St Thomas Becket return from exile

This badge depicts the return of St Thomas Becket from exile in France in December 1170, only a month before his murder. This anniversary was commemorated every year at Canterbury with a festival known as the Return of St Thomas (Regressio Sancti Thomae). Here he is shown on board the ship with three companions: a knight, a clerk holding a book, and a third standing next to St Thomas. The knight's shield is charged with a cross. A sailor attends to the rigging in the stern of the ship.

Thomas Becket born in London in 1118. He became a royal official and a great friend of King Henry II. He was made Archbishop of Canterbury in 1162. He argued with King Henry II, and fled to France in 1164. Thomas Becket returned to Canterbury in 1170 and was killed in the cathedral by four knights who thought this would please the King. People were outraged at the murder of an archbishop on holy ground and Becket was made a saint. He became one of the patron saints of London. Many Londoners travelled to Canterbury to pray at the shrine there and bought badges as souvenirs of their pilgrimage.