Editing Thomas Becket (section)

==After Becket's death==
After his death, the monks prepared Becket's body for burial.<ref name=ODNB/> According to some accounts, it was found that Becket had worn a [[cilice|hairshirt]] under his archbishop's garments – a sign of penance.<ref>Grim, Benedict of Peterborough and William fitzStephen are quoted in Douglas, et al. ''English Historical Documents 1042–1182'' Vol. 2, p. 821.</ref> Soon after, the faithful throughout Europe began venerating Becket as a [[martyr]], and on 21 February 1173 – little more than two years after his death – he was [[canonised]] by [[Pope Alexander III]] in St Peter's Church, [[Segni]].<ref name=ODNB/> In 1173, Becket's sister Mary was appointed [[Abbess]] of [[Barking Abbey|Barking]] as reparation for the murder of her brother.<ref>{{Cite book |title='Houses of Benedictine nuns: Abbey of Barking', A History of the County of Essex: Volume 2 |year=1907 |pages=115–122 |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=39832 |editor=William Page & J. Horace Round}}</ref> On 12 July 1174, amidst the [[Revolt of 1173–74]], Henry humbled himself in public [[penance]] at Becket's tomb and at [[St. Dunstan's, Canterbury|St Dunstan's Church, Canterbury]], which became a popular [[Christian pilgrimage|pilgrimage]] site.{{citation needed|date=May 2024}}

Becket's assassins fled north to de Morville's [[Knaresborough Castle]] for about a year. De Morville also held property in [[Cumbria]] and this too may have provided a hiding place, as the men prepared for a longer stay in the separate kingdom of Scotland. They were not arrested and Henry did not confiscate their lands, but he did not help them when they sought his advice in August 1171. Pope Alexander excommunicated all four. Seeking forgiveness, the assassins travelled to Rome, where the Pope ordered them to serve as knights in the [[Crusader states|Holy Lands]] for a period of 14 years.<ref name="Barlow pp. 257">Barlow ''Thomas Becket'' pp. 257–258.</ref>

This sentence also inspired the [[Knights of Saint Thomas]], incorporated in 1191 at [[Acre, Israel#Second Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem (1191-1291)|Acre]], and which was to be modelled on the [[Teutonic Knights]]. This was the only military order native to England (with chapters in not only Acre, but London, Kilkenny, and Nicosia), just as the [[Gilbertine Order]] was the only monastic order native to England. [[Henry VIII]] dissolved both of these during the Reformation, rather than merging them with foreign orders or nationalising them as elements of the Church of England.{{citation needed|date=May 2024}}

The monks were afraid Becket's body might be stolen, and so his remains were placed beneath the floor of the eastern [[crypt]] of the cathedral.<ref name="Barlow pp. 257"/> A stone cover over it had two holes where [[Christian pilgrimage|pilgrims]] could insert their heads and kiss the tomb,<ref name=ODNB/> as illustrated in the "Miracle Windows" of the [[Trinity Chapel]]. A guard chamber (now the Wax Chamber) had a clear view of the grave. In 1220, Becket's bones were moved to a new gold-plated, bejewelled shrine behind the high altar in the Trinity Chapel.<ref name="angl_Beck">{{Cite web |title=Becket's bones return to Canterbury Cathedral |last=Drake |first=Gavin |work=anglicannews.org |date=23 May 2016 |access-date=23 May 2016 |url=http://www.anglicannews.org/news/2016/05/beckets-bones-return-to-canterbury-cathedral.aspx}}</ref> The golden casket was placed on a pink marble base with prayer niches raised on three steps.<ref>Jenkins 'Modelling the Cult of Thomas Becket', pp. 104-114.</ref> Canterbury's religious history had always brought many pilgrims, and after Becket's death the numbers rapidly rose.{{citation needed|date=May 2024}}