NARRATOR: All of the objects in this case relate to the martyrdom of St. Thomas Becket. Here we see luxury objects—an ivory comb, a gold locket that once contained his blood, and a small casket-shaped reliquary depicting his martyrdom. Popular objects are represented by the fragment of a metal pilgrim’s badge from his shrine.

Becket was a celebrated archbishop of the twelfth century. He was infamously murdered in Canterbury Cathedral for professing greater allegiance to the church than to the King of England. After his death, throngs of pilgrims flooded the Cathedral from all over Europe, transforming it into a shrine. On the right of the badge, a figure raises the cover of the shrine to reveal Becket’s elaborate tomb effigy. There, the Saint is depicted in a mitre, or bishop’s hat. A small figure above him points to a ruby, believed to be the largest in existence at the time. Testament to his importance, Becket’s shrine was an opulent creation made of gold and jewels, and surmounted by an elaborate canopy. When it was melted down during the Reformation—on the orders of King Henry VIII—over twenty five cartloads of gold and silver were taken away. Curator Charles Little.

CHARLES LITTLE: The devotion to him was extraordinarily wide spread and very much today as we might see the assassination of a President like John F. Kennedy in terms of the almost cultic interest in his power.