The Lives of St Thomas Becket and Early Scandinavian Literature

This paper will examine the obvious, as well as the less obvious, impact the corpus on St Thomas Becket (d. 1170) had, or may have had, on early saga writing in Iceland. The last decades of the twelfth century saw the production in England of around dozen Latin biographies (or Lives) of the Canterbu...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Antonsson, Haki 1970- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Morcelliana 2015
In: Studi e materiali di storia delle religioni
Year: 2015, Volume: 81, Issue: 2, Pages: 394-413
Further subjects:B culto dei santi
B Historiography
B Icelandic Sagas
B Thomas Becket
B Worship of saints
B Kings & rulers; Biography
B agiografia
B Saghe islandesi
B Hagiography
B Thomas, à Becket, Saint, ca. 1118-1170
B Saxo Grammaticus
B cult of saints
Parallel Edition:Non-electronic
Description
Summary:This paper will examine the obvious, as well as the less obvious, impact the corpus on St Thomas Becket (d. 1170) had, or may have had, on early saga writing in Iceland. The last decades of the twelfth century saw the production in England of around dozen Latin biographies (or Lives) of the Canterbury saint, and there is good evidence that a number of these texts were imported to Iceland at an early stage. Indeed translations of these Latin works may have commenced around the turn of the twelfth century. The direct evidence for the use of the Becket corpus will be examined, as well as the less tangible influence it may have exerted on the early saga authors, especially those who wrote the first biographies of kings and secular leaders. Further, this topic will be placed within a more general historiographical framework that relates to hagiographical influence on the emergence of saga literature. (English)
ISSN:2611-8742
Contains:Enthalten in: Studi e materiali di storia delle religioni