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Historical person

Thomas Becket

Thomas Becket was Archbishop of Canterbury and former chancellor of Henry II of England. His conflict with the king over church authority led to his murder in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170 and his rapid transformation into a major saint and martyr.

In Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth, Cathedral construction provides the story’s long framework, linking architectural change with commerce, monastic reform and the struggle for lawful government, before the narrative reaches the conflict between Henry II and Thomas Becket. In E.M. Powell’s The Fifth Knight, Mercenary Sir Benedict Palmer accepts payment to accompany four knights sent to seize Archbishop Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral. Other novels featuring Thomas Becket include Sharon Kay Penman’s Time and Chance, E.M. Powell’s The Canterbury Murders, David Field’s The Lion of Anjou, Griff Hosker’s Poisonous Plots, and Griff Hosker’s The Princes’ Revolt.

Historical context

Historical periods linked to Thomas Becket

Thomas Becket and Church–Crown Conflict 1162–1170 CE

Series

Series featuring Thomas Becket (9 series)

The Anarchy Series in Order

by Griff Hosker 20 books 4.4

The Anarchy Series follows families, knights and warlords through the civil war between Stephen and Empress Matilda and into the Angevin settlement under Henry II. The sequence expands from northern England and Normandy to crusading, Wales, Ireland and the politics around Thomas Becket and Henry’s sons. It is…

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Stanton and Barling Mysteries in Order

by E.M. Powell 3 books 4.3

The Stanton and Barling Mysteries follow Aelred Barling, a severe and scholarly clerk to Henry II’s royal justices, and Hugo Stanton, the younger messenger whose ease with people offsets his superior’s formality. Beginning in Yorkshire in 1176, their investigations show how the expanding machinery of royal law operates…

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Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine in Order

by Sharon Kay Penman 5 books 4.5

The five Angevin novels trace the Plantagenet dynasty from the succession crisis after Henry I through Henry II and Eleanor’s turbulent marriage, their sons’ rebellions, Richard I’s crusade, captivity and final campaigns. The sequence combines royal family drama with the Anarchy, Angevin state-building, church–crown conflict and the Third…

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The Kingsbridge Novels in Order

by Ken Follett 5 books 4.4

The Kingsbridge novels trace the development of a fictional English community across nearly nine centuries. Builders, merchants, clergy, landowners, labourers and reformers repeatedly contest who controls work, worship, law and education, while the town changes from an impoverished Anglo-Saxon settlement into a cathedral city and industrial centre. Chronologically,…

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Eleanor of Aquitaine in Order

by Elizabeth Chadwick 3 books 4.3

Elizabeth Chadwick’s Eleanor of Aquitaine trilogy follows one of medieval Europe’s most formidable rulers from her inheritance of Aquitaine and first marriage to Louis VII of France through her turbulent partnership with Henry II of England. The novels place Eleanor’s marriages, motherhood and political ambitions within crusade, dynastic…

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The Medieval Saga in Order

by David Field 7 books 4.3

The Medieval Saga follows interlinked fictional families through two centuries of English dynastic conflict, beginning with the invasions of 1066 and ending with Simon de Montfort’s challenge to Henry III. The sequence places ordinary soldiers, household officers and landed families beside the rulers whose wars repeatedly reshape their…

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William Marshal in Order

by Elizabeth Chadwick 6 books 4.3

Elizabeth Chadwick’s William Marshal cycle follows the Marshal family and the households bound to it from the civil war of the Anarchy to the crisis of King John’s reign. A Place Beyond Courage centres on William’s father, John Marshal, while The Greatest Knight and The Scarlet Lion trace…

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Plantagenet Saga in Order

by Jean Plaidy 14 books 4.1

The Plantagenet Saga spans the dynasty from Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine to Richard III. Across fourteen novels, family rebellion, disputed succession, royal marriage and war connect the Angevin Empire, the conquest of Wales, conflict with Scotland, the Hundred Years’ War and the Wars of the Roses.

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