have you heard of any of these keywords before?

Do you have any idea what these keywords mean?

Pause here and share with someone nearby your understanding of these keywords.

Thanks for sharing.

Let's find out what these keywords mean.

When someone is excommunicated, they are expelled from the Catholic Church by the Pope.

A cathedral is a large and impressive church that contains the seat of a bishop.

A martyr is someone who dies for their beliefs.

Penance is to punish yourself to seek God's forgiveness for a sin.

A pilgrimage is a religious journey, usually taken to a shrine or a site of religious importance.

So these are our keywords: excommunicated, cathedral, martyr, penance, and pilgrimage.

Let's look out for them.

Let's listen out for them.

Let's think carefully about these keywords that will be coming up in our lesson today.

Our lesson is called "The Murder of Thomas Becket", and it has two learning cycles: the murder of Thomas Becket, and reaction to the murder of Thomas Becket.

Let's begin by exploring the murder of Thomas Becket.

Becket resisted Henry's Church reforms.

You can see an illustration of Thomas Becket.

Pause here and share with someone any details that stand out for you in this illustration of Thomas Becket.

Thanks for sharing.

Let's have a check for understanding.

True or false?

Henry had his son crowned as king of England early.

Pause here while you decide, is this statement true or false?

Well done if you selected true.

And now I'd like you to justify your answer by choosing from one of these two statements: A, this was to secure a peaceful succession, or B, this was to avoid the challenges of ruling his empire.

Pause here while you decide which of these statements justifies your earlier answer.

Well done if you selected statement A.

Indeed, this was to secure a peaceful succession.

This statement justifies your earlier answer.

Here, we can see another illustration of Thomas Becket.

Becket returned to England in 1170.

Immediately upon landing back in England, Becket began excommunicating Bishops.

Pause here and share with someone, can you remember what the keyword "excommunicating" means?

Thanks for sharing.

To be excommunicated means to be expelled from the Catholic Church.

Let's have a check for understanding.

Why did Becket excommunicate bishops on his return to England?

Choose from this selection: A, they refused to carry out Henry the Young King's coronation, B, they carried out Henry the Young King's coronation without Becket being present, C, they refused to let Becket carry out Henry the Young King's coronation.

Pause here while you decide why did Becket excommunicate bishops on his return to England?

Well done if you selected statement B.

Indeed, they carried out Henry the Young King's coronation without Becket being present.

This is why Becket excommunicated bishops on his return to England.

Here's an illustration of Henry II.

And here's a quote from Henry II.

He's famously remembered as saying, "Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?

" What do you think Henry means by this?

Pause here and share with someone.

What does Henry mean by the words, "Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?

"?

Thanks for sharing your thoughts about this.

Henry was keen to be rid of the priest, who was not directly giving an order for the priest to be killed, but that is actually what happened.

Here's a photograph of Canterbury Cathedral.

And Thomas Becket was the archbishop of Canterbury.

Four knights, upon hearing the king's words, made it their mission to travel from France to Canterbury to challenge Thomas Becket.

And as he resisted them, they ended up murdering him.

And here's an illustration of the four knights murdering Becket as they showed their loyalty to the king.

Let's have a check for understanding.

Why did the four knights murder Thomas Becket?

Choose from this election: A, they wanted to show the king how loyal they were, B, they were ordered to kill Becket by Henry II, C, they wanted to make Becket a martyr.

Pause here while you decide why did the four knights murder Thomas Becket?

Well done if you selected answer A.

Indeed, they wanted to show the king how loyal they were, so they took it upon themselves to confront Thomas Becket and ended up murdering him.

And now it's time for your first task.

I would like you to give a written account of the murder of Thomas Becket.

The account should include: Becket's return from exile, Becket's actions that upset the king, the king's reported words, and what happened in the cathedral.

Pause here while you have a go at this task, giving a written account of the murder of Thomas Becket.

I'll see you when you're finished.

It's good to be back with you, so how did you get on with that task of giving a written account of the murder of Thomas Becket?

Your answer may include: "Thomas Becket returned to England from exile and excommunicated the bishops that had taken part in the coronation of Henry the Young King.

Henry was outraged and shouted, 'Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?

' Four knights decided to prove their worth to the king and headed for Canterbury Cathedral.

The knights brutally murdered Becket and scattered his brain on the cathedral floor".

This account has a pretty gruesome conclusion.

Thanks for having a go at this task.

And now we're onto our next learning cycle, reaction to the murder of Thomas Becket.

Here's an illustration of Thomas Becket as a saint and martyr.

Who's here to share with someone?

Can you remember what does our keyword "martyr" mean?

Well done for sharing.

A martyr is someone who dies for their beliefs.

And there were consequences for Henry.

Here's an illustration of Henry's public act of penance.

