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9 unusual facts about Thomas Becket


1170

November (or December) – Henry II of England, when word reaches him in France of Thomas Becket's latest actions, utters words that are interpreted by his followers as a wish for the archbishop's death.

Eliot College, Kent

In addition to the college's main accommodation, it also includes the adjacent Becket Court residential building, named after Thomas Becket.

Great Canterbury Psalter

In 1170, Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, has returned from his exile in France with a series of splendid manuscripts illuminated on the continent which were to influence the style of the Christ Church scriptorium, one of the most important centres making illuminated codices in England.

High Bridge, Lincoln

It was built about 1160 A.D. and a chapel built in 1235 dedicated to Thomas Becket was removed in 1762 with the current row of shops dating from 1550.

Lewisham, New South Wales

Trinity Grammar School formerly Saint Thomas à Becket Primary School, is located on 5 Thomas Street, Lewisham and was founded in 1855 by the Australian Christian Brothers.

Margaret of Navarre

She protested her cousin's deposition from the archdiocese and sent letters to the pope and to Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, to beg their assistance in reinstating her favourite, but she received none from Alexander and little of actual value from Thomas.

Stewarton

The family were originally from Morville in Normandy (Wernebald was from Flanders) and had been established in Scotland for at least twenty years when one of the family was involved in the murder of Thomas Becket.

The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty

Hasson named The Becket Fund after Thomas Becket, who was murdered in 1170, after a possible misunderstanding and a long series of altercations and events between the English monarch and state, the papacy, other clergy and Becket.

Thomas Street, Dublin

The church was dedicated to Thomas Beckett (St. Thomas the Martyr), who had recently been murdered in his cathedral at Canterbury by followers of the king.


Abbas Benedictus

Benedictus first makes his appearance in 1174, as the chancellor of Archbishop Richard, the successor of Becket in the primacy.

Avranches Cathedral

The seat of the Bishop of Avranches, it was a Gothic construction, notable as the place of the penance of Henry II of England in 1172 for the murder of Thomas Becket.

Concordat of Worms

The controversy would surface in the Thomas Becket affair under Henry II of England, the Great Charter of 1217, the Statutes of Mortmain and the battles over Cestui que use of Henry VII of England, and finally come to a head under Henry VIII of England.

Coventry Cross

In 1494 Pope Alexander VI set up a commission of enquiry to look into miracles attributed to him and by 1499 his cult was even bigger than that of Thomas Becket.

Helier

Evidence of veneration of the saint can be found in La Hague in the Cotentin at Querqueville and also at Omonville-la-Rogue where a 13th-century mural in the church of St. John the Baptist links Helier with Thomas Becket.

Jean de Gisors

One of the first acts ordered by de Gisors in Portsmouth was the donation of land to the Augustinian canons of Southwick Priory so that they could build a chapel "to the glorious honour of the martyr Thomas of Canterbury, one time Archbishop, on (my) land which is called Sudewede, the island of Portsea", Thomas Becket having spent much time in Gisors.

Pilgrims Hatch

The name derived from 12th century Thomas Becket pilgrimages to Canterbury through Brentwood, a popular stopping place at the time, before travelling onto Tilbury for the ferry.

Queen Mary Psalter

A final group of images concerns saints, three of which are female (Catherine of Alexandria, Mary Magdalene, and Margaret the Virgin); in the case of two of the three male saints, Thomas Becket and Saint Nicholas, special attention is paid to the saints' mothers.

Richard l'Evêque

In 1172 Avranches Cathedral was the scene of the ceremony on 21 May marking the compromise of Avranches, the reconciliation of Henry II of England with the Catholic Church after the murder of Thomas Becket.

Roger de Bailleul

With the other bishops and abbots of Normandy, he attended the ceremony at Avranches of the absolution of King Henry II for the murder of Thomas Becket.

Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes, Blackpool

David John also designed the pinnacles at the corners of the building; these depict Our Lady of Lourdes appearing to Saint Bernadette, Christ appearing to Saint Margaret Mary, Saint Thomas of Canterbury, and Saint Edward the Confessor.

Sir Thopas

The tale is one of two told by the fictive Chaucer, along with the Tale of Melibee, who figures as one of the pilgrims who are on a journey to the shrine of Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral.

The Tabard

The Tabard, an inn that stood on the east side of Borough High Street in Southwark, was established in 1307, when the abbot of Hyde purchased the land to construct a hostel for himself and his brethren, when business took them to London, as well as an inn to accommodate the numerous pilgrims headed on annual pilgrimage to the Shrine of Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral.

Who Killed Thomas Becket?

Who Killed Thomas Becket? is a 2004 Channel 4 documentary concerning the murder of Thomas Becket, who was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 to his death in 1170.

Witham Charterhouse

The charterhouse was founded by Henry II in his Royal Forest of Selwood, as part of his penance for the murder of Archbishop Thomas Becket of Canterbury.


see also

Edward Grim

He subsequently researched and published a book, Vita S. Thomae (Life of Thomas Becket), published in about 1180, which is today known chiefly for a short section in which he gives an eyewitness account of the events in the Cathedral.

Georges Darboy

Darboy was the author of a number of works, of which the most important are a Vie de St Thomas Becket (1859), a translation of the works of St Denis the Areopagite, and a translation of the Imitation of Christ.

San Torpete

An altarpiece of Madonna with St Thomas Becket of Canterbury, St Lucia and John the Baptist is attributed to the studio of Luca Cambiaso or Andrea Semini.

St. Dunstan's, Canterbury

Another of the windows commemorates the visit of Pope John Paul II to Canterbury to pray with the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury at the site of the martyrdom of St. Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral.