Thomas Becket

The problem of the relation between the church of Jesus Christ in the world and the secular state has always been a vexing one, but never more so than in the Middle Ages. Beginning with the fall of Rome and the destruction of the Roman Empire in the West, the Roman Catholic Church began to gather to itself power and authority not only in ecclesiastical affairs, but also in affairs of the state. And as the pope of Rome increasingly set himself up as the head of the church, so he began to promote...