At first, at the time of his martyrdom, the martyr began to glisten with remarkable miracles, restoring sight to the blind, walking to the lame, hearing to the deaf, speech to the mute, and cleansing lepers, restoring paralytics, curing dropsy and all varieties of fatal, incurable disease, even resuscitating the dead. And miraculously exercising power over the demons and all the elements, he extended the touch of this power to unusual and unheard of signs. For instance, people deprived of their eyes and genitalia obtained new members by his merits.

1. Windows
In Canterbury Cathedral
Nina Aldin Thune
Kunsthistorie.com

2. The Cathedral

7. • Abbey of Benedictine monks
• Also the seat of the Archbishop of
Canterbury
• Site of important Anglo-Saxon church
that has recently been excavated

8. History
In 597 Pope Gregory the Great (the Gregorian
Chanter) orders a reluctant Augustine off to
England to convert the Brits to Christianity.
Augustine bases himself with a monastic
community known by the name of "Saints Peter
and Paul" in Canterbury, and quickly persuades
King Aethelbert of Kent to become the first of the
(Germanic) Anglo-Saxon Kings to be baptized,
which happens on Whitsunday (Pentecost) 597.

9. History
602: Saint Augustine dedicates the first
Canterbury Cathedral.

10. History
Repaired just before the Norman Conquest of
1066, the cathedral and its city are both largely
destroyed by a huge fire in 1067. Rebuilding,
and the English Church in general, are going
nowhere under the ineffective Anglo Saxon
Archbishop Stigand, and there is general relief
when he is deposed in 1070 and replaced by the
energetic, intelligent and widely respected Italian
Lanfranc (from Pavia), the Abbot who had put
the Abbey of Bec in Normandy on the map of
Europe.

11. • Nave and transepts rebuilt by
Archbishop Lanfranc (1070-89)
• Choir finished under his successors,
Arnulph and Conrad
• Archbishop Thomas Becket murdered
here on December 29, 1170

12. The Murder

13. Thomas Becket
On Tuesday 29 December 1170 was the murder
of Thomas Becket in the north-west transept by
knights of King Henry II. The king had frequent
conflicts with the strong-willed Becket and is
said to have exclaimed in frustration, "Who will
rid me of this turbulent priest?" The knights took
it literally and murdered Becket in his own
cathedral. Becket was the second of four
Archbishops of Canterbury who were murdered.

14. Thomas Becket
Archbishop Thomas Becket murdered here on
December 29, 1170

16. The murder of Thomas
Becket
According to John of Salisbury, the knights sliced
off the top of Becket’s skull and spread his brains
over the pavement, mixing blood and bone.

18. Tomb
Becket's original tomb was in the Crypt of
Canterbury Cathedral.
The monks buried the archbishop´s body in the
crypt that very night and denied public access to
the tomb until Easter of the following year

21. The Cathedral
after the murder

22. • Choir destroyed by fire in 1174-rebuilt
1176-84
• Became major English pilgrimage site
• Nave and east transept rebuilt in
Perpendicular Gothic style ca.
1365-1400

25. The Trinity-Chapel

26. • In 1180-84 the old, square-ended,
eastern chapel was replaced by the
present Trinity chapel, a broad
extension with an ambulatory designed
to house the shrine of St Thomas
Becket.
• 1220, fifty years after his martyrdom,
Becket's remains were translated to a
new shrine in his honor in the Trinity
Chapel of the Cathedral.

28. Windows

31. The windows
Of the ten original windows, only seven retain
medieval glass and the other three are comprised
of replacement glass and plain quarries

34. The Shrine

36. • The shrine was removed in 1538. Henry
VIII summoned the dead saint to court
to face charges of treason. In his
absence, he was found guilty, and the
treasures of his shrine confiscated,
carried away in two coffers and twenty-
six carts.

38. Shrine
St. Albans Abbey (Cathedral) Hertfordshire

41. Miracles

42. Thomas
Becket
Thomas is the best
doctor of the worthy
sick

43. • Miracles at the shrine of St. Thomas were
chronicled by two monks, William and Benedict.
• At first, at the time of his martyrdom, the martyr
began to glisten with remarkable miracles,
restoring sight to the blind, walking to the lame,
hearing to the deaf, speech to the mute, and
cleansing lepers, restoring paralytics, curing
dropsy and all varieties of fatal, incurable
disease, even resuscitating the dead. And
miraculously exercising power over the demons
and all the elements, he extended the touch of
this power to unusual and unheard of signs. For
instance, people deprived of their eyes and
genitalia obtained new members by his merits.

45. Juliane of Rochester
• Reading from left to right, the first
panel depicts a blind girl with her eyes
closed
• She grasps her father’s hand and
shoulder as he leads her through an
outdoor setting indicated by a plant-
like form twining over their heads

47. • The second scene shows the two
pilgrims as they approach Becket’s
tomb, represented by the portholes in
the side. Arches, a tower, and the tomb
symbolize the architecture of the
cathedral and imply a religious setting,
as does the figure of a monk applying a
mixture to the girl’s eyes.

49. • The final scene repeats the figures of
the father and daughter, once again
identified by their clothing, as they give
thanks to the saint for the miraculous
restoration of Juliana’s sight.

51. Richard Sunieve
• The first panel shows Richard at work
as a herdsman
• He then falls ill and takes to his bed

55. The Cure of Richard of
Sunieve
• He kneels in front of Becket’s tomb and
receives a mixture prepared by a monk
with a bowl and spoon or mortar and
pestle
• The next panel shows Richard cured.
He demonstrates the cure to those
around him, probably his master and
mistress

58. The Cure of Richard of
Sunieve
• The story concludes with Richard at the
tomb offering gold coins as thanks

60. St.Thomas Water

61. St.Thomas Water
• After the murder the monks had
carefully collected Thomas blood
• The martyr´s blood had been diluted
with water
• The blood and water was used as
medicin

62. St.Thomas
Water
A father tips up an
ampulla filled with
Canterbury water for
his son to drink.
Window n:II

66. Pilgrims

67. Pilgrims
• Because of the violent nature of his
death, Becket was considered a martyr
by the monks at Christ Church and the
English people. Word of the murder
quickly spread throughout the country,
and people began to flock to the
cathedral

68. Pilgrim
• St.Thomas appers to King LouisVII of
France in a dream
• LouisVII of France in Canterbury in
1179

71. Tekst

74. Thanks!
Nina Aldin Thune
Nina Aldin Thune