Garnier: Letter Becket to King Henry II, (Exspectans exspectavi)

A letter from Becket to King Henry II, c. April 1166, when he was in exile.

This letter is known as Exspectans exspectavi

This is an allusion to Psalm 40  "I have waited patiently ..."

This letter is absent from the Latin biographies Guernes might have had access to namely Edward Grim and William of Canterbury..

Janet Shirley writes:-

Garnier's versions of these documents [Loqui de Deo, and Exspectans exspectavi] are not exact -sometimes he makes a precis, sometimes he omits or adds a phrase or two, occasionally he misinterprets. He leaves out all references to classical authors and often introduces extra biblical comparisons.

Leena Löfstedt's, of the University of Helsinki, hypothesis is that Becket would have drafted nearly all the letters he sent in his native Old French [Anglo-Norman]. He was no especial scholar of languages; he was known to be weak in Latin. There is no reason to believe that he had any deep knowledge of the Bible or its stories, nor necessarily Gratian's Decretals in their formal Latin. He was a plain speaker in his own language, and understood the basic principles of rhetoric. This was his special skill. This is what he had been taught at Merton Abbey. If the final copies of the letters and correspondence that we read in the Medieval Latin contain classical and/or biblical references which seem to strengthen his arguments against those with perhaps a fuller theological, classical education[Gilbert Foliot (Bishop of London), Roger de Pont L'Évêque (Archbishop of York), ...] these references have probably all been added by his scribes, secretaries, eruditii, circle of scholars, call them what you will, to his draft producing tidy Latin. Of course the latter additions/corrections/"enhancements" would/should have been discussed with him before the letters or correspondences were sent onto their recipients with his seal attached, or in his name, or recorded in the hagiographical archives. Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence [Garnier] it seems when composing his verse Life of Becket that he may have had access to Becket's original Old French drafts [if they ever existed they are now long lost].

Emanuel Walberg, of the University of Lund, is of a different opinion. He thinks Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence cut out all the classical references from the Latin versions before composing his work.

https://archive.org/stream/materialsforhist05robe#page/266/mode/1up 

Becket's Letter to King Henry II (1166): Loqui de Deo (ca April 1166)

Extract from
http://txm.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr/bfm/pdf/becket.pdf
Stanzas 570-608
Lines 2846-3040

570
Des ore vus larrai ces paroles ester.
Voldrai vus les epistles e dire e reconter
Qu’al rei e as evesques enveiad li bons ber,
Qu’il deüssent la pes saint’iglise guarder,
2850 E celes qu’il li firent encontre reporter :

571
« Al gentil Rei Engleis, conte d’Ango, Henri,
Duc Norman, Aquitan, sun seignur e ami,
Thomas li arcevesques, qui jadis le servi
Mais or est suens en Deu, saluz e ovrer si
2855 Qu’il guerpisse e ament tuz les mals qu’a fait ci.

572
J’ai atendu que Deus te volsist visiter,
Que tu de male veie volsisses returner
E tun felun conseil d’entur tei tut oster,
Qui te frea, ço criem, si parfunt avaler
2860 Que ja mais ne purras resurdre ne munter.

573
Suffert ai tut adès, e si m’en sui teüz,
Qu’um me desist : “ Li reis, qui ert morz e perduz,
Tes fiz e tes sire, est trovez e revescuz. ”
Par conseil de feluns ot esté deceüz ;
2865 Or est a saint’iglise pur dreit faire venuz.

574
Encontre saint’iglise ad esté lungement,
Mais des ore trarra a sun delivrement ;
La pitiez de Deu l’a trait a amendement. ” »
Chascun jur prium Deu pur tei el sacrement
2870 Par sa pitié te mette a dreit aveiement.

575
« Pur ço le di que mei, qui dei suz Deu guarder
L’iglise del reaume e les mesfaiz oster,
As essillié e fait hors del païs aler,
Saint’iglise e les suens, qu’i sunt mis, mesmener.
2875 Jo l’ai mis en suffrance, que nel fis amender.

576
Pur ço sui mult dolenz que tu as tant mespris
Vers sainte mere iglise e as suens qu’i sunt mis,
Car jo part as mesfaiz, quant justise n’en fis :
Qui justise est e juges, e il en est jolis,
2880 Il e li pechiere est en uël culpe asis.

