The Mercers’ Company, London, and St Thomas Becket During the Reformation

Abstract

On 14th March 1554 at the Mercers' Hall on Cheapside, London, 'serten velyns [villains] dyd breke the neke of the ymage of sant Thomas of Canturbere, and on of ys arms broke'. This attack followed a previous bout of iconoclasm earlier in the year. Through the biographical study of this statue of St Thomas Becket, this paper provides a fresh insight into the London experience of the Reformation in the first half of the sixteenth century. By drawing on theories of the temporal nature of art, the paper explores how the turbulent history of London, plus royal religious policies, during the English Reformation maps onto the treatment of the statue from the reign of Henry VIII to Elizabeth I. It considers the importance of the statue both to the Mercers' Company and within the City and how the statue reflects the complex religious sentiments felt by contemporaries in London.