by Jean Plaidy
Chapter XVII
THE KING’S REMORSE
When the news was brought to the King he was filled with remorse and a certain terror.
‘I have done this,’ he said. ‘I am the murderer of Thomas Becket.’
He shut himself in his bedchamber and wished to see no one. There he thought of all they had been to each other in the days of their friendship and how there was no man he loved as he had loved Thomas Becket.
And he had killed him.
They were calling him a martyr. They were calling him a saint. They said that at his shrine miracles were performed. The whole of Christendom was shocked by the murder and the whole of Christendom said: ‘Who has done this wicked deed?’
It was FitzUrse and the others. Nay, it was the King. Had he not cursed them for not ridding himself of the man?
All his life the memory of Thomas Becket would be with him. He might do a public penance but he would never forget.
Thomas lay dead, his brains had been scattered on the stones. And his body they said was inflamed with the bites of the vermin who at his will had infested his hair shirt. Thomas, who had loved silk next to his skin and had hated the cold winds to blow on him! He was dead - killed by his one-time friend.
There was not room for the two of us in England, thought Henry, because I wanted to be supreme ruler not only of State but of Church. And because of this he lies dead and I am to blame. I am the murderer who killed the martyr.
But he was a king; he had his life to lead; his country to govern.
His son Henry, whom he had crowned, he now knew unwisely, was eager to take his place. Thomas had been against the crowning. It was never wise to set up a new king while the old one still reigned.
His wife Eleanor hated him. His son Richard had turned against him.
Where could he go for comfort? To Rosamund? She would give him solace, but he could not talk to her of his troubles. She would never understand them. She would agree with everything he said, and that was not what he wanted.
What was Eleanor doing? How long before she roused his sons against him? He was unhappy. He was afraid, for he was a lonely man and his soul was stained with the blood of one he had loved.
Bibliography
Abbott, Edwin A., St Thomas of Canterbury
Appleby, John T., Henry II The Vanquished King
Aubrey, William Hickman Smith, The National and Domestic History of England
Dark, Sidney, St Thomas of Canterbury
Demimuid, Monsignor, Saint Thomas a Becket
Duggan, Alfred, Thomas Becket of Canterbury
FitzStephen, William (translated by George Greenaway), The Life and Death of Thomas Becket
Guizot, M. (translated by Robert Black), History of France
Henderson, A, E., Canterbury Cathedral Then and Now
Hope, Anne, The Life of St Thomas a Becket of Canterbury
Hutton, the Rev. William Holden (arranged by), Thomas of Canterbury and Thomas Becket
Knowles, M. D., Archbishop Thomas Becket, Character Study
Morris, John, The Life and Martyrdom of St Thomas a Becket
Pernoud, Regine (translated by Peter Wiles), Eleanor of Aquitaine
Robertson, James Craigie, Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury
Rosenberg, Melrich V., Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen of the Troubadours and the Courts of Love
Salzmann, L. F., Henry II
Speaight, R., Thomas Becket
Stephens, Sir Leslie and Lee, Sir Sydney (eds.), The Dictionary of National Biography
Strickland, Agnes, Lives of the Queens of England
Thompson, Robert Anchor, Thomas Becket
Wade, John, British History
Table of Contents
Cover
About the Book
Title
Copyright
Praise for Jean Plaidy
About the Author
Available in Arrow Books by Jean Plaidy
Family Tree
Eleonore and Henry
I: Duchess and Queen
II: Petronelle and the Count
III: The Lovers of Antioch
IV: The Royal Divorce
V: Queen of England
Henry and Thomas
VI: The King’s Will
VII: Fair Rosamund
VIII: The Rise of Becket
IX: The Abbess Bride
X: The Vacant See
XI: The Rising Storm
XII: The King’s Triumph
XIII: Flight from England
XIV: Rosamund’s Bower
XV: Traitor’s Meadow
XVI: Murder
XVII: The King’s Remorse
Bibliography