577
Saint’Escripture dit, e sil testemonie,
Que li consentanz est del mesfait en partie,
Parkes cil quil deit faire, e puet, e nel chastie.
Car bien pert que cil ad el mesfait conpaignie
2885 Ki ne volt contre – ester a l’aperte folie.

578
Reis, men voil te voldreie plainement chastïer,
Pur ço t’ai fait mes lettres mult sovent enveier.
Ne plus qu’un petiz burs puet l’onur abaisier
Del regne, plus ne deiz, Reis, par nul enconbrier
2890 Les dreiz de saint’iglise abatre ne changier.

579
Li dreit jugement deivent des proveires venir.
Quels que seit li evesques que Deus fait establir,
Mais religiun voille e sun ordre tenir,
Nis s’um le veit cum humme en grant pechié chaïr,
2895 Ne deit par poesté terrïene perir.

580
Li religius prince, qui volt bonté amer,
Deit noveles iglises drescier e alever,
Celes qui sunt chaües e creistre e restorer,
E les proveires Deu e les clers honurer
2900 E par tut maintenir, se nuls les volt grever.

581
Al bon prince devreies Constentin reguarder :
Quant um out fait les clers devant li amener
E um les acusa, tuz les laissa ester.
“ Nul ne vus puet, fet il, fors Damnedeu dampner ;
2905 Jugié ne poëz estre par prince seculer. ”

582
Si cum li saint escrit mustrent e li doctur,
Deus rove les apostles e que lur successur
E tut cil qui laburent el champ Nostre Seignur
Ne seient dechacié n’osté de lur tenur ;
2910 Car serf Jesu Crist sunt e si despensatur.

583
Maistre e pere e pastur sunt li proveire en lei
A trestuz cels qui vivent en cristïene fei.
Deus le het qui sun pere volt metre desuz sei ;
E se nuls bat sun maistre, il se maine a beslei,
2915 Parkes celui qui tient e carcan e balei.

584
Se bon cristïen es e vols ta fei guarder,
– Bien creum e volum qu’en ço voilles ester, –
Fil d’iglise te dei, nun evesque, apeler ;
Les proveires ne deiz enseignier ne mener,
2920 Ensiwre les t’estuet, devant deivent aler.

585
Tes privileges as e leis e poesté ;
Ne toil al devin ordre rien encontre sun gré.
Se par mal conseil as contre Deu meserré,
Que Deus ne traie a tei, chié en humilité :
2925 Se tost ne te repenz, envers tei ad tesé.

586
Que que dient li tuen e li Deu traïtur,
Ne te turne a vilté mais a mult grant honur
Se del tut t’umilies vers le puissant seignur
Qui l’orguilus abat, met l’umble el sié hauçur.
2930 E rei e prince deivent de li aveir poür.

587
De tuz se puet vengier ; ki li puet contrester ?
Suvenir te devreit, Reis, e bien remenbrer
En quei Deus te trovad, cum il t’a fait munter
E creistre e enrichir e tun regne afermer.
2935 Tut t’en portent envie, e enemi e per.

588
Deus t’a eslit, ço dient e li haut e li bas.
Pur les biens que t’a faiz, pur tuz, que li rendras ?
Destruiras ses iglises, ses clers dechaceras
Par conseil des feluns que tu entur tei as,
2940 Par cui encontre Deu e saint’iglise vas ?

589
Li ordené sunt cil qui Deus dit e apele :
“ Qui vus despit, e mei, fait cil qui ne chancele ;
Qui vus het, e mei het e contre mei revele ;
Qui vus fiert, e mei fiert en l’oil, en la purnele. ”
2945 Cil qui mesfait as clers, Deus le het e querele.

590
Se tut le mund aveies as povres departi,
La cruiz eüsses prise e Jesu Crist sewi,
Tut n’avreies a Deu que il t’a fait, meri.
Saül, qui Deus eslist, pur ço que Deu guerpi
2950 E il e sa lignee e sa mesun peri.

591
E li reis Ozias, qui mult est renummez
Pur ço qu’il ot suvent ses enemis matez,
Ultre mesure en est orguilliz e muntez.
A Deu, qui li aida par tut, n’en rendi grez ;
2955 Par surquidier enprist l’ofice as ordenez.

