I mentioned last week that I took a tour of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre on a recent trip to London. During our stay in England, my husband and I booked a train to Canterbury, where we explored the
Canterbury Cathedral, a World Heritage Site with its own literary ties.
The pilgrims of Geoffrey Chaucer's
Canterbury Tales exchanged stories as they made their way to the cathedral to pay homage at the tomb of Thomas à Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury who was killed in the church by knights from King Henry II's court. The king and the archbishop were childhood friends, but after Henry made Becket the Archbishop of Canterbury, Becket chose to support the church, not the king, in a struggle for power. In his frustration, Henry is supposed to have said, "Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest?" The knights chose to act on this, and just over two years after Becket's death, the Catholic Church in turn declared him a saint.
If you visit Canterbury, you can journey with Chaucer's characters and listen to their stories at a popular visitor attraction, The Canterbury Tales, which is a short walk from the cathedral. You'll hear some of the more familiar stories, including The Knight's Tale, The Miller's Tale, The Wife of Bath's Tale and The Pardoner's Tale.
As for works more directly related to the infamous event at Canterbury Cathedral, see T.S. Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral and Jean Anouilh's Becket.
--Sarah C. Lange
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