Medieval History
Religious relics: a potential ticket to Heaven, a big boom for medieval tourism, and much more besides. ?Steven Russell meets a man who has studied this fascinating phenomenon...
Imagine (perish the thought) the Archbishop of Canterbury coming to a violent end and a crowd rushing to bottle blood trickling from his fatal wounds ? convinced it had powerful religious properties that would rub off on them. Unthinkable today, but it happened with Thomas Becket in 1170, when an attempt by four barons to take him captive degenerated into a vicious attack that killed him in the cathedral.
His ?crime? had been to excommunicate three bishops who had anointed Henry II?s son ? Thomas being in France at the time ? and thus effectively invalidate the coronation. Such defiance proved the final straw in a deteriorating relationship between Henry and the archbishop, caused by a power struggle between Crown and Church.
Click here to read this article from the East Anglian Daily Times
- The Fake Medieval Images In Canterbury Cathedral
Thousands of visitors come into Canterbury Cathedral each day, where they gaze upon the hundreds of years of history in one of England?s greatest churches. Many of them will see the great stained glass images in the windows of the cathedral, believing...
- Thomas Becket By John Guy: Review
Few figures in medieval history are as famous as Thomas Becket, and fewer have been subject to such utterly differing interpretations. To pious Englishmen up to the Reformation, he was a miracle-working saint, whose blood (widely available in diluted...
- William Monahan Tackling Becket
He has Colin Farrell/Keira Knightley/Colin Farrell gangster romance London Boulevard about to hit cinemas, but writer William Monahan has already targeted his next directing job. He?s planning to adapt and shoot a fresh take on Jean Anouilh?s play Becket....
- Call For Papers: St. Thomas Becket And The Vernacular Medieval Literature
Monte Verità in Switzerland will host the International Medieval Conference next year. The conference is taking place from October 17-22 on the theme 'St. Thomas Becket and the Vernacular Medieval Literature'. In their call for papers, the programme...
- Henry Ii, Ivory Liturgical Comb
A liturgical comb, c. 1200, English perhaps Canterbury. Ivory, Metropolitan Museum of Art. Carving shows Henry II giving Thomas Becket the archbishopric of Canterbury. The event occurred in Falaise, Normandy, May 1162. On the right it shows the boat ready...
Medieval History
How blood and bones brought comfort, power and wealth ? a new book from Yale University Press
Religious relics: a potential ticket to Heaven, a big boom for medieval tourism, and much more besides. ?Steven Russell meets a man who has studied this fascinating phenomenon...
Imagine (perish the thought) the Archbishop of Canterbury coming to a violent end and a crowd rushing to bottle blood trickling from his fatal wounds ? convinced it had powerful religious properties that would rub off on them. Unthinkable today, but it happened with Thomas Becket in 1170, when an attempt by four barons to take him captive degenerated into a vicious attack that killed him in the cathedral.
His ?crime? had been to excommunicate three bishops who had anointed Henry II?s son ? Thomas being in France at the time ? and thus effectively invalidate the coronation. Such defiance proved the final straw in a deteriorating relationship between Henry and the archbishop, caused by a power struggle between Crown and Church.
Click here to read this article from the East Anglian Daily Times
- The Fake Medieval Images In Canterbury Cathedral
Thousands of visitors come into Canterbury Cathedral each day, where they gaze upon the hundreds of years of history in one of England?s greatest churches. Many of them will see the great stained glass images in the windows of the cathedral, believing...
- Thomas Becket By John Guy: Review
Few figures in medieval history are as famous as Thomas Becket, and fewer have been subject to such utterly differing interpretations. To pious Englishmen up to the Reformation, he was a miracle-working saint, whose blood (widely available in diluted...
- William Monahan Tackling Becket
He has Colin Farrell/Keira Knightley/Colin Farrell gangster romance London Boulevard about to hit cinemas, but writer William Monahan has already targeted his next directing job. He?s planning to adapt and shoot a fresh take on Jean Anouilh?s play Becket....
- Call For Papers: St. Thomas Becket And The Vernacular Medieval Literature
Monte Verità in Switzerland will host the International Medieval Conference next year. The conference is taking place from October 17-22 on the theme 'St. Thomas Becket and the Vernacular Medieval Literature'. In their call for papers, the programme...
- Henry Ii, Ivory Liturgical Comb
A liturgical comb, c. 1200, English perhaps Canterbury. Ivory, Metropolitan Museum of Art. Carving shows Henry II giving Thomas Becket the archbishopric of Canterbury. The event occurred in Falaise, Normandy, May 1162. On the right it shows the boat ready...