Becket’s personal psalter found in library

The personal psalter of St. Thomas Becket, who was martyred in 1170, has been found in a library at the University of Cambridge, according to Christopher de Hamel, a member of the university’s history faculty.

According to a 1321 document, “Becket’s personal psalter had been preserved after his death at the hands of four knights in the same cathedral in 1170,” according to Fine Books & Collections magazine.

“After reading the entry, Dr. de Hamel realized he had seen a book of psalms that exactly fit that description in the holdings of Cambridge’s Parker Library”—over 100 miles away from Canterbury cathedral, where the archbishop suffered martyrdom.