St Michael Cornhill
City of London, Greater London
The church lies over the remains of the Basilica, the northern most part of the great Roman Forum built in the first century AD.
The beautiful images, painted in the early 13th century, were covered up with lime wash rather than destroyed during King Henry VIIIs injunctions of 1538.
The oldest images can be found on he south wall. Portraying a series of martyrdoms, the most important is that of Thomas a Becket being killed by four of King Henry IIs knights. It is easy to see why they had to be destroyed, for Becket was a pilgrimage icon. The priest did well in painting over them for they were kept secret until rediscovered in the 19th century by Revd Eddy, who brought them back to their full glory.
The image thought to have been drawn about fifty years after Becket’s death shows quite clearly the four knights with their triangular shields and identifiable because of the arms upon them as Reginakd fitz Urse, Hugh de Morville, William de Tracy and Richard le Breton.
The story is that the four of them arrived in Canterbury on 29 December 1170 and having left their weapons under a nearby tree entered the cathedral and ordered Thomas Becket to go with them to the city of Winchester to testify to the King. Becket refused and the knights went to retrieve their weapons. The monks who were with the Archbishop preparing for a service, begged him to barricade the doors but he refused. The knights strode in and approached Becket, the monks were already chanting when the blows reigned down.