Chaucer Meets Shakespeare
Reliquary Pendant with Queen Margaret of Sicily Blessed by Bishop Reginald of Bath This pendant was made sometime in between 1174 to 1177, and presented to Queen Margaret of Sicily by Bishop Reginald of Bath (as the title suggests). This 5 x 3.1 x .7 cm pendant is engraved gold, and its exact artist is unknown, though my suspicion is that either the Bishop himself or someone working directly under him created it. The Metropolitan Museum of Art considers it to be of British culture (which I agree with), and it was made in Canterbury, England. The Reliquary Pendant was likely presented to the queen due to her son’s marriage in 1177, to the daughter of Henry II. I chose to sketch the back of the painting, as this is where the most detail remains, but the front of the pendant once contained relics of Thomas Becket’s ‘bloodied vestments’ which were likely covered by a crystal. Henry II had instigated the murder of Becket, his former friend and Chancellor, on the 29th of ...