I am forwarding this message from the Chaucer discussion group in hopes
that the common wisdom here may help. Apologies for cross-posting.
Mark Allen
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Date: Mon, 19 Aug 1996 21:12:32 -0600
From: LAURA HODGES <[log in to unmask]>
To: Multiple recipients of list CHAUCER <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: query: Becket's relics
Does anyone know what Becket relics were kept at Canterbury Cathedral after
his death? I know there was a tomb, and there was a shrine. I know ampules
were available containing what I can only suppose were very much diluted
solutions said to contain his blood. Arthur Penrhyn Stanley (1815-1881)
writes of a shirt belonging to Osbert used to wrap Becket's head and that
absorbed his blood, the axe which Fitzurse had used, a small iron hammer
(maybe used to open the door), 2 fragments of Le Bret's broken sword, the
cap worn by Becket. And he says that Becket's cloak and "outer pelisse"
were blood-stained, and were given away to the poor. All of this is in his
_Memorials of Canterbury_, but since this is a 19th c. work, I'm wondering
how much faith to put in it.
But does anyone know of a better source on the Becket relics?
Laura Hodges
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