The Cathedral Church of Canterbury | Page 6

Hartley Withers
in
which the martyr's body lay, and removed the stones which covered the
tomb. Four priests, specially conspicuous for their piety, were selected
to take out the relics, which were then placed in a strong coffer studded
with iron nails and fastened with iron hasps.
Next day a procession was formed, headed by the young king, Henry
III. After him came Pandulf, the Italian Bishop of Norwich and Papal
Nuncio, and Langton the archbishop, with whom was the Archbishop
of Rheims, Primate of France. The great Hubert de Burgh, Lord High
Justiciary, together with four other barons, completed the company,
which was selected to bear the chest to its resting-place. When this had
been duly deposited, a solemn mass was celebrated by the French
archbishop. The anniversary of this great festival was commemorated
as the Feast of the Translation of the Blessed St. Thomas, until it was
suppressed by a royal injunction of Henry VIII. in 1536.
A picture of the shrine itself is preserved among the Cottonian MSS.,
and a representation of it also exists in one of the stained windows of
the cathedral. At the end of it the altar of the Saint had its place; the
lower part of its walls were of stone, and against them the lame and
diseased pilgrims used to rub their bodies, hoping to be cured of their
afflictions. The shrine itself was supported on marble arches, and
remained concealed under a wooden covering, doubtless intended to
enhance the effect produced by the sudden revelation of the glories
beneath it; for when the pilgrims were duly assembled on their knees
round the shrine, the cover was suddenly raised at a given signal, and
though such a device may appear slightly theatrical in these days, it is
easy to imagine how the devotees of the middle ages must have been
thrilled at the sight of this hallowed tomb, and all the bravery of gold
and precious stones which the piety of that day had heaped upon it. The
beauties of the shrine were pointed out by the prior, who named the
giver of the several jewels. Many of these were of enormous value,
especially a huge carbuncle, as large as an egg, which had been offered
to the memory of St. Thomas by Louis VII. of France, who visited the
shrine in A.D. 1179, after having thrice seen the Saint in a vision. A
curious legend, thoroughly in keeping with the mystic halo of

miraculous power which surrounds the martyred archbishop's fame,
relates that the French king could not make up his mind to part with
this invaluable gem, which was called the "Regale of France;" but
when he visited the tomb, the stone, so runs the story, leapt forth from
the ring in which it was set, and fixed itself of its own will firmly in the
wall of the shrine, thus baffling the unwilling monarch's
half-heartedness. Louis also presented a gold cup, and gave the monks
a hundred measures, medii, of wine, to be delivered annually at Poissy,
also ordaining that they should be exempt from "toll, tax, and tallage"
when journeying in his realm. He himself was made a member of the
brotherhood, after duly spending a night in prayer at the tomb. It is said
that, "because he was very fearful of the water," the French king
received a promise from the Saint that neither he nor any other that
crossed over from Dover to Whitsand, should suffer any manner of loss
or shipwreck. We are told that Louis's piety was afterwards rewarded
by the miraculous recovery, through St. Thomas's intercession, of his
son from a dangerous illness. Louis was the first of a series of royal
pilgrims to the shrine. Richard the Lion Heart, set free from durance in
Austria, walked thither from Sandwich to return thanks to God and St.
Thomas. After him all the English kings and all the Continental
potentates who visited the shores of Britain, paid due homage, and
doubtless made due offering, at the shrine of the sainted archbishop.
The crown of Scotland was presented in A.D. 1299 by Edward
Longshanks, and Henry V. gave thanks here after his victory over the
French at Agincourt. Emperors, both of the east and west, humbled
themselves before the relics of the famous English martyr. Henry VIII.
and the Emperor Charles V. came together at Whitsuntide, A.D. 1520,
in more than royal splendour, and with a great retinue of English and
Spanish noblemen, and worshipped at the shrine which had then
reached the zenith of its glory.
But though the stately stories of these royal progresses to the tomb of
the martyred archbishop strike the imagination vividly, yet the picture
presented by Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" is in reality much more
impressive. For we find there all ranks
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