592
Del saint encens porter el temple s’enhardi.
Deus s’en ert cureciez, de liepre le feri.
Par les ordenez Deu, qu’i furent establi,
Fu getez hors del temple. Unkes puis n’en eissi ;
2960 Mesaus fu e lieprus tuz les jors qu’il vesqui.

593
Beals Reis, se tu voleies encerchier les escriz,
Plusurs reis trovereies que Deus out ainz esliz :
Quant il les out el mund muntez e encheriz,
Mal unt encontre Deu lur mestiers acompliz ;
2965 Deus les ad a neent remis e apovriz.

594
Achaz le mestier Deu ensement envaï ;
Encensa cum evesques in domo domini.
Reis esteit, e evesques voleit estre altresi.
Deus s’en esteit iriez, de liepre le covri :
2970 Mesaus fu e degez. Par sun orguil peri.

595
Sur un char fist l’um metre l’arche Deu e covrir.
Li buef eschalcirrerent, l’arche voleit chaïr ;
Oza i mist la main, qui la volt retenir :
L’ire Deu l’abati, sil fist iluec murir,
2975 Car cel mestier deveient li proveire furnir.

596
Reis, suëf se chastie qui d’autrui se chastie ;
Cele parole as tu en plusurs lius oïe.
Reis, li ordené unt saint’iglise en baillie,
N’as poestez del siecle ne la bailla Deus mie.
2980 Tut feel sunt suz li ; ele ad la seignurie.

597
Lai ester autrui dreit, tut ço qu’autrui apent.
Ne chalengier a Deu sun establissement.
De Deu as poesté e tun corunement ;
De prince ne de lei ne l’as seculerment,
2985 Car as prelaz apendent e ordre e sacrement.

598
As leis eclesiaus deit laie lei servir.
Nuls ne deit plaiz d’iglise, se n’est clers, maintenir,
Ne laie leis ne deit la clergil davancir.
Li cristïen rei solent saint’iglise obeïr ;
2990 Lais ne deit clerc fuler, mais chier le deit tenir.

599
Dous choses a el mund par quei est guvernez :
Des reis e des evesques la sainte poestez.
Quant pur jugier sera tuz li munz asemblez,
Li prelat respundrunt pur les reis corunez.
2995 Tant est greindre lur fais e plus pesant asez.

600
Mult des evesques firent jadis escumengier
Reis e enpereürs e d’iglise chacier :
L’empereür Archadie fist iglise voidier
Innocenz l’apostolie, nel volt pur li laissier,
3000 Pur ço que saint Cristone suffri a essillier.

601
Sainz Ambrosies l’evesque pur veir escumenja
L’empereur Teodosie e d’iglise sevra
Pur un altre mesfait, qui mult meindre sembla ;
Mais a la pardefin dignement l’amenda,
3005 Absolutiun prist e a Deu s’acorda.

602
David, reis e prophetes, purjut altrui muillier,
Sun seignur fist ocire e sun buen chevalier.
Natan li enveia Deus pur li chastïer :
Ne li sembla pas hunte de li humilïer
3010 Devant les piez Natan, ne de merci preier.

603
Quant il cria merci, Deus l’en a fait relès ;
Bon le trova e humble e de mal en decès.
Reis, al bon rei devreies essample prendre adès.
Returne tei a Deu, met jus le grevus fes.
3015 Mesfait as en maint liu, dunt encore me tes.

604
Sire Reis, ço t’ai ore aparmaimes escrit,
– E mult ai trespassé que jo ne t’ai pas dit, –
Saveir se tu metreies tun pechié en despit,
Qu’um me desist : “ Tes fiz, qui morz esteit, revit. ”
3020 A mun voil metreit Deus en tei sun esperit.

605
E se tu ne me vols oïr ne heshalcier,
Qui devant le cors Deu soil Deu pur tei preier,
Jo prierai a Deu qu’il se hast de vengier
Les mals e les injuries e le grant reprovier
3025 Que tu e li tuen funt, e nel volez laissier.

606
Certes, jo crierai al Seignur de vertuz :
“ Venge le sanc des tuens, Deus, qui est espanduz,
E lur afflictiuns, dunt numbres n’est oüz.
De tes enemis est li orguilz si creüz
3030 Qui tei e les tuens heent, n’en puis plus estre muz. ”

607
Reis, qui que fet l’ovraigne, de tes mains ert requise ;
Car bien fait le damage qui le mal en atise.
Se tu ne lais ester e clers e saint’iglise,
Deus le vengera tost ; ja ad sa verge prise.
3035 Tens est qu’en uëlté en prenge la justise.

