Silk: Middle East or Byzantium (?), embroidery: England, ca 1200
Embroidery in gold thread on white silk, weft-faced compound twill
17,3 cm
Inv.-Nr. T 17
From Seligenthal Monastery near Landshut, acquired before 1866
Gallery 6
On its front the mitre shows a representation of the murder of Thomas Becket and on its reverse the Stoning of St Stephen. Soon after his death Thomas Becket came to be venerated in England as a martyr who had died for the freedom of the church. Depictions of his martyrdom in gold embroidery, especially mitres elaborately embroidered in gold thread (opus anglicanum) acted to propagate the cult throughout the European continent.