How was Thomas Beckett's murder emblematic of the larger problems between church and state in the High Middle Ages?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Beckett had been a long-time friend and aide to King Henry II of England, acting as his chancellor, even while being a member of the church. Ultimately promoted to archbishop of Canterbury despite the wishes of the previous archbishop, Beckett had a spiritual reawakening and declined to be Henry's man any longer. Henry was working to limit the power of the church and centralize secular power, and Beckett felt that was contrary to his interests, and so he resigned as chancellor. At odds with Henry, Beckett was ultimately exiled to France and then to Rome, and the conflict continued. Beckett excommunicated the king, even though he was not in England. When the king met with Beckett to form some kind of reconciliation, Beckett came back to England but refused to lift the excommunication. Exasperated, Henry inadvertently gave the indication to several of his courtiers that they should kill Beckett. Beckett was canonized three years later as a defender of the faith and a martyr. This event is significant as one of a series of conflicts between church and state because each tried to gain power at the expense of the other and continued to argue over whose influence was greatest. The king of England, in this case, tried to appoint his own political supporters to church positions over the objections of the church, stripped lands away from churches, and ultimately tried to remove clergy members from the jurisdiction of canon law. However, he was subject to the one church power that he could not overcome: excommunication.