2020 programme commemorating the murder of Thomas Becket unveiled
- 2020 is the 850th anniversary of the murder of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury
- Year-long programme of Becket2020 events unveiled
- British Museum to host first ever major UK exhibition on Thomas Becket’s life, death and legacy
A year-long programme of events marking the 850th anniversary of one of the most shocking crimes in European history, the murder of Thomas Becket, are unveiled today. ‘Becket2020’ will see venues in London, Canterbury and beyond host a range of events across the year to commemorate his murder – a moment which changed the course of history. The programme includes performances, pageants, talks, film screenings and religious services, and culminates in the first ever major UK exhibition to explore Becket’s life, death and legacy which will open at the British Museum in October.
Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, was murdered on 29 December 1170 – 849 years ago tomorrow. He was killed in Canterbury Cathedral by four knights with close ties to his former friend King Henry II, as eye-witnesses looked on. Becket was quickly canonised a saint by the Pope and his shrine at Canterbury became a major centre of European pilgrimage before being destroyed on the orders of Henry VIII in the early years of the English Reformation. In both the Roman Catholic and Anglican Church he is recognised as a saint and a martyr.
In 2020, Canterbury will be the centre of activity celebrating Becket. A major new production of T. S. Eliot’s Murder in the Cathedral will be performed for the first time in Canterbury Cathedral in October and is a joint initiative with The Marlowe Theatre. The Cathedral will also host a special choral evensong service to commemorate Becket’s martyrdom on the 29 December 2020. Elsewhere in the city, other highlights include Saint Thomas Becket – World Celebrity Healer at The Beaney, a community creative project focusing on mental and physical health and wellbeing in the context of Becket’s fame. In July, Canterbury’s fifth annual Medieval Pageant and Trail will take place, and this year commemorates Henry ll’s pilgrimage to Canterbury to perform penance for his association with the murder of Becket.
London, the city of Becket’s birth, will also host a range of important events. Thomas Becket (title tbc) at the British Museum will be the first time Becket’s life, death and legacy has been explored in a major exhibition in the UK. Opening in October, it will showcase an incredible array of over 100 objects associated with Becket, including manuscripts, jewellery, sculpture, stained glass and paintings, and will feature artefacts from the Museum’s collection as well as important loans from the UK and around the world. It will present Becket’s tumultuous journey: from London-merchant’s son to Archbishop; and from a revered saint in death, to a ‘traitor’ in the eyes of Henry VIII, over 350 years later. Highlights include a number of beautiful sacred reliquaries which once contained precious relics of Thomas Becket. These were taken across Continental Europe and speak to the profound international spread of his cult.
Also in the capital, The Museum of London will display a selection of their extraordinary collection of pilgrim badges. For over 300 years, Londoners flocked to Becket’s shrine in Canterbury often returning with a badge as a keepsake. The Museum of London will use examples to illustrate Becket’s extraordinary life and his connections to the capital. Visitors will be encouraged to undertake their own mini-pilgrimage through the museum’s Medieval London Gallery from 14 February to October 2020. In June, the Becket Pageant for London will be a landmark community project centred around a new 70-minute stage-work and set against the iconic backdrop of medieval Guildhall Yard. The event will seek to re-imagine the only known Becket pageant, performed in London in 1519, and will be a playful musical entertainment for a modern audience. His Grace The Most Reverend and Right Honourable Justin Welby, The Archbishop of Canterbury, will preach at Southwark Cathedral in December 2020, in commemoration of Thomas Becket’s final sermon which took place at the same site shortly before his death. The Cathedral will also host an art installation by artist Michelle Rumney during Lent.
Naomi Speakman, co-curator of Thomas Becket at the British Museum, said: “the story of Thomas Becket’s life, death and legacy has all the hallmarks of a Game of Thrones plot. There’s drama, fame, royalty, power, envy, retribution, and ultimately a brutal murder that shocked Europe. These events had repercussions that have echoed out through time, and we’re delighted to be telling this important story for the first time in a major exhibition.”
