It is strange
that the severed head of Blessed Thomas More should lie in the very
church whence Henry II. set forth to do penance for the murder of the
first Thomas.
We have no authentic record of the final catastrophe, such deeds are
usually done in darkness. All we really know is that in 1538 "the
bones, by command of the Lord (Thomas) Cromwell, were there and then
burnt ... the spoile of the shrine in golde and precious stones filled
two greate chests such as six or seven strong men could doe no more
than convey one of them out of the church." That the shrine was of
unsurpassed magnificence we have many witnesses. "The tomb of St Thomas
the Martyr," writes a Venetian traveller who had seen it, "surpasses
all belief. Notwithstanding its great size it is wholly covered with
plates of pure gold; yet the gold is scarce seen because it is covered
with various precious stones as sapphires, balasses, diamonds, rubies
and emeralds; and wherever the eye turns something more beautiful than
the rest is observed; nor in addition to these natural beauties is the
skill of art wanting, for in the midst of the gold are the most
beautiful sculptured gems, both small and large as well as such as are
in relief, as agates, onyxes, cornelians and cameos; and some cameos
are of such size that I am afraid to name it; but everything is far
surpassed by a ruby, not larger than a thumb-nail, which is fixed at
the right of the altar.
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