Becket
(men singing in Latin)
(bell ringing)
(chanting in Latin)
Well, Thomas Becket,
are you satisfied?
Here I am stripped,
kneeling at your tomb
while those treacherous Saxon monks
of yours are getting ready to thrash me.
Me, with my delicate skin.
I bet you'd never have done
the same for me.
But I suppose I have to do this penance
and make my peace with you.
Hmm.
What a strange end to our story.
How cold it was when we last met
on the shores of France.
Funny, it's nearly always been cold,
except at the beginning
when we were friends.
We did have a few
fine summer evenings with the girls.
Did you love Gwendolen, Archbishop?
Did you hate me
the night I took her from you,
shouting, "I am the king"?
Perhaps that's what
you could never forgive me for.
Look at them lurking there,
gloating.
Oh, Thomas,
I'm ashamed of this
whole silly masquerade.
All right, so I've come here to
make my peace with their Saxon hero,
because I need them now,
those Saxon peasants of yours.
Now I'll call them my sons,
as you wanted me to.
You taught me that, too.
You taught me everything.
Those were the happy times.
Do you remember?
At the peep of dawn,
and as usual we'd been drinking
and wenching in the town.
You were even better at that
than I was.
(man and woman laughing)
(snoring)
(laughter continues)
(creak)
- (gasps)
- Shh. Listen.
- Huh?
- Upstairs.
(laughter continues)
- She's up with someone.
- Well, go on up.
(laughter continues)
- Shh.
- (laughter continues)
(gasps)
(screaming)
- Get up, man, get on up there!
- Quick, out through the window.
Thank you.
(woman gasps)
Oh. Ah. Ooh.
Come on now.
Come on.
Come on.
Come here.
I'll lay my hands on her, the dirty slut.
Where is he, the swine?
You don't - Don't you dare,
don't you dare - (sobbing)
- Here. Catch.
- Ha! Ho! Hyah! Ah!
- (laughing)
- Go on, get in there.
- (both grunting)
- Here. Take my boot.
I can't get my boot back on.
- Faster now.
- (laughing)
Whoo!
Whoo! Whoo!
(shivering)
Oh, Rub harder, pig. I'm cold.
Ah, no one does it the way you do,
Thomas.
- Thank you.
- I think you actually like the cold.
I made you a nobleman.
Why do you play at being my valet?
I'm your servant in the council chamber,
or here in the bath.
My Norman barons resent it. They feel it's
your Saxon way of mocking their nobility.
Nobility lies in the man, my prince,
not in the towel.
Have you any idea how much trouble
I took to make you noble?
I think so. I recall you pointed a finger
and said, "Thomas Becket, you are noble."
The queen and your mother
became very agitated.
(chuckles)
They're always agitated.
No, I mean trouble from the barons.
They hate you, you know?
Of course. One always hates
what one wrongs.
When you Normans invaded England,
burned our Saxon homes,
raped our Saxon sisters.
Naturally, you hate Saxons.
Don't include me.
It was my great grandfather William
who was called "The Conqueror."
- I'm an old resident.
- I did not mean you.
Didn't you? You know,
when I took you into my service,
everyone predicted
you'd put a knife in my back.
- And did you believe them?
- No.
I assured them that you were
a man of honor... and a collaborator.
That was accurate of you.
- How do you combine the two?
- My Lord?
Honor and collaboration.
I don't try. I love good living,
and good living is Norman.
I love life, and the Saxons'
only birthright is to be slaughtered.
One collaborates to live.
And honor?
Honor is a concern of the living.
One can't very well be concerned
about it once one's dead.
You're too clever for me, Thomas.
But I know there's something
not quite right about your reasoning.
Honor is a private matter within.
It's an idea, and every man
has his own version of it.
How gracefully you tell your king
to mind his own business.
Time for the council meeting, My Lord.
Ugh.
Will My Lord dine with me tonight?
- On gold plates?
- Always.
I am your king, and I eat off silver.
Your expenses are heavy.
I have only my pleasure to pay for.
Tonight you can do me the honor
of christening my forks.
- Forks?
- Yes, from Florence.
New little invention. It's for pronging
meat and carrying it to the mouth.
- It saves you dirtying your fingers.
- Well, then you dirty the fork.
- Yes, but it's washable.
- So are your fingers. I don't see the point.
It hasn't any, practically speaking, but
it's refined, it's subtle, it's very un-Norman.
You must order me some.
For my barons.
I have enough forks to go around.
Bring the gentlemen with you tonight.
I shall.
We won't tell them what they're for.
They'll probably think
they're a new kind of dagger.
(both laughing)
All right, gentlemen,
the council is open.
Gentlemen, I've called you here to
find out why a simple request for taxes
- causes such unpriestly caterwauling.
- My Lord...
We must come to an understanding
about who rules this kingdom, the church -
- My Lord, I wish to ask you -
- Just a moment, Archbishop.
The church or me.
There are many troublesome issues
between us which call for a reckoning.
Amongst other abuses
is the claim you make
of judging your clergy
accused of civil crimes
in your own ecclesiastical courts.
I warn you, there can be
only one justice in this country,
and that is the king's.
But before we quarrel,
here is some happy news.
I have decided to revive
the office of Chancellor of England,
keeper of the Lion's Seal,
and entrust it to our loyal servant
Thomas Becket.
Yes, my little Saxon?
My Lord?
Well, for once
I've taken you by surprise.
My Lord, this is a stupendous honor,
for which I may not be worthy.
I'm inexperienced in these matters
and frivolous by nature.
Rubbish. You know more than
all of us put together.
He's read books, you know. It's amazing.
He's drunk and wenched his way
through London,
but he's thinking all the time,
aren't you, Thomas?
He'll checkmate the lot of you.
Even you, Archbishop.
I never did anything without your advice.
No one knew it.
Now everyone will. That's all.
There.
That's the Great Seal of England.
Don't lose it.
Without the Seal, there's no more
England, and we'll all have to pack up
and go back to Normandy.
May I crave leave
to greet our young and learned friend,
for I noticed him
when he was first made Archdeacon.
Thank you, Archbishop, but don't rely
too much on Becket to play your game.
He's my man. I'd forgotten
you were an Archdeacon, Thomas.
So had I, My Prince.
Now to business.
The law demands that every landowner
send soldiers to give me service
or pay a tax in silver,
is that correct?
I have heard so, My Lord.
We are about to cross the channel
he has taken from us.
I have received neither soldiers nor
silver from you, gentlemen, for this war.
But surely one must distinguish
between the individual landowner
- and God's church?
- The law doesn't distinguish.
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"Becket" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 25 Dec. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/becket_3783>.
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