Tomasz Becket - symbol dawnego porządku. Rewizja historii męczeństwa i postaci świętego biskupa w epoce Tudorów

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to present the changes in the perception of the Archbishop of Can-terbury and Catholic saint Thomas Becket in England during the reign of the Tudor dynasty. The author’s starting point is the intellectual currents that emerged in England in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries that sought to challenge Catholic traditions. The author argues that in the long run they laid the foundations for a systemic struggle in the 1630s and 1640s against the cult of Thomas Becket as a symbol of Catholic England. The paper uses printed sources by such authors as Erasmus of Rotterdam, Mathew Parker, John Foxe, Francis Go-dwin, royal documents from the Reformation era in England as well as articles and studies by foreign authors. The paper concludes that despite the measures taken, the reformers never succeeded in removing Thomas Becket from the religious landscape of England.

Keywords

• reformation in england
• thomas becket
• henry viii
• tudor period
• canterbury