pital of St. John at Acre. It was
believed that his prayers had once repulsed the Saracens from the walls of
the fortress, and he received the title of St. Thomas Acrensis. Near this
crescent a number of iron staples were to be seen at one time, and it is
likely that a trophy of some sort depended from them. The Watching Tower
was set high upon the Tower of St. Anselm, on the south side of the
shrine. It contained a fireplace, so that the watchman might keep himself
warm during the winter nights, and from a gallery between the pillars he
commanded a view of the sacred spot and its treasures. A troop of fierce
ban-dogs shared the task of guarding the shrine from theft. How necessary
such precautions were is shown by the fact that such a spot had to be
guarded not only from common robbers in search of rich booty, but also
from holy men, who were quite unscrupulous in their desire to possess
themselves and their own churches of sacred relics. Within the first six
years after Becket's death we read of two striking instances of the
lengths to which distinguished churchmen were carried by what Dean Stanley
calls "the first frenzy of desire for the relics of St. Thomas." Benedict,
a monk of Christ Church, and "probably the most distinguished of his
body," was created Abbot of Peterburgh in A.D. 1176. Disappointed to find
that his cathedral was very poor in the matter of relics he returned to
Canterbury, "took away with him the flagstones immediately surrounding the
sacred spot, with which he formed two altars in the conventual church of
his new appointment, besides two vases of blood and parts of Becket's
clothing." Still more striking and characteristic of the prevalent passion
for relics is the story of Roger, who was keeper of the "Altars of the
Martyrdom," or "Custos Martyrii." The brothers of St. Augustine's Abbey
were so eager to obtain a share in the glory which their great rival, the
neighbouring cathedral, had won from the circumstances of Becket's
martyrdom within its walls, that they actually offered Roger no less a
reward than the position of abbot in their own institution, on condition
that he should purloin for them some part of the remains of the martyr's
skull. And not only did Roger, though he had been specially selected from
amongst the monks of Christ Church to watch over this very treasure, agree
to their conditions, and after duly carrying out this piece of
sacrilegious burglary become Abbot of St. Augustine'