There were calls for him to be excommunicated after the murder of Thomas Becket, so Henry made this public act of penance.

Pause here and share with someone, can you remember what the keyword "penance" means?

Well done for sharing.

Penance means to punish yourself to seek God's forgiveness for a sin.

So here we can see there's Becket's shrine, that Henry is kneeling before, and he is being whipped by the clergy.

Let's have a check for understanding.

How did Henry react to the murder of Becket?

Select two correct answers.

A, he demanded that the Church respect the crown and close all Church courts, B, he removed some points from the Constitutions of Clarendon and promised to respect the church, C, he performed a public act of penance and allowed himself to be whipped by the clergy, D, he performed a public act of penance and demanded respect from the clergy.

So pause here while you decide how did Henry react to the murder of Becket by selecting two of these statements.

Well done if you selected statements B and C.

Indeed, Henry's reaction to the murder of Becket is that he removed some points from the Constitutions of Clarendon and promised to respect the Church, and he performed a public act of penance and allowed himself to be whipped by the clergy.

Let's have another check for understanding.

What does Henry's reaction to the murder show about the power of the church?

Choose from this selection: A, it was not a concern to Henry because he ruled a powerful empire, B, it was not enough to pressure Henry to reverse his reforms and publicly show regret, C, it was enough to pressure Henry to reverse his reforms and publicly show regret.

Pause here while you decide what does Henry's reaction to the murder show about the power of the church?

Well done if you selected answer C.

Indeed, it shows that it was enough to pressure Henry to reverse his reforms and publicly show regret.

And here's an illustration showing Henry's increased control over the English Church following Becket's murder.

Pause here and share with someone any details that stand out for you from this illustration.

Thanks for sharing.

Let's have a check for understanding, fill in the missing words.

Use the words below to complete the text underneath: "After the murder of, no, was likely to oppose the king's will again.

Henry's reversal on religious reform had also helped him secure the support of.

In the long term, Henry's control over the English Church had strengthened".

And the words to use to complete the text are: "the Pope", "Thomas Becket", and "bishop".

Pause here while you fill in the missing words from this text.

Your answer should look like this: "After the murder of Thomas Becket, no bishop was likely to oppose the king's will again.

Henry's reversal on religious reform had also helped him secure the support of the Pope.

In the long term, Henry's control over the English Church had strengthened".

And now it's time for your next task.

First of all, I'd like you to, starting with the earliest, sort these events into time order.

Use the empty flow chart to write your answer into.

Here are our events.

Henry allowed himself to be whipped by the clergy.

Henry removes points from the Constitutions of Clarendon.

Henry walked barefoot to Canterbury Cathedral.

Becket becomes a martyr.

Pause here while you sort these events into time order.

It's good to be back with you.

Your correct order should look like this.

First of all, Becket becomes a martyr.

Next, Henry removes points from the Constitutions of Clarendon.

Henry walked barefoot to Canterbury Cathedral.

And Henry allowed himself to be whipped by the clergy.

Well done if you sequenced the events in this order.

And now for the next part of your task.

Here's a question.

To what extent did Henry emerge as the victor from his clash with Becket?

In your answer, which should be one or two paragraphs long, include as many of the following words as you can: penance, pope, control, murder, damaging, pilgrimage.

So pause here while you have a go at this task writing a couple of paragraphs about to what extent did Henry emerge as the victor from his clash with Becket?

I'll see you when you're finished.

It's good to be back with you.

So how did you get on with that task writing about to what extent did Henry emerge as the victor from his clash with Becket?

Your answer may include: "Initially, it seemed very damaging to Henry.

The murder of the Archbishop of the English Church had made him enemies with the Pope, the Church, and even some of the royal family.

The Church made Becket a saint and Canterbury Cathedral became an internationally-important site of pilgrimage.

This showed huge support for the Church, rather than Henry.

However, Henry's public display of penance softened some of his enemies.

Once he had the support of the Pope, Henry achieved the type of control over the Church he had desired from the outset".

Well done if you wrote an answer like this.

Well done for having a go at this task.

In our lesson, "The Murder of Thomas Becket", we've covered the following: Henry had his son, Henry the Young King, crowned during Thomas Becket's absence from England.

Becket returned and excommunicated the bishops involved in the coronation.

Becket was murdered by four of Henry's knights.

The king's reaction to Becket's murder revealed the extent of power the Church held across Europe.

In the long term, Becket's murder ultimately strengthened the king's control over the Church.

Well done, everyone, for joining in with this lesson about the murder of Thomas Becket.

We can see how the coronation of the Young King set off a whole chain of events, some quite violent and gruesome.

And we can see how, in the end, the king actually achieved his aims of strengthening his control over the Church.

I enjoyed teaching you, and I hope that you learned a lot in this lesson.

I look forward to seeing you at another lesson soon.

Bye for now.