Plaque over the tomb of Odet de Coligny © P.E. Blanche, 1998

What Happened to Thomas à Becket? - Odet de Coligny 1517 - 1571

Odet de Coligny, Cardinal Châtillon, The Bishop of Beauvais, is perhaps an odd person to join the cast of characters in the hunt for Becket's remains. It is particularly curious that he might be involved at all because he actually died in 1571, some thirty-three years are the destruction of the Shrine of St. Thomas.

The Tomb of Odet de Coligny in The Trinity Chapel ©P.E.Blanche, 1998

So, how does Odet de Coligny become involved?

The Cardinal was actually a Huguenot leader in 15th Century France and the story is, that he came to England in 1568 to ask for help from Queen Elizabeth, by then, a Protestant Queen. Whatever his relationship was with the Queen and how he got on in England is not important at this point, the fact was that he died under mysterious circumstance in 1571. At this point he was laid to rest in a temporary and very plain tomb covered in hessian and plaster in The Trinity Chapel. This was supposed to be a temporary situation pending the return of his body to France.
This never happened and still, to this day, the tomb remains in this very prominent position. Why should this be?
Rumour is that the body had been taken back to France and buried there long ago. However, the other rumour that "dove-tails" with the first one, is that after secretly hiding the relics of St. Thomas away for several years since the destruction of the shrine, his bones were brought back to The Trinity Chapel and place here. After all, The Cardinal may have been a relatively important person in his native France at the time but why would he warrant being buried near the Corona of this Cathedral and in an area where the bodies of a King, a Prince and other important English dignitaries lie?

previous page | site index