It is Dec. 29, 1170, at Canterbury Cathedral in southeast England, one of the most important places of worship in the country. The archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket is settling down for dinner in the Archbishop’s Palace after a busy day. It is a day like any other, yet an extraordinary event is about to happen, a heinous act of sacrilege that will affect the king, country, and much of Europe for centuries to come.  Five vivid eyewitness accounts, some of them graphic, help us re-create the scene. Outside Canterbury Cathedral, four of the knights of King Henry II have just arrived from Normandy, France, home of the royal court. They traveled to England with an express purpose: to avenge the king.   Barging their way into the palace, the knights demand Becket’s arrest. He refuses to cooperate. Becket’s monks persuade him to take refuge in the cathedral. But the sanctity …