St Thomas???

I think we can safely say that February 21, 1173 was not one of Henry II’s favorite days, for it was upon this date that Thomas Becket was proclaimed a saint by the Church. They’d obviously put him on the fast-track for canonization since it was barely two years since he’d been martyred in Canterbury Cathedral. It is unlikely that Henry then viewed his erstwhile friend and adversary as saintly; he knew Becket too well for that. But it is quite possible that he changed his mind after he’d been driven to his dramatic, desperate penance before Becket’s tomb, since the Scots king was captured at Alnwick at the very time that Henry was on his knees, entreating Becket’s aid to save his kingdom. It certainly convinced their contemporaries and the rebellion fell apart, leaving Eleanor to pay for the sins of their sons.