Dr Claire Carrothers, Queen Mary University of London visited Kent Archives to give a brilliant talk on Murder, Madness and Miracles: The Shrine of Thomas Becket and its Mad Pilgrims in Twelfth-Century Canterbury.
From giddiness and demonic possession, to visions of the Thomas Becket flying around the cathedral dolling out cures, Claire takes us through Canterbury's 12th Century fascinating miracle collections.
You can find a transcript of this talk here: https://bit.ly/3m2qukI
Kent Archives hold the largest collection of historic material relating to the ancient county of Kent dating back to 699 AD, from the earliest charters written on sheepskin to the present state of the art digital images. Our archive and local history collections tell the story of Kent and beyond, and are a focal point for the county’s heritage and culture, most of which you can access when you visit the Kent History and Library Centre in Maidstone.
While the archives consist of original records, often handwritten and unique, created in the course of human activities, the local history collection consists largely of printed material and includes published original records, as well as printed books. The collections tell the stories of people’s lives and their communities through diaries, eyewitness accounts, records of crime and punishment, titles to property, newspapers, photographs, maps and posters, and more.
Please visit kentarchives.org.uk for more information and our past talks.