to have bubbled up after he struck the ground with his crozier. The absence of nightingales in Otford is also ascribed to Becket, who is said to have been so disturbed in his devotions by the song of a nightingale and commanded that none sing in the town ever again. In the town of Strood, Kent, Becket is said to have caused the inhabitants and their descendants to be born with tails. The men of Strood had sided with the king in his struggles against the archbishop, and to demonstrate their support had cut off the tail of Becket's horse as he passed through the town. The saint's fame quickly spread through the Norman world. The first holy image of Becket is thought to be a mosaic icon still visible in Monreale Cathedral in Sicily, created shortly after his death. Becket's cousins obtained refuge at the Sicilian court during their exile, and King William II of Sicily wed a daughter of Henry II. Marsala Cathedral in western Sicily is dedicated to Becket. Over 45 medieval chasse reliquaries decorated in champlevé enamel showing similar scenes from Becket's life survive, including the Becket Casket, constructed to hold relics of him at Peterborough Abbey and now housed in London's Victoria and Albert Museum. Legacy In 1170 King Alfonso VIII of Castille married Eleanor Plantagenet, second daughter of Henry II. She honoured Becket with a wall painting of his martyrdom that survives in the church of San Nicolás de Soria in Spain. Becket's assassination made an impact in Spain: within five years of his death Salamanca had a church named after him, Iglesia de Santo Tomás Cantuariense. A monumental frescoes with the martyrdom of Thomas Becket were depicted in the romanesque church of Santa Maria at Terrassa. Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales features a company of pilgrims walking from Southwark to Becket's shrine in Canterbury Cathedral. The story of Becket's life became a popular theme for medieval Nottingham Alabaster carvers. One set of Becket panels is shown in the Victoria and Albert Museum. The arms of the City of Canterbury, officially registered in 1619 but dating back to at least 1380, is based on the attributed arms of Thomas Becket: Argent, three Cornish choughs proper, with the addition of a chief gules charged with a lion passant guardant or from the Royal Arms of England. In 1884, England's poet laureate Alfred, Lord Tennyson wrote