Before we start, just a quick warning that this episode contains descriptions of violence

or sexual content that may not be suitable for all listeners.

Archbishop Thomas Beckett and his clerics are just sitting down for lunch in Canterbury

Cathedral near the southeast tip of England.

This December 29th, 1170, and the Cathedral is still decked out for Christmas, candles burning

to fight the weak light of the short winter days, and the rich, sweet smell of incense

hanging heavy on the air.

This is the Middle Ages, so there's no Santa Claus or Christmas trees around, but it's

still a major occasion, a time of joy and celebration of the birth of baby Jesus.

Yet today, the clerics in the Cathedral are not feeling very festive.

The atmosphere at the table is tense.

For six years, Archbishop Beckett has been involved in a running feud with the Plantagenet

King of England, Henry II.

Now, at Christmas time, their bitter squabble is finally coming to a dangerous head.

For most of those six turbulent years, Beckett has been in exile from the Plantagenet

lands after Henry tried to throw him in prison, but he's recently returned to England, stirring

up as much trouble as he can for Henry and his supporters.

Beckett's had papers drawn up by the Pope, ex-communicating three senior English bishops

who stayed loyal to Henry.

Ex-communicating means formally casting them out of the church and, even worse, condemning

them to the pains of hell when they die.

He's been threatening to do the same to royal officers who've been seizing church lands

...