All our modern instincts seem to say, "Oh, come on. Look at Henry and you find reality. The guardian of the Common Law, the engineer of government, the smasher of anarchy." And you'd be quite wrong. Becket, headstrong, infuriating, over the top, theatrical Becket, made a huge difference. His view of the Church lasted. The Angevin empire did not. The actual murderers got off pretty lightly, hiding out in Yorkshire, excommunicated, told to go on crusade. But the real judgement, Henry reserved for himself, and the verdict was guilty as charged. In 1174, he made a pilgrimage to Canterbury, where Becket's blood was said to work miracles. Over the last miles, Henry walked barefoot in a hair shirt, as Becket had done four years earlier. At the tomb, he confessed his sins and was whipped by the monks. However tough his punishment, though, the blood would never wash away. Henry, the hero of the Common Law, will would be remembered as the biggest of England's crowned criminals - the murderer in the Cathedral.


我们现在回头看也许会说 "得了吧，看看亨利 他带来的才是现实。《普通法》的守护者，国家的引路人，混乱的终结者"。那你可就大错特错。贝克特顽冥不化，令人愤怒，夸大其词。但正是他带来了戏剧性的巨大改变，他对教会的主张延续了下去。比安茹王朝更长命百岁，真正的凶手们只受到从轻发落，犯人被逐出教会，躲藏在约克郡。之后受令参加了十字军东征，但亨利将真正的审判留给了自己，并被判为有罪。1174年，他前往坎特伯雷朝圣。在那儿，传说贝克特的鲜血能行奇迹，距离教堂最后几英里时，亨利穿着刚毛衬衣光脚步行，就像四年前的贝克特那样。在贝克特的墓前，他供认了他的罪行，并接受了教士的鞭打，尽管他遭受了严厉的处罚，但依然无法洗刷他的血债。亨利二世 《普通法》的典范，将会永远被刻上英格兰最大国王罪犯的烙印，大教堂里的刽子手。