After a stormy parley with him in his chamber they withdrew to arm.

Thomas was hurried by his clerks into the cathedral, but as he reached the steps leading from the transept into the choir his pursuers burst in from the cloisters.

'Where,' cried Reginald Fitzurse, 'is the traitor, Thomas Becket ?' 'Here am I, no traitor, but a priest of God,' he replied.

And again descending the steps he placed himself with his back against a pillar and fronted his foes....

The brutal murder was received with a thrill of horror throughout Christendom.