Thomas Of Elderfield Essay

History is often constructed from stories that were passed down by word of mouth and those that were put to record. When stories are shared by word of mouth the human mind has the ability to exaggerate the truth and the lines between fact and fiction can become blurred. Most of this exaggeration comes from the human nature to try and manipulate the truth to benefit oneself. The Strange Story of Thomas of Elderfield is a perfect example of what verbal passing of a story can do. I will first give a short synopsis of the story, then I will explain why this story was of great enough significance to document and finally I will explain what a person of the time would most likely take from this tale. There was a man by the name of Thomas of Elderfield

Modern historians of the day can confirm the majority of the story up until the duel and the ensuing punishment. The court record provided document evidence of the crime and the court case. Everything after the duel is up to interpretation as to the actuality of it. We know from the first paragraph of The Worcester Story that the writer wanted to display religious favoritism towards England. “Yet God has deigned to honor England, the corner of the whole world, beyond all kingdoms of the earth, and to favor it with a certain prerogative of dignity” (Malmesbury, par. 1). With this statement we know that the writer wanted to make it prominent that God was the key part of the story. While the court record is known to be based in fact, the second part of the document could very well have some fallacies within it. This was recorded to help reinforce the belief that Christians had in God. Without having an official record of what happened following the duel, various Christians of the time may have adapted this story to better suit their needs, which would help them convert others to

Thomas kept his fate despite being alienated by just about everyone in society. He was an outcast near death with more reasons than most to abandon his faith in God. Throughout it all Thomas remained steadfast in his faith in God. When Thomas was at his weakest, he put forth all of his energy into prayer. Someone reading this would more than likely see the miracle performed by God and it would reaffirm their faith in God. Despite what justice the courts delivered God showed his mercy to Thomas who held steadfast in his faith. Preachers of the time would probably tell this tale to help demonstrate the core ideas of Christianity. Missionaries could also use this tale as a way to bring non-Christians into their