General Notes

One of four knights of Henry II, who killed Thomas a Becket, Archbish
op of Canterbury.
"Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest"
"Who will rid me of this low-born priest"
or, "Who will rid me of this turbulent priest"
Whichever words he used, they were overheard by four of his knights who de
cided that they could gain great favour by dealing with the problem and le
ft immediately for England. The knights were; Richard Brito (or Le Breton
), Hugh de Moreville, Reginald FitzUrse, and William de Tracy. They made f
or Canterbury and arrived their in the late afternoon of December 29th, 11
70 at the entrance that stood at that time, half way down Palace Street.
The knights initially just grabbed at Thomas but he pushed them away and a
ctually knocked FitzUrse to the floor. At this point, FitzUrse, who had be
en called 'a pimp' by Thomas in this shoving match drew his sword and thre
atened The Archbishop. De Tracey also drew his sword and called out, "stri
ke! strike!" to the others and delivered the first blow. It took three mo
re wounds before Thomas went down but then Brito delivered an almighty blo
w, which actually severed the top of the cranium, spilling the brains of t
he priest on the floor. The tip of the sword came off with the streng
th of the impact.