"
His chief assistant in the management of public affairs was Thomas
Becket, whom he made chancellor of the kingdom. Becket was fond of
pomp and luxury, and lived in a more magnificent manner than even
the king himself.
The clergy had at this time become almost independent of the king.
To bring them under his authority Henry made Becket Archbishop of
Canterbury, thus putting him at the head of the Church in England.
The king expected that Becket would carry out all his wishes.
Becket, however, refused to do that which the king most desired
and a quarrel arose between them. At last, to escape the king's
anger, Becket fled to France and remained there for six years.
At the end of this time Henry invited him to come back to England.
Not long after, however, the old quarrel began again. One day
while Henry was sojourning in France, he cried out in a moment of
passion, while surrounded by a group of knights, "Is there no one
who will rid me of this turbulent priest?"
Four knights who heard him understood from this angry speech that
he desired the death of Becket, and they went to England to murder
the Archbishop.
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