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Lecture 1 - Thomas Becket: Life & Death

About This Webinar

Appointed as Chancellor of England in 1155, Becket enjoyed a gilded life, and basked in the approbation of his king; no-one could have predicted he would die violently, slaughtered by four knights acting on Henry II’s orders. Relations between Becket and his king soured after Becket became Archbishop of Canterbury, primate of the English Church in 1162. Archbishop Becket resisted the Crown on various issues, opposition that culminated in his shocking murder, which desecrated Canterbury Cathedral and left Henry in danger of excommunication. Illuminated manuscripts, alabaster and ivory carvings and wall paintings featured in the BM’s exhibition, chronicle the life and death of England’s most notorious archbishop, and explain how, and why, his friendship with Henry failed.

Who can view: Everyone
Webinar Price: Free
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Webinar hosting presenter
Dr Sally Dormer is an art historian who specialises in the Middle Ages. She studied History at Durham University before moving to the Courtauld Institute of Art, London University, where she completed an MA in Medieval Art History and a PhD on drawings in English illuminated manuscripts 960-1380. After brief stints working as a research assistant in the Department of Palaeography, University of London, and a curator in the Metalwork Department of the Victoria & Albert Museum she started lecturing at the V&A in the mid 1980s and never looked back. She is founder, and Course Director, of the V&A’s Early Medieval Year Course (300-1250), currently delivered on-line, and from 2000 – 2020, she was Dean of European Studies, an American university study abroad programme based in Tennessee, Durham, Oxford, and on the Continent. Sally currently lectures, or has lectured, and led study tours for The Arts Society (formerly NADFAS), the Art Fund, Gresham College, Cox & Kings, Swan Hellenic and Art Pursuits Abroad.
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