Extract VIII

When the holy body was taken up from the ground, a small iron hammer and double-edged axe, left by the parricides, were found under him. He had taken possession of them as he fell, as if he were claiming power over them for himself. This demonstrated that in the future he would be a hammer of the wicked, and that no one would be able to evade his sentence of vengeance except by doing penance. Blood lay around his head in the likeness of a crown, perhaps as a sign of sanctity, but his face had no blood on it, except for a thin track that went from the right side of his forehead down to the left side of his face across his nose. Afterwards, he appeared to many people in visions bearing this mark. These people knew nothing about it, and yet described it as if they had seen it with their own corporeal eyes.1 See below, IV.37 and IV.52. As he still lay on the pavement, some daubed their eyes with blood, others, bringing vessels, took a portion away as best they could, and others eagerly dipped in pieces of cloth cut from their clothing. Afterwards, no one considered themselves to be fortunate who did not carry off some portion, however small, of that precious treasure.2 For miracles in Book I relating to this blood taken away from the cathedral, see below, I.12, I.17, and I.23. Since everyone was disordered and confused, each person could do as he liked. However, the part of the blood that they had left in the church was gathered most decently in a very clean vessel and kept back in the church to be preserved.3 For Benedict’s account of the first person to drink some of this blood (mixed with water) that had been gathered up by the monks, see below, I.12. His cloak and outer garment, stained with blood as they were, were given to the poor on behalf of his soul with indiscreet piety. They would have been happy enough, if they had not immediately and unwisely proffered them for sale at a small price.4 For the purchase and use of this cloak, see I.19 and I.21; for a miracle relating to the outer garment, see II.58. This clothing was pictured in Canterbury Cathedral’s stained glass: see Koopmans, “Gifts of Becket’s Clothing Made by the Monks of Christ Church, Canterbury,” in Tom Nickson (ed.), The Cult of Thomas Becket: Art, Relics, and Liturgy in Britain and Europe, special issue of the Journal of the British Archaeological Association 173:1 (2020): 39–60.