AHC: Thomas Becket establish a Theocracy of England

The challenge is to get Archbishop Thomas Becket to successfully depose the King of England and establish a Theocracy in its place.

What would be the butterflies?
 
Were that to happen (and I'm not sure how it could), it might help avoid some of the anarchy and succession wars that marked the next several centuries in England. Given how the monastical system was implemented, managed and expanded, there may have also been some improved commercial development.

Alternatively, it all could have gone very bad,...
 
Were that to happen (and I'm not sure how it could), it might help avoid some of the anarchy and succession wars that marked the next several centuries in England. Given how the monastical system was implemented, managed and expanded, there may have also been some improved commercial development.

Alternatively, it all could have gone very bad,...

I wonder what the Pope and Holy Roman Emperor would think of a King-Archbishop of England.
 
I wonder what the Pope and Holy Roman Emperor would think of a King-Archbishop of England.

"Why can't you all be more like Beckett?"

Given that it raises interesting questions about given that Beckett (King-Archbishop or not) is most definitely a Spiritual Vassal to the Pope, is he also temporally a Vassal?
 
"Why can't you all be more like Beckett?"

Given that it raises interesting questions about given that Beckett (King-Archbishop or not) is most definitely a Spiritual Vassal to the Pope, is he also temporally a Vassal?

TBH, it seems ASB. I mean, Beckett has no claim to the throne of England. And there were Prince-Bishoprics in the Holy Roman Empire, but...

The Investiture Controversy makes an ecclesiocracy outside the Papal States difficult, whatever CK2 may say on the contrary.

The constant debate on whether the church should have temporal power and to what extent is the thing that defines that period of history. A King of England in his temporal office should be sovereign, and an archbishop would be subservient to the King as his temporal vassal (the King is the one who grants lands to the Church and to his nobles) and Pope as his superior.

If the office of King and Archbishop are connected, it leads to problems.
 
Strike Henry II with some sort of reckless insanity that endangers not only the state but also anyone associating with him personally. Have Becket lead a movement to overthrow him and grant him a leadership position in the regency council for the Young King's minority. Then kill off Henry III before he can assume power himself. Ditto for his younger siblings. In fact, have anyone who has any claim to rule England die out before he can take over from the regency council, and keep this up long enough for "the Archbishop of Canterbury presides over and calls the shots in England" to become the normal state of affairs.
 
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