History Year 7 – Pupils Report
In History, we are studying the murder in the Cathedral. This is when Henry II fell out with his best friend, Archbishop Thomas Becket, and said, “who will rid me of this priest”. Four bishops overheard this and thought they could gain the King’s favour by taking action. Therefore, they got all their knights and went to the church where Becket was. They shouted and yelled at Becket and, as the first blow hit and wounded him, he was still standing. But when the second blow hit him it was with such force that, in the process, it hit another monk’s arm and injured him. A deafening third blow hit him again and he fell to the floor severely injured. The fourth and final blow to his body chopped off the top of his head with such aggressive force that the sword shattered. Finally, one of the knights took out a dagger and played with the dead Becket’s brains. They concluded he was dead and said, “let us away Knights, he will trouble us no more.” When they went to Henry II, the King was saddened by his disagreement with Becket and regretted his death, bitterly blaming it on himself.
Today, I brought in my Medieval and Roman coin collection. In total, I have ten coins worth over £200. I have nine Medieval coins and one Roman coin. They are all silver. My oldest coin is my Roman coin which is around 2,000 years old. Since we were learning about Henry II and Becket’s murder, I thought I would bring in my Henry II coin which is valued at approximately £100. Henry II lived between 1133-1189 and became King in 1154. WOW!! That is 863 years ago. I also have three Edward I coins, one of which I found with my metal detector last weekend. I have five other medieval coins but the exact dates aren’t certain.
I like to go metal detecting in my spare time. I have a Tesoro Compardre metal detector which differentiates and cancels out types of metal, making it easier to find precious things.
I showed the class my coin collection and I think they all liked it because when I handed around my Henry II coin, it took about 20 minutes to be returned to me, as the children were looking so closely.
I got three coins (including the Henry II coin) from my Uncle, who collects coins too. I bought five coins myself, I got one for my birthday and I found one in a molehill with my metal detector.
I like to use my metal detector to search fields and this enables me to find possible treasures under the earth. It is very exciting to think that I am digging up something that was dropped or discarded by people hundreds of years ago, going about their daily life. Do you think they would ever imagine that their lost items would be found and so treasured by us. That’s why I LOVE history and it’s the best topic.
Henry Baughan 7MDM
Published on: 3rd February 2017