See buying choices for this item to see if it's one of the millions that are eligible for Amazon Prime.

Ready to Buy?
woodys-uk
Price: £45.29
In stock
12 used & new from £6.50
See All Buying Options
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
Thomas Becket
 
 
Share your own customer images
Search inside this book

Thomas Becket (Paperback)

by Frank Barlow (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

Available from these sellers.


4 new from £6.71 7 used from £6.85 1 collectible from £6.50
Other Editions: RRP: Our Price: Other Offers:
Hardcover 8 used & new from £13.99
Paperback (Reprinted edition) 19 used & new from £4.55

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Henry II (Yale English Monarchs Series)

Henry II (Yale English Monarchs Series)

by WL Warren
4.8 out of 5 stars (5)  £14.20
The Pillars of the Earth

The Pillars of the Earth

by Ken Follett
4.5 out of 5 stars (186)  £5.28
England under the Norman and Angevin Kings: 1075-1225 (New Oxford History of England)

England under the Norman and Angevin Kings: 1075-1225 (New Oxford History of England)

by Robert Bartlett
4.8 out of 5 stars (6)  £24.70
Becket [1964] [DVD]

Becket [1964] [DVD]

DVD ~ Peter O'Toole; Richard Burtonl; John Gielgud
4.0 out of 5 stars (13)  £5.98
Thomas Becket: Friends, Networks, Texts and Cult (Variorum Collected Studies) (Variorum Collected Studies Series)

Thomas Becket: Friends, Networks, Texts and Cult (Variorum Collected Studies) (Variorum Collected Studies Series)

by Anne J. Duggan
£71.25
› Explore similar items

Product details

  • Paperback: 352 pages
  • Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson; New edition edition (16 Nov 2000)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1842124277
  • ISBN-13: 978-1842124277
  • Product Dimensions: 23 x 15.6 x 2.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 189,457 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Product Description

Product Description
This is the biography of Thomas, Archbishop of Canterbury describing his brutal murder by knights of King Henry II, an event which transfigured him into one of the most popular saints in Western Christendom.

From the Publisher
The horror of Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury’s brutal murder by knights of King Henry II transfigured him into one of the most popular saints in Western Christendom. “Now we have the best biography we are ever likely to have: I regard it as definitive” A.L. Rowse, Sunday Times
Inside This Book (Learn More)
Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Search inside this book:

Suggested Tags from Similar Products

 (What's this?)
Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
Check a corresponding box or enter your own tags in the field below
(5)
(2)
(5)
(12)
(12)
(4)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(3)
(6)

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Thomas Becket
88% buy the item featured on this page:
Thomas Becket 5.0 out of 5 stars (2)
Becket [1964] [DVD]
12% buy
Becket [1964] [DVD] 4.0 out of 5 stars (13)
£5.98
Explore similar items
 

