Synopsis
On 29 December 1170, Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, was murdered in his cathedral, after years of quarrelling with King Henry II. Three years later he was declared a saint by Pope Alexander III, and in 1220 his body was translated to a glorious shrine in the Trinity Chapel, Canterbury Cathedral. Thomas Becket: Murder and the Making of a Saint, the British Museum exhibition (20 May – 22 August 2021) delayed a year, courtesy of Covid, commemorates the anniversaries of these dramatic events. This pair of webinars provides a context for these events using artefacts featured in the exhibition, including a miracle window from the Trinity Chapel, and a stone baptismal font from Lyngsjö church, Sweden, exhibited in England for the first time.