Extract VI

Extract VI

Has any martyr earned a more glorious title? Each of the others took on an individual cause of martyrdom in an individual struggle for their own salvation, but he took up the cause of the universal church. He strove against princes and tyrants, against the mercenaries, rather than the shepherds, of the holy church. In order to vindicate the church, he permitted the knights to bear away their triumph over his body. People of another sect killed them, but Christians and his own sons killed him.1 In other words, Becket was a superior martyr because he was killed by Christians who were under his jurisdiction as archbishop. Most of the martyr saints renowned in the medieval church had been killed by pagan Romans in times of persecution.

1 In other words, Becket was a superior martyr because he was killed by Christians who were under his jurisdiction as archbishop. Most of the martyr saints renowned in the medieval church had been killed by pagan Romans in times of persecution. »

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The Passion and Miracles of St. Thomas Becket by Benedict of Peterborough

Stable URL:https://openaccess.boydellandbrewercms.com/?id=-294263

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The first full English translation of one of the most important sources on Thomas Becket.

Benedict of Peterborough's Passion and Miracles of St Thomas Becket puts the reader in Canterbury on the day of one of the most famous murders of all time, when four of King Henry II's knights killed the archbishop inside his cathedral on 29 December 1170. It reveals how a monk thrust into the role of chronicler attempted to understand the earliest cures at Thomas Becket's tomb and the rapid growth of his reputation as a miracle-worker. With its description of Becket's murder and some 275 miracles, all dating to 1171-1173, Benedict's text, which went on to circulate across Europe, is by far our most important source for the beginnings of the cult that would draw hundreds of thousands of medieval pilgrims to Canterbury.

This book provides the first full English translation of Benedict's Passion and Miracles from the original Latin. It includes an introduction that assesses the relationship of the Canterbury monks to the archbishop, analyses the story of the murder as told in the Passion, and examines the ways in which Benedict gathered material and constructed the Miracles. The translation is also accompanied by full explanatory notes, while two appendices provide biographical information and a translation of the eighteen stories in the Miracles that are also recounted in a slightly later Canterbury collection. This translation will make Benedict's hugely significant text accessible to a wider audience for the first time.

This book is available as Open Access under the Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND.

PublisherBoydell Press

Print publication date May, 2025

Print ISBN 9781837652648

EISBN 9781805436270

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Extract VI

The Passion and Miracles of St. Thomas Becket by Benedict of Peterborough

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