_Saint Thomas of Lancaster._--The following passage in Fuller's _Worthies_
(of Yorkshire) does not seem to have been noticed by either of your
correspondents who replied to MR. R. M. MILNES' Query in Vol. i., p. 181.:
"Thomas Plantagenet. Before I proceed, I must confess myself formerly
at a great loss to understand a passage in an honourable author,
speaking of the counterfeit reliques detected and destroyed at the
Reformation: 'The Bell of Saint Guthlac, and the _Felt_ of Saint Thomas
of Lancaster, both remedies for the headache.' (Vice Lord Herbert's
_Life of Henry VIII._, p. 431.) But I could recover no Saint _Thomas_
(saving him of _Canterbury_) in any English Martyrology, till since, on
enquiry, I find him to be this _Thomas Plantagenet_. He was Earl of
Derby, Lancaster, Leicester, and (in the right of Alice his wife) of
Lincoln. A popular person, and great enemy to the two Spencers, minions
to King Edward II, who being hated as devils for their pride, no wonder
if this Thomas was honored as a Saint and Martyr by the common sort.[6]
Indeed he must be a very good chymist who can extract _martyr_ out of
_malefactor_; and our chronicles generally behold him put to death for
treason against King Edward II. But let him pass for a saint in this
shire, though never solemnly canonised, it being true of such local
saints, what Servius Honoratus observeth of topical gods, '_ad alias
regiones nunquam transibant_,' they travelled not so far as to be
honored in other countries. His beheading, _alias_ his martyrdom,
happened at Pomfret A.D. 1322."
It would appear from the foregoing extract that Thomas of Lancaster was
never admitted into the Romish calendar of saints; though his memory was
locally revered, especially for his opposition to the two Spencers, or
Despensers, as they are called by Hume. This historian had no respect for
"the turbulent Lancaster;" but the quaint old Fuller seems to have thought
well of him.
As a _bell-man_ I am more interested in the virtues of the bell of Saint
Guthlac, than in the hat of Saint Thomas, and I take this opportunity of
asking assistance from the readers of "NOTES AND QUERIES" towards a
collection of curious anecdotes and information about bells, which I am
endeavouring to make. Any contributions will be thankfully received by me.