The Lion of Justice

An opulent display of medieval life, here is the second of Margaret Butler’s splendid novels of Henry III and Thomas Becket. THE LION OF JUSTICE spans the 4 crucial years when the conflict between the king and Canterbury took its final shape.Beginning in the lusty, lavish 12th Night celebrations of 1611 (I think they mean 1161) where a sadden Henry turns to thoughts of his lost love for his Saxon mistress, Hekenai, an impassioned affair that alienated his queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, they were years that would end in an even greater grief—the irreparable loss of his closest friend Tom whose unwavering commitment to his ecclesiastic duties forbade acquiescence to Henry’s will.Thomas did not at first think himself worthy of the office of Archbishop of Canterbury, but Henry was urgent, for who could better serve the interests of both church and state than Thomas Becket. Instinctively, Thomas had sensed the danger of his position, knowing that true men of God could not also serve Caesar. It was not to be long until the balance between Canterbury and the king tilted alarmingly when Henry claimed secular jurisdiction over criminous clerks—violating Thomas’ ecclesiastic privilege—in an effort to extend his powers and enrich his coffers.Here is the epic clash of two towering and tormented figures locked in a furious combat, neither willing to yield. A sumptuously worked tapestry of English life—its splendor and its squalor—THE LION OF JUSTICE continues the magnificent chronicle of the dangerous duel of wills that would ultimately lead to the murder in the cathedral.