Review: New musical at Barnstormers offers revisionist take on a Canterbury tale
conwaydailysun.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from conwaydailysun.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Open-air theatre performances in Dorset in July and August
greatbritishlife.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from greatbritishlife.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Published:
April 19, 2021 at 4:37 pm
On 29 December 1170, four of King Henry II’s knights murdered Archbishop Thomas Becket inside Canterbury Cathedral, scattering his blood and brains across the pavement. The killing, 850 years ago, marked the end of one of the most brilliant, divisive careers of England’s Middle Ages. Yet, in many ways, it was also a beginning.
Advertisement
News of Becket’s killing spread quickly and, in a matter of months, he had been transformed into one of the most famous martyrs in Christian history. Becket was canonised a mere three years after his death, while, within a decade, Canterbury monks had recorded 703 miracles related to the slain archbishop, and tens of thousands of visitors had flocked to the cathedral to venerate his remains. Supported by the circulation of new liturgies, miracle stories, sacred objects and holy relics, the cult of Becket soon dominated the landscape of Christendom, from Trondheim to Tarsus and Rochester to R