Short stories
The Saint
Der Heilige
Conrad Ferdinand Meyer · 1879
Synopsis
In Zurich, in December 1191, while a priest from Lucerne presents at the Fraumünster the martyrdom and miracles of a new saint, Hans the crossbowman, known as the Englishman, is invited to the table of the old canon Burkhard. He served at the court of Henry II of England and tells what he saw there: the king and his chancellor Thomas Becket, whom legend says was born of a mother from Córdoba, then the archbishop Henry made of him; and Grace, the daughter Becket kept apart, whom the king seduced. What happened to her destroyed the friendship of the two men.
Context
The novella appeared in 1879, and in book form the following year. The legend of a Becket born to a sister of the caliph of Córdoba comes from the history of the Norman conquest of England that Augustin Thierry published in 1825. The story is entrusted to a Swiss crossbowman who served the English king and was involved in the events only from a distance, so that the chancellor is seen from the outside. Gottfried Keller compared his language to brocade, and English-language readers have long had it in a school edition.
Who it is for
A historical novella in German, told by a witness who never enters Becket's mind; it can be read without knowing the story of the martyr.
Prizes and reception
Regarded as the best and most accomplished of his novellas; two French translations, by Charly Clerc and by Léon Mis.
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