Reliquary Pendant with Queen Margaret of Sicily Blessed by Bishop Reginald of Bath

An engraved Latin inscription on the back identifies the object: "Bishop Reginald of Bath gives this to Queen Margaret of Sicily. An inscription on the obverse lists the relics once contained beneath the crystal: "From the blood of the holy martyr Thomas. From his vestments stained with his blood: cloak, belt, hood, shoe, shirt." The bishop probably gave this pendant to the queen on the occasion of the marriage of her son in 1177 to the daughter of Henry II. The king incited the murder of his former friend and chancellor Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, on December 29, 1170.