Thomas Becket (title tbc) is at the British Museum from 15 October 2020 until 14 February 2021.
Becket2020 programme of events.
This is a draft programme of events, to which others are in the process of being added, based on information derived from partners.
Canterbury Cathedral will take the lead on the leaflet and website for Becket 2020.
Events:
23 January – ‘Lecture: ‘Thomas Becket and the Young Henry III’ by Professor David Carpenter, Professor of Medieval History (King’s College London)
7.00pm Claggett Auditorium, Canterbury Cathedral Lodge.
Free to Historical Association members and students; £3 for others
14 February (to October) – Becket 2020 pilgrim badge display at the Museum of London (free)
St Thomas Becket is an internationally renowned figure but his connections to London are rather less well-known. For over 300 years, Londoners flocked to Becket’s shrine in Canterbury often returning with a pewter badge as a keepsake. Hundreds of these pilgrim souvenirs have been recovered from London excavations and mudlarking activity along the Thames and the museum holds the largest collection in the country.
The Museum of London will use some of its pilgrim badges to illustrate St Thomas Becket’s extraordinary life and his connections to the capital. Visitors will be encouraged to undertake their own mini-pilgrimage through the museum’s Medieval London Gallery from 14 February to October 2020. The display will deal with Thomas Becket the man and his early life in London, his exile and murder, the impact of his death and rise in miracle cures and finally, Becket’s shrine and the Jubilee of the Martyrdom in 1220.
25 February – Lecture on Becket & London by Prof Caroline Barron, Mercers’ Hall, London
26 March – “The two Thomases” talk by Dean of Hereford, Hereford Cathedral
27 March – Annual Thomas Becket Lecture, a talk by Lord Rowan Williams on ‘Bede and Canterbury’ to anticipate the opening of the Medieval Canterbury Weekend (Venue: Canterbury Christ Church University).
3-5 April – Medieval Canterbury Weekend. 3-5 April 2020. Includes ‘Becket was a Londoner’ lecture on 5/4/20). Venue: Canterbury Christ Church University https://www.canterbury.ac.uk/arts-and-humanities/school-of-humanities/medieval-canterbury-weekend/medieval-canterbury-weekend.aspx
April to October 2020 – Canterbury Cathedral Eastern Crypt set aside as Pilgrimage Chapel for Becket2020
16 May – 27 September – ‘Becket – World Celebrity Healer’ exhibition at The Beaney House of Art and Knowledge, Canterbury https://canterburymuseums.co.uk/events/saint-thomas-becket-world-celebrity-healer/
18 May – ‘Church, Saints and Seals, 1150-1300’ (a one-day conference at Canterbury Cathedral and Canterbury Christ Church University).
24 May – Friends of Southwark Cathedral pilgrimage set off from London to Canterbury Cathedral. Arrive 1st June
30 May – Day of Prayer and Pilgrimage, plus Beacon Event (Canterbury Cathedral)
25 June–2 July – King’s Week (The King’s School, Canterbury) will include Becket-themed events.
27 June – Becket on Film screenings (Dr Tim Jones, Canterbury Christ Church University)
Late June (one of the final two weekends) – London pageant, Guildhall Yard (Emmeline Winterbotham)
4 July – Canterbury Medieval Pageant and Family Trail (An annual Becket-themed community event, led by the Canterbury Business Improvement District, involving community groups, re-enactors, and heritage organisations across the city).
4 July – Blessing of Becket Copes at Evensong (Canterbury Cathedral)
4 July – An evening screening of the 1960s film ‘Becket’ at the Gulbenkian (Venue: University of Kent, Canterbury).
5 July – Canterbury Cathedral major service for the Translation of Becket. 10.00 Eucharist, 15.00 ecumenical service
6th July – 31st Dec 2020 – “The Two Thomases” Exhibition at Hereford Cathedral
7 July – St Thomas Day
19 July – Canterbury Cathedral’s ‘Night of the Cathedral’ event 17.30 – 21.00
July (date TBC) – Film Screening by Dr Tim Jones of the 1970 anniversary of Becket’s martyrdom (Venue: Canterbury Christ Church University).
