A life of thomas becket in verse

La Vie de saint Thomas Becket by Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence

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 aut