We begin with several images depicting the martyrdom of Thomas Becket, which took place of December 29, 1170, followed by another 30 interesting medieval manuscript images that have been tweeted out in the last seven days.
Shaping a Saint’s Identity: The Imagery of Thomas Becket in Medieval Italy
December 29, 2014 By
This article sets out to trace the visual responses to the sainthood of Thomas of Canterbury outside of his original cultural context, namely in Italy, where his cult was readily received, integrated and modified.
The Lion’s Roar: Anger in the Dispute between Henry II and Thomas Becket
December 29, 2014 By
The purpose of this paper will be to analyze representations of anger in the sources on Becket’s life and the place of anger in the dispute, and to assess what that suggests about understandings and uses of anger in twelfth-century English politics.
The Episcopal Body and Sexuality in Late Medieval England
October 15, 2014 By
How was long-term celibacy thought to affect the health of religious men? How could medical knowledge help clerics to achieve bodily purity?
Ritual, Behaviour and Symbolic Communication in the dispute between Thomas Becket and King Henry II
July 27, 2014 By
From the dispute between Becket and Henry II we see the continuation of many traditional forms of political communication, including the use of symbolic rhetoric and items in the conduct of rituals, and also the deliberate staging of emotions.
THINGS TO SEE: Murder in the Cathedral
June 11, 2014 By
This is my review of the T.S. Eliot’s play, “Murder in the Cathedral”, on at St. Bartholomew in Smithfield, London.
BOOK REVIEW: A King’s Ransom – Sharon Kay Penman
March 23, 2014 By
A King’s Ransom is the follow up to Lionheart and tells the story of King Richard I’s imprisonment in Germany at the hands of Duke Leopold of Austria and Emperor Heinrich VI and of his battle to win back his Kingdom from his rapacious brother John.
Unpleasant Affairs That Please Us: Admonition and Rebuke in the Letter Collections of the Archbishops of Canterbury, 11th and 12th Centuries
March 23, 2014 By
From the Norman Conquest in 1066 up to the famous “murder in the cathedral”2 in 1170, six archbishops of Canterbury ruled over the English church…
BOOKS:Medieval Celebrities!
March 3, 2014 By
They may not have won any Oscars, but they were definitely medieval celebrities! Here are some great reads about some of the most famous faces of the Middle Ages
Saintly Rivals – a brief comparison of the cults of Thomas Becket and Edward the Confessor
December 29, 2013 By
The trajectories of these two cults make for an interesting comparison because their origins are close to each other in space and time, but also because of the many differences between them.
Mental Disability and Intellectual Impairment in the Middle Ages: Some Preliminary Research Findings
May 19, 2013 By
This interesting paper was one of the four given in the Mental Health in Non-medical Terms session at KZOO. It looked at philosophy, iconography and the way mental disability was viewed in the Middle Ages.
Making the martyr: the liturgical persona of Saint Thomas Becket in visual imagery
February 10, 2013 By
How was the historical figure of the worldly chancellor reconciled to the saintly archbishop who was martyred for his faith on the floor of Canterbury Cathedral? One of the most important vehicles of expression in the Middle Ages was the liturgy.
England: One Country, Two Courts
December 26, 2012 By
The tension created by the two-court system is an integral part of England’s administrative and constitutional history. Exactly how integral has generated a considerable amount of scholarly work, from explanations of the sources of the conflict, to how the disagreement over jurisdiction was addressed throughout the Middle Ages, to what impact the issue had in shaping England’s overall political development.
The Fake Medieval Images in Canterbury Cathedral
November 12, 2012 By
Some of the most iconic medieval stained glass images in Canterbury Cathedral are actually fakes created in the early twentieth century.
Comparing Pilgrim Souvenirs and Trinity Chapel Windows at Canterbury Cathedral
August 5, 2012 By
The story begins with two tin pilgrim ampullae2 made before 1220 in Canterbury, England, that were found centuries later, one in France (now in the Cluny Museum) and one in Norway (now in the Historical Museum in Bergen, Norway).
Martyrs on the Move: The Spread of the Cults of Thomas of Canterbury and Peter of Verona
July 22, 2012 By
No matter how one viewed Peter‟s and Thomas‟s personalities, the glaring fact of their instant and enduring cults forces the conclusion that their contemporaries all over Europe saw in them, and especially in their martyrdoms, desirable and compelling prototypes for Christian perfection. The spread and extent of these cults is the subject of this study.
The daughters of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine: a comparative study of twelfth-century royal women
June 17, 2012 By
This thesis is the first study of the daughters of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine which considers them in a dynastic context.
Saint by Association: Samson, Thomas Becket, and Simon de Montfort
December 11, 2011 By
The seemingly unusual companionship of Samson (of Samson and Delilah fame), Thomas Becket, the murdered Archbishop of Canterbury, and Simon de Montfort, the leader of the Barons War, has come about, for this paper, because of their mutual presence in the British Library’s Harley Manuscript 978.
Isaac of Stella, the Cistercians and the Thomas Becket Controversy: A Bibliographical and Contextual Study
May 22, 2011 By
Isaac of Stella, the Cistercians and the Thomas Becket Controversy: A Bibliographical and Contextual Study By Travis D. Stolz PhD Dissertation, Marquette University, 2010 Abstract: Isaac of Stella (ca. 1100-ca. 1169), an English-born Cistercian and abbot, has been dwarfed by Bernard of Clairvaux and other of his twelfth-century Cistercian contemporaries in terms of literary output and […]
Material and Meaning in Lead Pilgrims’ Signs
April 24, 2011 By
Material and Meaning in Lead Pilgrims’ Signs Lee, Jennifer (Indiana University – Purdue University of Indianapolis) Peregrinations, Vol.2, Issue 3 (2009) Abstract Thanks to the increase in medieval archaeology over the last half century, pilgrims‘ badges, ampullae, and other wearable tokens of devotion, most often called ―signs‖ in medieval documents, are now more numerous than any […]
Monasticism in Angevin England
January 23, 2011 By
Monasticism in Angevin England By Helen Steele Published Online Introduction: In 1164, King Henry II, now ten years into his reign, published the Constitutions of Clarendon. Henry was attempting to clarify the laws of England that had been left so uncertain after Stephen’s reign and the civil wars that accompanied it The Constitutions included clauses […]
Thomas Becket and the Quest for Martyrdom
January 16, 2011 By
Becket’s murder shocked the kingdom and brought the struggle between Church and State to the forefront.
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