26 August – Pilgrimage Visit to Canterbury Cathedral from the Friends of Hereford Cathedral
Late August / September – A 3-week exhibition and series of talks on Kentish saints (Venue: Centre for Kent History and Heritage, in partnership with Canterbury Archaeological Trust, the Kent Archaeological Society and other local partners):
- Monday 31 August: St Martin’s: An introduction to the cult of saints: Dr Sarah James (University of Kent)
- Tuesday 1 September: St Paul’s: Early Episcopal Saints: Dr Diane Heath (CCCU)
- Wednesday 2 September: St Mildred’s: Anglo-Saxon female saints: Dr Hilary Powell (CCCU)
- Thursday 3 September: St Dunstan’s: ‘Conflicting convictions: martyrs of the 16th century’: Dr Doreen Rosman (retired, University of Kent)
- Friday 4 September: St Peter’s: Late medieval minor and failed cults: Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh (CCCU)
- Saturday 5 September: St Thomas RC church: St Thomas of Canterbury: Professor Rachel Koopmans (York University, Toronto)
September – A Sandwich to Canterbury relay walk (incorporating local parishes between Sandwich and Canterbury – tbc).
September – The Annual Education Day hosted by the Canterbury Tales Attraction with local partners.
September – Heritage Open Days will have a Becket theme.
19 September – Canterbury Cathedral Friends ‘Friends Day’, for members only, with a Becket theme (Venue: Canterbury Cathedral).
27 September – Lees Court Singing Compline for Becket at Canterbury Cathedral
3 October – Joint Evensong Portsmouth & Dio Pilgrimage (Canterbury Cathedral)
15 Oct 2020 onwards – British Museum Thomas Becket exhibition, London (end date and title TBC)
22-24 Oct 2020 – Murder in the Cathedral in Canterbury Cathedral. Major joint production with Marlowe Theatre.
27-29 Oct 2020 – Canterbury Cathedral: Big Draw and Childrens Pilgrimage activities
11-13/14 November – ‘Thomas Becket: Life, Death and Legacy’ Conference (Canterbury Cathedral, Canterbury Christ Church University and University of Kent – dates and keynotes confirmed including Prof. Anne Duggan, Prof. Rachel Koopmans, Prof. Alec Ryrie, Prof. Nick Vincent, Dr Paul Webster; Venue: Canterbury Cathedral; funded by the British Academy).
29 December – Special choral evensong service to commemorate Becket’s martyrdom (Venue: Canterbury Cathedral).
Other Canterbury events in planning include:
- Annual Anselm Lecture (University of Kent at Canterbury – date tbc).
- St Dunstan’s Church, Canterbury, will produce a leaflet on Henry II and Becket.
- St Thomas’s Church, Canterbury, will have a musical event, a possible exhibition and has a strong interest in pilgrimage.
- The Canterbury Society will also host a Becket-related talk.
- The St Dunstan’s underpass in Canterbury will have a new mural depicting medieval pilgrims through to modern students.
- Canterbury Archaeological Trust Activities: (1) a workshop on Canterbury in the age of Becket, with object handling; (2) holding one or more walking tours of Canterbury in the age of Becket; (3) running an East Kent tour of individual sites (monuments, churches, etc.); (4) developing Apps for 20 centuries of Canterbury; and (5) producing a new book on Canterbury and a new map of Canterbury.
Other events to be aware of:
- Lambeth 2020. 27 July – 1 Aug 2020 (University of Kent and Canterbury Cathedral)
- The Open Golf, 12-19 July 2020 Sandwich, Kent
- Canterbury Festival (17-31 October 2020)
Press release for the 2020 programme commemorating the murder of Thomas Becket from the British Museum
