IMC 2021: Sessions

Session 2323: The Many Beckets, III: Venerating St Thomas in the Medieval and Modern Worlds

Friday 9 July 2021, 16.30-18.00

Sponsor:	Exploring the Past Pathway, Cardiff University
Organiser:	Paul Webster, School of History, Archaeology & Religion, Cardiff University
Moderator/Chair:	Rachel M. Koopmans, Department of History, York University, Toronto
Paper 2323-a	'Carbunculus ignitus lilie': Veneration and Family Memory in a Motet for St Thomas Becket (Language: English) Katherine Emery, Independent Scholar, Leigh-on-Sea Index terms: Architecture - Religious, Hagiography, Liturgy, Music
Paper 2323-b	Protecting Becket: Antiquarianism, English Catholics, and the Presentation of Medieval Material Culture (Language: English) Naomi Speakman, Department of Prehistory & Europe, British Museum, London / Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London Index terms: Archaeology - Artefacts, Ecclesiastical History, Medievalism and Antiquarianism
Paper 2323-c	Who Put the 'à' in Thomas à Becket?: An Orthonymic Study (Language: English) John Jenkins, Centre for the Study of Christianity & Culture, University of York Index terms: Architecture - Religious, Ecclesiastical History, Medievalism and Antiquarianism
Abstract	Our final session commemorating the 2020 Thomas Becket anniversaries focuses on different contexts for veneration of Becket. The first paper considers the 'Carbunculus ignitus lilie', the sole surviving voice of a lost 15th century motet honouring Thomas Becket, probably written by King Henry V as a call for saintly intercession and as mourning for his father. Focus then turns to the preservation of material culture relating to St Thomas between the 17th and 19th centuries, and approaches to collecting adopted by English Catholics and the scholarly antiquarian network. Finally, we turn to a question which has been a source of contention ever since Becket's birth: what exactly is his name, and where did the stubbornly persisting 'à' in 'Thomas à Becket' come from?