Lloyd DeBeer

Unable to attend the exhibition at the British Museum, I treated myself to the hardback catalogue and it is an excellent and enlightening book about Thomas Becket’s life, death and martyrdom.
The first two chapters detail the historical rise and fall of Thomas Becket, providing a discussion of why, once Becket became archbishop, he considered it necessary to oppose the king who up until that point had been his friend and benefactor. My only criticism would be that although the disagreement between Becket and Henry II is explained well, how a similar power struggle in other European courts was dealt with is not discussed.
The majority of the remaining chapters deal with the process by which miracles were attributed to Becket, the probable reasons as to why Becket was quickly made a saint, the difficulties of the cathedral in using Becket’s canonisation to create an appropriate place of pilgrimage, and the international aspects of Becket’s canonisation.
The final chapter provides a concise discussion of the impact of the Reformation and Tudor monarchs on the cult of Saint Becket.
There is a separate section by a different specialist providing a detailed commentary on the stories about Becket illustrated in stained glass in the cathedral.
There is also brief reference to The Book in the Cathedral: The Last Relic of Thomas Becket by Christopher de Hamel which I read last year.

As you would expect from a British Museum publication, the well written text is enhanced by beautiful, good sized and relevant illustrations. There is also a simplified royal family tree showing the monarchs around the time of Henry II and a useful map of London in Becket’s time… (altro)