Thomas Becket
His story is well known and the contemporary evidence is extensive, so that we can be sure of much of the detail. Becket was appointed first Chancellor, then Archbishop of Canterbury by the King, Henry 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 to be no 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 his famous but legendary outburst of, 'Who will rid me of this turbulent priest?' led four knights to Canterbury to slay Becket. It is a story of Church against state, of a power struggle between an unyielding archbishop and a forceful king and of two close friends who quarrel and become bitter enemies. This was a personal drama played out on an international stage, resulting in an epic in which faith, friendship, treason and death all play 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 and where miracles were reported to occur. He was canonised swiftly, in 1173. This was no bad thing for Canterbury, of course, 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 that he took to his church in 1177.

End detail of the casket showing its distinctive shape. The door, now missing, provided access to the relics.
		The casket The casket is decorated with scenes of the martyrdom, set against a blue enamel background, with details picked out in gold and the faces of the figures raised up in relief. This marks it out as work from Limoges in France. At that time the town of Limoges fell within the Angevin domain, so it is not surprising that craftsmen from there managed to corner the market for the production of Becket reliquaries. More than 50 of this type survive and they all follow the pattern of our casket, shaped like a miniature house with a pitched roof. A hinged door at one end gave access to the relics inside - although these have long disappeared. Relics and images of Becket spread rapidly. Within a decade of his death, Queen Margaret of Sicily (who died in 1183) had been given a miniature Becket reliquary to wear around her neck, while a full-length portrait of him was included in the mosaic decoration of the cathedral of Monreale (there were of course very close ties between Britain and Sicily at the time). Soon after this manuscripts, wall paintings and stained glass were all embellished with scenes from the saint's life. A sort of Becket mania spread across Europe and pictures of him were to be found from Iceland to Palestine. Churches were dedicated to him and a military order of knights founded in his name. Becket mania spread across Europe and pictures of him were to be found from Iceland to Palestine. All this was to end with the Middle Ages, but the power of the Becket story survives. T S Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral is one tribute to it. So too is the fact that, when the casket was for sale in 1996, a campaign was mounted in the national press to stop this key piece of British heritage from leaving the country. For this reason it has found its final resting-place in the V&A. Images reproduced with the permission of the V&A museum. Article written by Dr Alan Borg