608
Car il set bien as princes lur esperit tolir,
E puet bien les reis batre ; nuls ne li puet fuïr.
La grace Deu te vaille a salu partenir,
S’en veire humilité te vols tost repentir ;
3040 Ensi aies salu. Ja n’en puisses partir. »

Translation

570
For now I would like leave off speaking to you about these [matters]. [Instead] I would like to tell of and relate to you about the letters which our good hero sent to both the king and to the bishops in which they would be obliged to keep the peace of Holy Church, and those which they likewise sent in reply.

571
<<To Henry, the noble king of England, count of Anjou, duke of [both] Normandy, and Aquitaine from his lord and friend Thomas the archbishop who was once in his service, but who is now in service to God, greetings and to inquire if he would cease doing [wrong]] and make amends for all the evil things that he has done to him.

572
>> I had hoped that God would want to visit you, that you would want to turn away from the evil path and away from your feloniously untrustworthy advisors whom you have completely surrounded yourself with, [and] who, this I fear, will make you fall down into so deep an abyss from which you will never be able to rise or climb up out of.

573
>> I have suffered all the time, and if I have been silent about it I shall say: "The king who was once dead and lost, your son and lord, is now found and lives anew." By the advice of felons he was deceived; [but] has now returned to Holy Church to do right."

Luke 15:24 Parable of the prodigal son
For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.

574
For a long time he has been against Holy Church, but prayer will lead him to his deliverance;  the mercy of God has brought him to make amends." Each day on your behalf, during the sacraments [Mass], we pray to God, through his mercy, to bring you to the right way.

575
>> I say this, I who must safeguard the Church of the Kingdom under God and fight against sin, because you have sent me into exile, made me leave the country,  and because you have mistreated Holy Church and her servants who were left behind there. And I have put up with this without forcing [you] to make any amends. 2875

576
For this I am much saddened that you have sinned so much against Holy Mother Church and its servants, because I share in the sinning, when justice is not done. The judge who takes his charge lightly endorses the same fault as the sinner 2880

577
Holy Scripture says as much, and it testifies that he who consents to the commission of a sin shares in part in it, especially those who could have  punished it when they must and were able to do so. It appears indeed that one is a companion in the commission of a sin if one does not want to oppose such an openly manifest folly. 2885

578
O King, but I would frankly like to reprove you. That is why I have very often sent you my letters. For no more does one allow an insignificant city to bring down the honour of the kingdom, likewise no one must be allowed, O King, to obstruct, supress or amend the rights of Holy Church.  2890

579
Lawful judgments [on priests] can only come from priests, before whichever bishop God has established, provided he wishes to uphold religion and his order, even if one has seen him as a man fallen into great sin, he must not perish [by order of] a secular power. 2895

580
The pious prince who seeks lovingly to do good, must erect and raise up new churches, and enlarge and restore those which have collapsed, and honour the priests and clerics of God, and in everything to defend them, if we want none of them to be harmed. 2900

581
You should look to the good prince [Emperor] Constantine [as example]: when clerics were brought before him, accused, he released all of them.
<<No one can sentence you>> said he, <<except God Almighty; you cannot be judged by a secular prince.>>

582 
So it is as holy scripture  and the doctors [of the Church] show God demands that the apostles and their successors and all those who work in the fields of Our Lord should not be divested of nor expelled from their tenure, as they are the servants of Jesus Christ, and are His stewards.

583
In law priests are the teachers, fathers and pastors for all those who live in the Christian faith. God hates him who wants to demean his father; and if anyone  hits his master commits a cupable act and all the more so [should be punished] by him [the priest his spritual master] and held in an iron collar [of a pillory] and [thrashed] with a birch [the instruments of secular justice].

584
If you want to be both a good Christian and keep your faith -and well we believe and want that you wish to be like this. [To be able] to call you a son of the Church of God, not a bishop, you must neither instruct nor lead the priests, [but rather] you must follow them, for they must walk ahead of you [in the procession of life].

585
You have your privileges both in law and by power; take away nothing from the divine order against its will. If through evil counsel you err against God, fall down before Him in humility, so that God does not shoot an arrow at you if you do not repent quickly, as His bow has already been aimed and drawn at you.

