Dan Hitchens

Why Thomas Becket still divides opinion

The verdict is still out on the troublesome priest, but there’s no doubting the brilliance of the art he inspired

Not just an interesting historical document: a panel from the Miracle window, Canterbury Cathedral, early 1200s, showing the castration of Eilward. Credit: © The Chapter, Canterbury Cathedral 
issue 22 May 2021

Visitors to the British Museum’s new exhibition will become acquainted with one of the most gloriously bizarre stories in the history of English Christianity: the tale of Eilward, a 12th-century Bedfordshire peasant. One day Eilward is in the pub when he has the misfortune to run into his neighbour Fulk, to whom he owes a small debt.

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