中古时期英国12

And this was especially ironic since at the outset it seemed to be the Church that was the strongest pillar of Henry's administration. Its literate clerics initiated him into the mysteries of governing England. So when the Archbishop of Canterbury offered out one of his brightest proteges, Thomas Becket, for the office of Chancellor, Henry listened, looked and gave him the job. So who exactly was this Becket then? Well, for start, he was the first commoner of any kind to make a mark on British history. And the possibility that someone like Becket, a merchant's son, with an impoverished Norman knight clanking around somewhere in the family closet, could end up as the king's best friend, said something about the possibility of the great swarming city itself.

尤为讽刺的是，教会从一开始就是亨利最为倚重的统治机构，正是那些有文化的牧师。教会他统领英格兰的奥义，坎特伯雷的大主教，建议让其门下最聪明的学徒，托马斯·贝克特，出任大法官。亨利接纳了该建议并予以实现，那么贝克特到底是何许人？首先，他是在英国史上，留下名字的第一个平民像贝克特这样的商人之子，穷困潦倒。家徒四壁的诺曼骑士后裔，最终却成为国王的挚友，在这座人潮涌动的城市里，想想看这微乎其微的可能性吧。