Customer Reviews

2 Reviews
5 star:
 (2)
4 star:    (0)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
5.0 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Historical read, 16 Mar 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: Thomas Becket (Phoenix Giants) (Paperback)
Although I had to read this book for a presentation at university, I became hooked. I had read other books on the same subject and to be honest they were just boring. Barlow gives an extensive amount of information on Becket. He concentrates on his character and his relationship with the King. Barlow makes you look on Becket with a different perspective. The detail in which the book was written is second to none. I honestly believe that this is the best historical book on the market about Becket. Barlow has made a subject which is generally considered boring a interesting one.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A good biography for an exceptional man, 19 Jul 2007
By Jacques COULARDEAU "A soul doctor, so to say" (OLLIERGUES France) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Thomas Becket (Phoenix Giants) (Paperback)
The author has read all documents, all letters and memoranda, all notes and chronicles from eye-witnesses and other people around Thomas Becket. Maybe even too much or too many. He tries to rebuild a full biography with all personal intentions and meanings from this imbroglio and forest of testimonies. He succeeds quite well, though at times he seems to be overwhelmed with details. Yet he clears up a few facts. Becket was of Norman extract by both his parents and his father was a merchant in London. Jean Anouilh's myth of a Saxon father and a Saracen mother is clearly ousted. The book is also clear about Thomas Becket's life. He sure was the friend of Henry II, in spite or because of a ten years age difference. But this did not mean he took part in Henry's drinking and womanizing. In fact he appears to be a very serious and tedious person who does not really like the pleasures of life, even if, as the Chancellor, he is obliged to have an apparently ritzy life. The point is he was a good Chancellor and had a good influence on Henry, though as the Chancellor, he had no real power, except on church services for the King and the copying service of the crown. He probably taught Henry his job and kept him within some limits. When he was the Chancellor he did all he could to impose and improve the King's power, and limit and contain the Church's. He forced the Church to accept to pay the various taxes the King needed for his wars. But Henry tricked him. Was it with his agreement or against his will? We will never know. Henry appointed him Archbishop of Canterbury, the head of the church in England. This enabled Thomas Becket to finally lead the life of austerity and rule-governed behavior he desired. He was able to wear the monastic underwear under his archiepiscopal dress. This will determine in his new life intransigence and exaction for himself and the others, including the king. He became the best defender of the church and refused the king's power in the judicial field that was encroaching on the church's courts of justice. He refused criminal clerks to be tried by lay royal or feudal courts, monks who became such to escape serfdom to be in any way recaptured, and his appointing priests to be in any way questioned by local feudal barons. The book though never enters the question of the contradiction between Saxons and Normans. The author uses the word English and we do not know if he means Saxons or Normans born in England. Barlow thus avoids questioning the main problem of that time: the colonization of England by the Normans and the integration of the Saxons in the new emerging English society. From this moment though Thomas Becket became Henry's archenemy. The king will do all he can to destroy him. Thomas Becket will go in exile and use the French church and the Pope to get a reconciliation, though he must have thought it was a foolish bargain knowing the king the way he did. But he accepted against all odds to go back to Canterbury where he will be assassinated within days after his return, just after Christmas 1170 in the cathedral itself. This death will start a popular pilgrimage and myth, and the King will come on his own repentance pilgrimage there in 1174 in order to recapture the support of the Church in England against the rebellion led by his eldest son he had had the carelessness to have crowned before his own death, though against the will of the Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Becket in exile at the time. Actually on this question, in this situation the book is by far too short concerning the role of Eleanor of Aquitaine, his wife. But the main shortcoming of the book is that his conclusion is factually right but historically short. Thomas Becket will have helped the church to stand against old feudal customs imposed onto the church, thus appearing as if defending the freedom of the church, what will appear later in the Magna Carta, and yet that made the church stand against the King in his attempt to build a more centralized political order with one single tax system and one single royal judicial system. And at that level the King is going in the right direction since such reforms are needed to guarantee equality to all and a more centralized society, a less divided and exploded society, in a way one "rule of law" in the whole kingdom. This will also appear in the Magna Carta, though less clearly and it will take a few centuries for it to become a reality. These two directions, civil liberties and a more unified just and fair territory and political system, will be the very basis of the political organization that will finally emerge, for the first time in the western world, after the Glorious Revolution. Barlow does not see this perspective though he notes the great improvements that will appear in the judicial system after Thomas Becket's death, the church essentially yielding to the King's justice.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine & University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

 Beta (What's this?)
This product's forum (0 discussions)
  Discussion Replies Latest Post
  No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
  [Cancel]


Active discussions in related forums
   
Related forums

Listmania!

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category

Feedback

The Body Shop

The Body Shop - Vitamin C Skin Boost
Protect and boost your glow with The Body Shop Vitamin C Skin Boost.

›Shop The Body Shop

  

Make A Wish

Get what you want with an Amazon.co.uk Wish List Make sure you always get what you want with an Amazon.co.uk Wish List.

›More info on Wish Lists

  

A Close Shave

Philips Nivea Coolskin HS8060 Moisturizing Rotary Shaving System
For all types of hair removal, stay smooth with Amazon.co.uk.

›Discover Shaving & Hair Removal

  

Treat Someone

Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificates--available in any amount from £5 to £500 With an Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate, you can get them what they want (even if you don't know what that is).

›Learn more about Gift Certificates

  
Ad

Where's My Stuff?

Delivery and Returns

Need Help?

Your Recent History

  (What's this?)
You have no recently viewed items or searches.

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.

Look to the right column to find helpful suggestions for your shopping session.
Continue Shopping: Top Sellers
The Girl Who Played with Fire
The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
4.5 out of 5 stars (75)£3.86
 Breaking Dawn (Twilight Saga)
Breaking Dawn (Twilight Saga) by Stephenie Meyer
4.1 out of 5 stars (464)£6.49
 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
4.1 out of 5 stars (165)£3.99
 The Host
The Host by Stephenie Meyer
4.2 out of 5 stars (81)£3.86

amazon.co.uk Amazon Home
International Sites:  United States  |  Germany  |  France  |  Japan  |  Canada  |  China
Business Programs: Sell on Amazon  |  Fulfilment by Amazon  |  Join Associates  |  Join Advantage
Customer Service  |  Help  |  View Basket  |  Your Account
About Amazon.co.uk  |  Careers at Amazon
Conditions of Use & Sale |  Privacy Notice  © 1996-2009, Amazon.com, Inc. and its affiliates