Chapter 18. Thomas Becket

When the holy archbishop Thomas was forced to flee England from King Henry, he stayed for a long time in the Cistercian abbey of Pontigny until the king threatened the monks with severe penalties if they continued to harbor him. From here, Thomas went to King Ludwig of France, who welcomed him with great friendliness and promised to allow him to remain until Thomas reconciled with Henry.

King Ludwig offered to fulfill any wish that Thomas asked during his banishment. Thomas thankfully accepted the king’s offer and said that he did have one wish: for the costly garnet that shone in the king’s coronation ring. Ludwig replied that the stone belonged to the crown jewels and that he couldn’t give it up but that he was ready to give Thomas another jewel that he had available. “Let it be,” answered Thomas, “if I can’t have the stone during my lifetime, then I’ll certainly receive it after I die.”

After the archbishop was reconciled by the pope with King Henry and returned to England, it nonetheless came to pass that he suffered martyrdom and was buried in Canterbury in 1170. A long time afterward King Ludwig became gravely ill such that his body became bloated and he totally lost his appetite. As the doctors’ art achieved nothing, the king decided to make a pilgrimage to Thomas’ grave that already proven its miraculous powers many times.

As soon as Ludwig saw Canterbury tower, he felt that his suffering was lifted and sincerely believed that his holy prayer caused this change. Wearing his royal jewelry, he entered the church, crown on his head and the precious ring of which was told previously on his finger. In a festive procession he went with his attendants to the altar to bring thanks to Thomas. As he stood up following his prayer, he placed his right hand on the altar. At that moment, the garnet sprang from the ring, rose in the air and settled on the holy man’s crypt, embedding itself so firmly in the silver that since then no human power has been able to remove it.

The king now told of the conversation he had once had with Thomas and declared that he wished the stone to be left where it is.

Translator’s note: Later history says the garnet was a ruby”…not larger than a thumbnail…” and a 1179 gift from Louis VII (not Ludwig) from his coronation ring known as the Regale of France. Later stolen during Henry VIII’s purge of the Anglican church in 1538, it was said to have been worn in his “pinky” ring. The pilgrim badge pictured above supposedly shows the original location of the ruby on Thomas Becket’s shrine being pointed out by the inscribed figure in the middle of the badge.