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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 ---------- Forwarded message ---------- 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 [log in to unmask] %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%