St. Thomas à Becket and the need to choose your words with care

Thomas Becket was a Londoner, son of a merchant - not a nobleman or even a knight. Nonetheless, his father was well off, and so Thomas grew up with advantages few of those day had. As Simon Schama wrote in A History Of Britain:

We think of him, with good reason, as an austere man, but the truth is that he was a real Londoner, with an instinctive flair for the things that Londoners have always cared most about: display and costume; the getting and spending of money; theatre, private and public; and (even though his stomach was delicate) fine food and drink. He was street smart and book smart. He was, from the get-go, a Player.

This made him valuable to king Henry II, Plantagenet ruler of Britain and most of France, and the most powerful monarch in twelfth century Europe. Becket rose through the ranks of Henry's courtiers until he was Chancellor of the Realm, the most important servant of the king's administration. When the Archbishop of Canterbury passed on to his Eternal Reward, Henry thought that Becket was the obvious replacement - someone with the smarts and talent - and most importantly, the loyalty - to bring the Church under Henry's sway.

It was one of the great miscalculations of all history. Once wearing the Mitre, Becket turned out to be fiercely protective of the Church's independence. And his intelligence and political skill as an opponent drove Henry into frequent rages.

It was during one of those rages that Henry is said to have railed at his courtiers, yelling "Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?" Four of his knights took that to be an order, rode to Canturbury, and struck Becket down at vespers.

Henry might have chosen his words with more care, if he had known what would happen after.

The Czar of Muscovy writes about Chicago’s Mayor Richard Daley, and his latest outbursts about gun control:

Two—and far worse—the Mayor revealed another violent spasm when he said “You have to have confidence in the Supreme Court, Maybe they'll see the light of day...Maybe one of them will have an incident and they'll change their mind overnight, going to and from work”

Tire screech. The Mayor hopes that someone will attack a member of the SCOTUS with a firearm and convert them to being anti-gun? Maybe on their way to or from work, someone will use a handgun on a Justice? If the Czar made such a comment, he might expect a visit from people in suits.

Mayor...no one in their right mind makes comments like these.

Will no one rid me of these meddlesome Justices?

The fundamental issue for Daly is the same one that motivated Henry: an external authority placing limits on the power he can exercise. Daly's reaction is the same as Henry's: annoyance at these limits, growing into an uncontrollable rage against those embodying that resistance. Hizzoner should open a history book, to read about Henry's penance: he was obliged to allow his person to be stripped, and then whipped before the tomb of his now canonized rival.



A minor, but interesting point about the Mayor's comment here concerns the lack of media attention this story is receiving. Had this come from, say, someone in the Tea Party movement, the media would certainly be in full bed-wetting uproar.