Images of Britain in the 12th Century (V & A)

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• 1. Candlestick and casket
• 2. Thomas Becket
• 3. The casket
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• 5. Find out more
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Thomas Becket

Becket's story is well known, and the contemporary evidence is extensive, so that we can be sure of much of what happened. He was appointed first Chancellor, then Archbishop, of Canterbury by enry II, who believed that he could rely on his old friend to support his policy of curbing the powers of the Church. But Becket turned out not to be a political yes-man, and defended the independence of the Church and the supremacy of the papacy.

After many violent disputes and tearful reconciliations, Henry's patience finally snapped, and he is supposed to have cried out, 'Who will rid me of this turbulent priest?' - leading four knights to ride to Canterbury to slay Becket. This event became the centre of a story of Church against state, of a power struggle between an unyielding archbishop and a forceful king, and of two close friends who quarrelled and become bitter enemies.

It was a personal drama played out on an international stage, resulting in an epic in which faith, friendship, treason and death all played their part. The outcome was a saint who was revered across all Christendom and, in the short term, a victory for the powers of the Church over the powers of the king.

'Who will rid me of this turbulent priest?'

Becket's road to sainthood was fast and assured. This staunch defender of the faith turned out to have been a hair-shirted ascetic, at whose tomb the penitent King prostrated himself. The tomb was also a place where miracles were reported to occur. Becket was canonised swiftly, in 1173, which was no bad thing for Canterbury, for the tombs of saints attracted crowds of pilgrims, bringing both alms and trade in their wake.

Moreover, relics of the saint could be given (or sold) to carry his sanctity across Christendom. Such relics, however tiny, needed to be properly housed in a reliquary and this is where the casket comes in. Interestingly, its first recorded history suggests that it may have been at Croyland Abbey in Lincolnshire before the Reformation, and so it might be the casket in which the Abbot of nearby Peterborough placed some of Becket's relics, for transporting to his church in 1177.

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Published: 2001-05-01