St Thomas Becket

Pilgrim badge from the shrine of St Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral. This badge depicts the mitred head-shaped reliquary bust that held the remains of Becket’s skull. This type of badge, which depicts the head reliquary as a silhouette without any frame, is the most common of all Canterbury pilgrim souvenirs. Along the base is an inscription: ‘THOMAS’. The badge has snapped in two at the neck, which was the weakest point on this type badge. Sometimes such badges were deliberately folded at the neck, which made them liable to breaking.

Thomas Becket was born in London in 1118. He became a royal official and a great friend of King Henry II. He was made Archbishop of Canterbury in 1162. He argued with King Henry II, and fled to France in 1164. Thomas Becket returned to Canterbury in 1170 and was killed in the cathedral by four knights who thought this would please the king. People were outraged at the murder of an archbishop on holy ground and Becket was made a saint. He became one of the patron saints of London. Many Londoners travelled to Canterbury to pray at the shrine there and bought badges and ampullae (small bottles for holy water) as souvenirs of their pilgrimage.