589
Those who are ordained are called by God: <<Whoever despises you despises me,>> said He that unchangeable one. <<Whoever hates you, both hates Me and rebels against Me. Whoever strikes you, strikes Me in the apple of My eye.>> Whoever does wrong to the clergy, God hates and censures him.

590
Even if you had given away all the wealth in the world to the poor, and had taken up the Cross, and followed Jesus Christ, you will not have recompensed God for all that which he has done for you. Saul, who was chosen of God, was abandoned by God for this, and he and both his line and his house [family] perished.

591 
And King Uzziah, who was very well known and who had often defeated his enemies, became very proud of this to an excessive degree, but did not give any thanks to God who had helped him in everything. Arrogantly he usurped the function of the [ordained] priests,

592
He had the audacity to bring holy incense into the temple. God became enraged with him, [and] struck him down with leprosy. He was driven out of the temple by the ordained priests of God who were there present; never again was he allowed to come back in. He was outcast and leprous for all the rest of the days of his life.

593
Noble king, if you were to research the [holy] scriptures, you would find out that many kings whom God had thus chosen, after He had raised them up to the highest honour and riches in the world, they then caused much evil to be done against God their Master. God had them reduced to nothing and impoverished them.

594
So it was that Ahaz abused the Lord God in this manner; he burned incense in the house of the Lord as if he were a high priest. King he was, but he also wanted to be a high priest. This enraged God who enveloped him with leprosy. A leper he became and an outcast. Through his own arrogance he perished.

595
And one day the Ark [of the Convenant] of God was being carried on a cart and covered [with a veil]. The oxen stumbled: the Ark was about to fall, when [King] Uzzah put out his hand with which he wanted to stop it [from falling].He was struck down by the wrath of God killing him right there, for this function belonged to the high priests. 2975

596
O King, one finds it easier to correct one's ways from [the experience of] others who have themselves corrected theirs. This proverb you have heard many times before. O King, it is the ordained [priests] who govern Holy Church; God has not entrusted this to the secular powers. All the faithful are subject to Him, for it is He who is the Lord[/holds the Lordship]. 2980

597
Leave the rights of others be, and all that which belongs to [is the prerogative of] others. Do not challenge God's institution [the Church], for it is from God that you received your power and your crown, and not in any secular fashion did you obtain it from a prince, nor by a law, for it is upon prelates that you depended both for the liturgy and the sacraments used [during your coronation]. 2985

598
The secular [lay] law must be at the service of ecclesiastical [Canon] law.
No one, if he is not a cleric, should hear the pleas of the Church; lay laws must not take precedence over the clerical [ecclesiastical laws]. Christian kings are wont to obey Holy Church. 2990

599
There are two things through which the Holy Power governs the world, kings and bishops. When for the [Day of] Judgement the whole world is gathered, it will be for the prelates who will [have to] answer for the[ir] crowned kings; so much the greater and heavier is their burden. 2995

600
Many bishops in the past excommunicated both kings and emperors, and drove them out of the church: Pope Innocent [I] excluded the Emperor Arcadius from the Church: he had no wish to let [even] him off, for he had made St [John] Chrysostom suffer by sending him into exile. 3000

601
Bishop St. Ambrose indeed excommunicated Emperor Theodosiu and severed him from the Church for another sin, which might seem quite minor. However, ultimately, fittingly so, he was reformed, received absolution and became reconciled with God. 3005

602
David, who was both king and prophet, committed adultery with the wife of another. He had her husband - who was also his faithful knight - killed. God sent Nathan to him to punish him. It did not seem dishonorable that he had to humiliate himself at the feet of Nathan begging for mercy. 3010

603
After he had cried for mercy, God released him from his sin; He had found him meek and humble and that he had left his wickedness behind him. O king, you ought immediately to follow the example of this good king. You should come back to God, and lay down the heavy burden of your sins. misdeeds which you have committed many times, of which I have not yet spoken.

604
Sire King,  this letter I am sending to you - and for the time being I have not mentioned [in it] to you about [your] many transgressions - to find out if you will scorn your sins  so that one may say to me: "Your son, who was once dead, lives again". [then] at my wish God would fill you with his Holy Spirit.

Parable of the Prodigal Son :Luke 15:11-32
https://goo.gl/gjgBW3

605
And if you neither wish to listen to me nor are uplifted [by what I say], I who  continually pray to God before the body of Christ [our Lord] on your behalf, I will pray to God that He makes hast to avenge the wrongs for both the harms and and the great reproaches that you and your men have committed, and which neither of you wish to desist from.

