A Life of Thomas Becket in Verse
La Vie de saint Thomas Becket by Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence
Description
Composed in the immediate aftermath of Becket's murder in 1170, and based, in part, on oral testimony gathered at Canterbury and from Becket's sister, Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence's 6180-line narrative poem is the earliest Life of Becket to appear in the French vernacular. Its account of Becket's life and martyrdom, though heavily biased in favour of its saintly protagonist and the cause he embraced, is informative as well as vigorously polemical. It offers a viewpoint different from that of contemporary Latin historians in that it was written to be listened to by laymen and women. It was also recited at the saint's tomb at Canterbury, and provides therefore a picture of events that would have reached a contemporary French-speaking public avid for first-hand knowledge of their new heroic martyr.
Reviews
"This is the first new English translation of the verse Life of Thomas Becket by Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence in almost forty years, and both the translation and the introductory materials take full advantage of the many significant changes in scholarship since that time. Guernes' work is itself an essential witness to the cultural, intellectual, and political upheavals in England during the twelfth century: the emergence of a vibrant new francophone literary culture; the rising importance of written documents and bureaucracy; and the long-rumbling contest between papal and royal authority that ultimately brought about the profound shock of Becket's murder in Canterbury Cathedral. Ian Short's translation, assured in the balance it strikes between readability and fidelity to the tone and context of the original, is a companion to Jacques Thomas's recent edition of the Medieval French text, and is accompanied by explanatory notes that will make this the go-to English version for undergraduate and graduate students interested in the literature, religion, and history of the middle ages." - Geoff Rector, University of Ottawa