Becket and Chaucer Case Contents

The cover of this LP by the Canterbury-based band, Caravan, uses a detail of Stothard’s Canterbury Pilgrims image.

Ampullae of tin or tin/lead alloy (pewter) were being made and sold in Canterbury as early as 1171, a year after Becket’s death. There was demand for the miracle working Canterbury water - believed to be tinged with the martyr’s blood – and it is thought that these ampullae were originally fashioned as a sealed container which could be worn suspended from a cord.
This example was cast in a mould and is inscribed “optimus egrorum medicus fit Toma bonorum” [Thomas is the best doctor of the worthy sick].

Lead souvenirs like these were made in thousands for medieval pilgrim visitors to the shrines of saints. The shrine of St James the Major in Compostella, Spain, had a shell as its pilgrim badge, St Edward the Confessor at Westminster a crown. Becket pilgrim badges were generally in the shape of a head, like the shrine that contained the piece of Becket’s skull sliced off by the sword blows that killed him, but others were available too. A selection of badges are shown here;
Square badge depicting Becket head
Badge depicting the episcopal gloves of Becket
Round badge with Becket head inside
Badge depicting Becket head flanked by two swords in circular frame
Badge depicting the shrine of Becket
Large badge depicting head and shoulders of Becket Round badge depicting head of Becket with pin on back Badge depicting head of Becket

The painting runs round the box with a detail of the Wife of Bath from Blake’s painting on the lid.

Likenesses of Chaucer are very rare. All date from after his death in 1440 and are based on two manuscript images painted shortly after Chaucer died. One of these shows him on horseback, and both depict him wearing round his neck a case containing a writing implement (a pen or stylus for writing on tablets), a token of his craft. The portrait displayed here is one of a small group painted in the later 1500s and deriving from a manuscript depiction known as the ‘Hoccleve Portrait’, now in the British Museum, London. These show Chaucer holding the pen case in his right hand, and the Chaucer family arms in the top left corner.
Purchased with grant-aid from the MGC/V&A Purchase Grant Fund, the Friends of Canterbury Museums and the Beecroft Bequest, 1991

Designed for Canterbury Cathedral by Gordon Davies

Produced by the Art Union

Used to make ampullae of St Thomas. The impression shows the design that would have been created using it.