A life of Archbishop Thomas Becket in Icelandic. Volume 1

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Summary

This Old Norse text and English translation, prepared by the librarian and scholar Eiríkr Magnússon (1833-1913) and published in two volumes between 1875 and 1883, remains the standard edition of t...

This Old Norse text and English translation, prepared by the librarian and scholar Eiríkr Magnússon (1833-1913) and published in two volumes between 1875 and 1883, remains the standard edition of the 'Saga of Archbishop Thomas'. Composed in Iceland in the early fourteenth century, it narrates the life, death and miracles of Thomas Becket, based on earlier Latin and Old French traditions. Embedded in the saga is a lost Latin life by Robert of Cricklade, written soon after Becket's murder in 1170, which contains some unique details: for example, that he had a stammer. The saga is valuable not only as evidence for Becket's life, but as an insight into the development of his saintly cult in Iceland. Volume 1 contains the account of Thomas's childhood, his life as chancellor and archbishop, his conflict with the king and his murder at Canterbury.

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