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If A Martyr I should Be: Being a Part of a Manuscript Written by Sir Edward Grim
It’s not often that one expects to make such an interesting, humanizing find in an old manuscript, written in Old French, while sitting amongst the white mountains of New Hampshire. Truth be told, I didn’t really come to appreciate what I had found in the Grim manuscript until nearly fifteen years after I had left the mountains for a suburb near Boston.
It wasn’t until just recently, as I was trawling through a large foot locker that held all of my college memories that I came on the digitized and printed manuscript of Sir Edward Grim. On taking another crack at it (I am now very rusty in my Old French, working mostly with computers and the professors that abuse them) I became fascinated with the man, his life and his closeness early on with several key historical figures.
King Henry II (1133 - 1189) and Thomas Becket (1120 - 1170) were perhaps the first recorded incidence of a famous bromance gone horribly wrong. When they first became acquainted they became fast friends, partying together, hunting together and generally enjoying all that life had to offer the rich and famous of 12th century England.
Seeing as they were great friends, and that Henry was having some difficulties with bringing the church around to his way of thinking, they both thought it would be a grand idea if Thomas got a job with the church, thus making it a lot easier for Henry to get his way. Never ones to think small, Thomas ended up as Archbishop of Canterbury - the leading bishopric of England.
That’s when the trouble started. Somewhere between “ha ha, let’s make you Archbishop” and actually becoming Archbishop, Thomas became a convert to the church and began to take his job as seriously as he previously had taken his partying. Rather than ease Henry’s pain with the church, Thomas became the biggest thorn in his side.
I won’t comment more on the King and Becket - there are plenty of scholars who have written about them with far more knowledge and resources than I have. I will say this on Sir Edward Grim. To have started his adult life witnessing the murder of a saint, spent his middling years on the crusade we so often think of when we hear the word ‘Crusades’ and to have ended them in the peace of a quiet monastic life - he has surely seen more of this world than many of us ever will.
These then are his words, one of those rare times when a new look at history comes to us from the dark recesses of the past.
It wasn’t until just recently, as I was trawling through a large foot locker that held all of my college memories that I came on the digitized and printed manuscript of Sir Edward Grim. On taking another crack at it (I am now very rusty in my Old French, working mostly with computers and the professors that abuse them) I became fascinated with the man, his life and his closeness early on with several key historical figures.
King Henry II (1133 - 1189) and Thomas Becket (1120 - 1170) were perhaps the first recorded incidence of a famous bromance gone horribly wrong. When they first became acquainted they became fast friends, partying together, hunting together and generally enjoying all that life had to offer the rich and famous of 12th century England.
Seeing as they were great friends, and that Henry was having some difficulties with bringing the church around to his way of thinking, they both thought it would be a grand idea if Thomas got a job with the church, thus making it a lot easier for Henry to get his way. Never ones to think small, Thomas ended up as Archbishop of Canterbury - the leading bishopric of England.
That’s when the trouble started. Somewhere between “ha ha, let’s make you Archbishop” and actually becoming Archbishop, Thomas became a convert to the church and began to take his job as seriously as he previously had taken his partying. Rather than ease Henry’s pain with the church, Thomas became the biggest thorn in his side.
I won’t comment more on the King and Becket - there are plenty of scholars who have written about them with far more knowledge and resources than I have. I will say this on Sir Edward Grim. To have started his adult life witnessing the murder of a saint, spent his middling years on the crusade we so often think of when we hear the word ‘Crusades’ and to have ended them in the peace of a quiet monastic life - he has surely seen more of this world than many of us ever will.
These then are his words, one of those rare times when a new look at history comes to us from the dark recesses of the past.
26 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 24, 2014
2 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 26, 2014
Being a Part of a Manuscript Written by Sir Edward Grim
"I had no idea that I had in my foot locker a printout of a nearly 800-year-old manuscript written by a young man who was standing within shouting distance of Thomas [à Becket} when he was so abruptly removed from the list of Henry II's problems."
Ben Gerber's translation of the first-hand account of Sir Edward Grim gives us a brief, fascinating look into a moment in history - the moment where King Henry II, deliberately or not, ordered the death of the Archbishop of Canterbury. This short piece reads the way a medieval adventure might, with tension, betrayal, and a race against time. Except it all really happened. Gerber's translation from the old French is clear, brisk, and rich in nuance and detail.
Highly recommended for writers of historical fiction or anyone with an interest in history. A short read, well worth your buck.
"I had no idea that I had in my foot locker a printout of a nearly 800-year-old manuscript written by a young man who was standing within shouting distance of Thomas [à Becket} when he was so abruptly removed from the list of Henry II's problems."
Ben Gerber's translation of the first-hand account of Sir Edward Grim gives us a brief, fascinating look into a moment in history - the moment where King Henry II, deliberately or not, ordered the death of the Archbishop of Canterbury. This short piece reads the way a medieval adventure might, with tension, betrayal, and a race against time. Except it all really happened. Gerber's translation from the old French is clear, brisk, and rich in nuance and detail.
Highly recommended for writers of historical fiction or anyone with an interest in history. A short read, well worth your buck.
September 18, 2014
A very short quick read.
I would have liked to see the entire translation of Grim's journey but this only covers the first incident in his life, the ending of Thomas Beckett's.
I would have liked to see the entire translation of Grim's journey but this only covers the first incident in his life, the ending of Thomas Beckett's.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews