Why is Thomas Becket sometimes called Thomas a Becket? Why is St Thomas of Canterbury called Thomas Becket? I get asked these questions a lot, so I decided to find out. I’m hoping to turn this into an article, but I thought I’d start it as a thread🧵 Thomas’s dad’s name was Gilbert Beket. Beket is a variant of Bek, which has three possible meanings. It can mean someone who lived by a brook or stream; someone from the Bec region of Normandy; or it’s a nickname meaning ‘beaky’, having a nose like a bird’s beak.

OTD 850 years ago (Weds 30 Dec 1170) Thomas Becket's funeral is held in Canterbury Cathedral #Beecket850 #Becket2020. (Image from BL MS Harley 5102 fo. 17r, c. 1200) Robert de Broc had returned to the cathedral at dawn the morning after the murder, telling the monks that the land was rid of a traitor, and that if they did not bury the body quickly he would have it dragged around the city then thrown into a cesspit.

OTD, and at this hour, 850 years ago (Tues 29 Dec 1170) Thomas Becket dresses for the cold wintry day, his hair shirt covered by white underclothes, a black tunic, two lambskin mantles with a longer one on top, a fine white tunic, and a long black cloak #Becket850 #Becket2020 He attends the morning Morrow Mass in the cathedral, celebrated by the monks, and confesses to his personal confessor. Afterwards the monks claimed that he was scourged three times for his sins by his confessor this morning, in a none-too-subtle echo of Christ's passion.

OTD 850 years ago (Mon 28 Dec 1170) The four knights arrive in England after an untroubled sea crossing, two of them landing at Winchelsea and two at Dover. They make their way to Ranulph de Broc at Saltwood Castle to hatch their plan for tomorrow #Becket850 #Becket2020 The knights and de Broc decide to surround Canterbury with garrison troops, and thus force Becket to yield to the king's demands. One of de Broc's servants slips away to tell Becket of the plot, to which the archbishop, shaken, replies 'these are dreadful threats'.

OTD 850 years ago (Sun 27 Dec 1170) Becket's envoys to the pope and King of France leave Canterbury, and there are many tearful farewells. One of King Henry's servants, sympathetic to Becket, arrives and gives him a note warning him of the danger he is in #Becket850 #Becket2020 (It's worth pointing out that Becket's hagiographers make the ending seem far more inevitable than it was by scattering doom-laden warnings and premonitions through the final month. It's not really possible to tell which are real and how much they were believed at the time)

OTD 850 years ago (Weds 2nd Dec 1170) Thomas Becket arrives at Canterbury, returning to his cathedral church for the first time in over six years. (Badge mould depicting Becket on horseback on his return from exile, BM 1890,1002.1) News of his arrival at Sandwich had travelled ahead, so the cathedral church was suitably decorated and bellringers stood ready to mark his entrance into the city. Becket rode the 12 miles with his large retinue, including Alexander Llewellyn his crossbearer going before him.

OTD 850 years ago (Tuesday 1 December 1170) Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, lands at Sandwich on his return from exile in France, the first time he had set foot in England in over 6 years. He was three weeks short of his 50th birthday, and four weeks away from his death The Return of St Thomas was an important feast in the monastic calendar of (as far as we know) two places - Canterbury Cathedral and Arbroath Abbey, although at Canterbury it was celebrated on the 2nd Dec when he arrived at the Cathedral rather than when he landed.

A week late to be topical, but something fun from the archives: the report of the ill-fated and only 'Passion Play' held *in* Westminster Cathedral during Passion Week 1966. Note 'Joan and Tony' dressed like extras from Grease in the top-centre picture! The brainchild of Cathedral Administrator George 'Tommy' Tomlinson, who came to the cathedral from a media background (and 'not a cathedral man' according to his predecessor in the role) Tomlinson got Cardinal Heenan's reluctant approval for the play at the second time of asking

You might have seen our reconstructions of the sites associated with Thomas Becket in @No1Cathedral, but over the last year we (@CandCYork) also made this - a digital model of the city of Canterbury in the mid-15th century. So I thought I'd do a thread on some of the highlights / The Cathedral dominates the city, and is vastly bigger than anything else within the walls. We wanted to show how, like the city itself, it was for most of the 15th C a building site - Bell Harry and the Martyrdom chapel are under construction and under scaffold /2