606
Indeed, I shall cry out to the Lord Almighty: <<Avenge the blood of Your servants who have shed theirs, and for their sufferings, whose numbers have not been counted, committed by Your enemies, who hate You and Your servants, and in whom arrogance has increased so much and who have borne so much malice, about which I can no longer remain silent.>>

[2 Kings 9:6–10]

607
O King, no matter who did the deed, it will be presumed to have been done by your hands, for it is well said that whoever incites the wickedness commits the crime. If you do not let both clerics and Holy Church be [free], God will avenge them forthwith; He has already taken up his staff; [and] the time has come, in all fairness, for justice to be done.

608
For He well knows how to take the life [spirit] of princes, and can well bring down kings. No one can escape from Him.  May the grace of God allow you to obtain salvation, if you will, with all sincere humility, without delay repent. [It is] by this means you will thereby gain salvation, [and] never able to be parted from it.

References

Constitutions of Clarendon: Becket's Letter to King Henry II (After 12th June 1166): Exspectans exspectavi

Constitutions of Clarendon: Becket's Letter to King Henry II (1166): Loqui de Deo (ca April 1166)

Guernes (de Pont-Sainte-Maxence) (1859). Célestin Hippeau, ed. La vie de saint Thomas le martyr: archevêque de Canterbury. C. A. Aubry. pp. 100–.

Saint Thomas (à Becket). Anne Duggan, ed. "Letter 82: Becket to king Henry II. Expectans expectavi. After 12th June 1166". The Correspondence of Thomas Becket: Archbishop of Canterbury, 1162-1170. Oxford University Press. pp. 328–. ISBN 978-0-19-820892-1.

Saint Thomas (à Becket) (2000). Anne Duggan, ed. The Correspondence of Thomas Becket: Archbishop of Canterbury, 1162-1170. "Letter 68: Becket to king Henry II. c April 1166. Loqui de Deo". Oxford University Press. pp. 266–. ISBN 978-0-19-820892-1.

Materials for the history of Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, canonized by pope Alexander III, A. D. 1173. Vol. V / ed. by James Craigie Robertson,...

Longman (London) (1875-1885) pp 266-

https://archive.org/stream/materialsforhist05robe#page/266/mode/1up

http://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/halsall/source/hoveden-becket.asp#1166d

The Letter of the blessed Thomas to King Henry.

Elisabeth van Houts (2015). Proceedings of the Battle Conference 2014. Boydell & Brewer. pp. 214–. ISBN 978-1-78327-024-8.

Psalm 40 (39): 1- (or 2-)

Exspectans exspectavi ...

I waited patiently for the Lord ...

1570 Edition, page 289 - John Foxe The Acts and Monuments Online pp. 289-91

John Foxe (1837). The Acts and Monuments of John Foxe: a New and Complete Edition: with a Preliminary Dissertation, by the Rev. George Townsend ... R. B. Seeley and W. Burnside, sold by L. & G. Seeley. pp. 223–.

Thomas Greenwood (1865). Cathedra Petri: From the Concordat of Worms (A.D. 1122) to the close of the pontificate of Innocent III (A.D. 1216). C.J. Stewart. pp. 233–.

[Richard Hurrell Froude; James Bowling Mozley (1839). Remains of the Late Reverend Richard Hurrell Froude: v. 2. J. G. & F. Rivington. pp. 139–41. ???]

William Holden Hutton. Thomas Becket. Cambridge University Press. pp. 138–. ISBN 978-1-107-66171-4.

J. A. Giles (1846). "Loqui de Deo in English". The Life and Letters of Thomas à Becket: Now First Gathered from the Contemporary Historians. Whittaker. pp. 327–.

John Allen Giles (1846). The Life and Letters of Thomas À Becket: Now First Gathered from the Contemporary Historians. Volume 1. Whittaker and Company. pp. 327–.

Patres ecclesiae anglicanae : Aldhelmus, Beda, Bonifacius, Alcuinus, Lanfrancus, Anselmus, Thomas Cantuar, et reliqui. J.-H. Parker. 1845. pp. 363–.

Michael Staunton (2006). Thomas Becket and His Biographers. Boydell. p. 121. ISBN 978-1-84383-271-3.

