Product Description

In January 1888, workmen excavating the eastern crypt of Canterbury Cathedral uncovered the ancient bones of a tall, middle-aged man whose skull had seemingly been cleft by a sword. Could these be the remains of St Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, who was murdered in the Cathedral in December 1170 by knights of King Henry II ? What really happened to the mortal remains of St Thomas Becket? Were the bones indeed hidden from Henry VIII's commissioners and reburied later in a secret location within the Cathedral? What was the significance of the grave discovered in 1888 and why in 1949 did the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury order its re-opening? Why does an obscure French Cardinal occupy a makeshift tomb in one of the most sacred areas of Canterbury Cathedral and what dark secret did two French legionnaires seek to reveal by prizing it open in 1990? For whom does the perpetual red lamp of a martyr burn in the sanctuary of the Chapel of St Mary Magdalene? And what is the significance of the spot in the Cathedral on which, twice a year, a small group of people still gathers to pray for the conversion of England? This book recounts the story of the quest for St Thomas Becket's bones over eight centuries and includes evidence that has only recently come to light. A story of politics, science, religion, conjecture and romanticism, it explores the mystery of the survival of Catholic England's most precious relics and presents a hypothesis as to their fate.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #887299 in Books
• Published on: 1995-02-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 192 pages

Customer Reviews

A formidable treatment of an utterly fascinating mystery
Until now, all I knew about Thomas Becket was that he, the Archbishop of Canterbury, was killed by several of Henry II's knights, and the only real mystery was whether or not Henry actually meant the words literally when he expressed a desire to have Becket taken care of. This is an utterly fascinating book, replete with images of the Canterbury Cathedral and vintage art pieces depicting the murder of Becket. The text itself is well-written, impeccably organized, and never dull for one moment. As it turns out, Becket's murder was just the beginning of the story, one that imparts much insight into the history of England itself.

History tells us that Becket, a good friend of Henry II before becoming Archbishop of Canterbury, was talked into returning from exile in France only to be brutally murdered soon thereafter, in December 1170, in Canterbury Cathedral itself by four knights of the king. He sustained serious head wounds, and one of his murderers even pried out some portion of his brain and scattered it upon the floor. The next day, his body was buried in a marble or stone coffin in the Chapel of the Holy Trinity at the eastern end of the crypt; while the body was moved temporarily at least once to guard against theft, Becket's relics basically remained in this spot for the next fifty years. In 1220, the relics were moved to a shrine in the Trinity Chapel, and pilgrims came in droves to see the holy relics and to seek miraculous cures (and there apparently were some). Then came Henry VIII and the Reformation. In 1538, he ordered all religious shrines and relics destroyed, including (and especially) Thomas Becket's relics, at the hands of the Royal Commissioners for the Destruction of Shrines. Conventional wisdom said the sacred bones were burned and scattered in the wind, and the outcry of Roman Catholics throughout Europe at this perfidious action echoes still today. And so Thomas Becket's tragic story ended.

Then, in 1881, workers discovered a skeleton in the eastern crypt of the Cathedral; buried only a few inches below the ground, it lay in close proximity to the site of Becket's original resting place. Suddenly, the true fate of Becket's relics was in serious question; this was still an important issue in England as well as Europe, as the Roman Catholic - Anglican conflict still simmered if not verily seethed at the time (and Becket is historically the most venerable of the Roman Catholic saints of England, which is exactly why Henry VIII tried to erase him from history). The skeleton was arranged in a special way, and it was determined that the newly discovered body was that of a man somewhere around Becket's age who died of serious head wounds. Even as the remains were returned to the crypt, experts soon lined up on both sides of "the Becket hypothesis." In 1949, the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury had the bones exhumed once again and more advanced scientific tests were performed on them - the results of these tests quieted debate, but there continued to be individuals who insisted that the bones either were Becket's or were somehow related to Becket's relics.

Butler does a wonderful job presenting the history and controversy in a well-balanced manner, taking us carefully from 1170 up to the present. Since the vast majority of the story revolved around the bones discovered in 1881, it did come as something of a surprise two-thirds of the way into the book to learn that a 1951 report essentially proved the bones in the crypt were not Becket's, but this revelation did little to slow down the narrative; in fact, the surprising results of the 1951 study (of the bones from the crypt) only deepened the mystery. In the end, Butler basically ends up where he started, but that's okay. He has, in the meantime, made a convincing argument to the effect that there is no direct, contemporary evidence that the Canterbury Commissioners burned the bones removed from the shrine of St. Thomas in 1538. He closes by comparing and contrasting the five basic hypotheses that can be drawn from the evidence - while he names several other suggested burial sites for Becket's bones, he does not champion a gut theory of his own, and that makes for a most refreshing conclusion to the book. The mystery as to what really happened to Becket's bones (as well as the question of whose skeleton was discovered in the crypt in 1881) makes for a fascinating story sure to keep the inquisitive reader's mind engaged from start to finish.

A useful summary of the fate of Becket's relics.
Everyone knows where Becket's bones were from 1170 until 1538 -- in the shrine in Canterbury Cathedral. Chaucer's pilgrims were on their way to see them... In 1538, commissioners of Henry VIII destroyed the shrine and, many assume, Becket's bones as well. But the contemporary accounts are ambiguous at best... In 1888 a shallow grave was discovered in the Cathedral crypt containing bones that seemed to match the description of Becket. They were even arranged in the makeshift casket in a way similar to descriptions of the arrangement of the bones in the shrine. Were these Becket's bones? And if they were, what would be the impact on the English church of the re-discovery of the relics of England's greatest Catholic saint -- one who died defending the authority of the pope? It sounds like a novel, but it is all true. This is a well-written, even handed account with a maximum of scholarship and a minimum of sensationalism (but just enough to keep you interested). Recommended.