Anne Duggan (2007). Thomas Becket: Friends, Networks, Texts and Cult. Chapter IV Classical Quotations in Becket Correspondence. Ashgate/Variorum. ISBN 978-0-7546-5922-8.

Saint Thomas (à Becket) (2000). Anne J. Duggan tr.. The Correspondence of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1162-1170: Letters 176-329. Volume II. Clarendon Press. pp. 1398–9. ISBN 978-0-19-820893-8.

Frank Barlow (1990). Thomas Becket. University of California Press. pp. 144–5. ISBN 978-0-520-07175-9.
La Vie de S. Thomas Becket par Garnier De Pont-Sainte-Maxence et La
Traduction en Ancien Français du Décret de Gratien
Author(s): Leena Löfstedt
Source: Neuphilologische Mitteilungen, Vol. 98, No. 2 (1997), pp. 161-177
Published by: Modern Language Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/43345162

Guernes (de Pont-Sainte-Maxence) (1922). La vie de saint Thomas Becket. C.W.K. Gleerup. pp. pp cvii.
https://archive.org/stream/laviedesaintthom00gueruoft#page/n86/mode/1up

In

LA VIE DE S. THOMAS BECKET PAR GARNIER DE PONT-SAINTE-MAXENCE ET LA

TRADUCTION EN ANCIEN FRANÇAIS DU DÉCRET DE GRATIEN

Author(s): Leena Löfstedt

Source: Neuphilologische Mitteilungen,

Vol. 98, No. 2 (1997), pp. 161-177

Published by: Modern Language Society

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/43345162

Leena Löfstedt writes [translated]

...

In "Canon Law, Plantagenet and St. Thomas Becket", Medioevo Romanzo 1990: I   pp.3-16, we compared several passages of Garnier's versification of the letter "Exspectans exspectaui" with the Latin text of this letter, and with the two corresponding texts of canon law: the Latin text of the Decretum Gratiani (Decretum in the following) and the translation into Old French of this text (Decree). After this comparison, we argued, against Walberg, that instead of translating the Latin letter "Exspectans exspectaui" into French verse, Garnier had versified a French text, a text (now lost) which for its content corresponded to the letter "Exspectans exspectaui", but which for its linguistic expression (words, sentences) had great resemblances to the French Decree. This observation was possible despite the chronological deviation between the versification of Garnier (1171-1174, Anglo-Norman ms, early 13th century) and the unique ms. (Brussels BR 9084, Central ms., Late thirteenth century.) To keep the Decree, and therefore, despite the very likely presence of some rejuvenation in the latter text.

Like a draft French letter, what was this text used by Garnier? We have advanced the hypothesis that Thomas Becket had conceived his letters (at least the letter "Exspectans exspectaui") in French, and that he had cited canon law not from the Latin Decretum, but from the French Decree; And that his clerks had prepared the official versions of the letters in Latin later on by means of the Latin Decretum; And that Garnier had used the French rough drafts of the saint's letters for his life. -We have been able to support our theory of the precedence of a French version of the Exspectans exspectaui in relation to the Latin version of the letter by the observation that the French letter versed by Garnier once gives a text superior to That of the Latin letter. It is a passage independent of canon law where the French letter uses a French proverb which goes very well in the context, contrary to the Latin proverb in the Latin letter. In fact, in this place, the Latin text seems to be a poor translation of the French text (Löfstedt 1990: 9, also below on page 165, under 2976-7)

Traces of Saint Thomas Becket in the Getty Gratian (J. Paul Getty Museum, Ms. Ludwig XIV 2)
Leena Löfstedt
Getty Research Journal
No. 7 (January 2015), pp. 151-156
Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the J. Paul Getty Trust
DOI: 10.1086/680742
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/680742


LA TRADUCTION DE GRATIEN EN ANCIEN FRANÇAIS ET LE MONDE DES PLANTAGENÊTS
Leena Löfstedt
Neuphilologische Mitteilungen
Vol. 93, No. 2/4 (1992), pp. 325-336
Published by: Modern Language Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/43345911

THE MS. LUDWIG XIV: 2 (THE" GETTY GRATIAN") AND THE OLD FRENCH DECRETUM TRANSLATION
L Löfstedt - Romanica Cracoviensia, 2015 - ceeol.com
http://www.ejournals.eu/pliki/art/6203/