Lewis Guy Melville Thorpe (5 November 1913 – 10 October 1977)
[''UK and Ireland, Obituary Index, 2004-2018''] was a British philologist and translator. He was married to the Italian scholar and lexicographer
Barbara Reynolds.
After service in
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
in the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, Lewis Thorpe joined the staff of the
University of Nottingham
The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948.
Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...
in 1946. He was Professor of French there from 1958 to 1977. He served as President of the British Branch of the
International Arthurian Society and was a member of the
Marylebone Cricket Club
The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's, Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London, England. The club was the governing body of cricket from 1788 to 1989 and retain ...
.
Thorpe was born in
Croydon
Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...
.
[''England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915''] He died in
Nottingham
Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...
in 1977.
Publications
*''La France guerrière''. Penguin, 1945.
*''Le
roman de Laurin, fils de Marques le Sénéchal''. 1950.
*''Le roman de Laurin: text of MS B. N. F. fr. 22548''. Cambridge: Heffer, 1960.
*''
Guido Farina, Painter of Verona, 1896-1957''. 1967 (with Barbara Reynolds).
*
Heldris de Cornouaille, ''Le roman de Silence''. Cambridge: Heffer, 1972.
*''The
Bayeux Tapestry
The Bayeux Tapestry is an embroidery, embroidered cloth nearly long and tall that depicts the events leading up to the Norman Conquest, Norman Conquest of England in 1066, led by William the Conqueror, William, Duke of Normandy challenging H ...
and the Norman Invasion''. 1973.
As editor
*''Bulletin bibliographique'' of the International Arthurian Society
*''Nottingham Mediaeval Studies''
*''Nottingham French Studies''
As translator
*
Geoffrey of Monmouth
Geoffrey of Monmouth (; ; ) was a Catholic cleric from Monmouth, Wales, and one of the major figures in the development of British historiography and the popularity of tales of King Arthur. He is best known for his chronicle '' The History of ...
, ''
The History of the Kings of Britain''. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1966 (revised, 1976).
*
Einhard
Einhard (also Eginhard or Einhart; ; 775 – 14 March 840) was a Franks, Frankish scholar and courtier. Einhard was a dedicated servant of Charlemagne and his son Louis the Pious; his main work is a biography of Charlemagne, the ''Vita Karoli M ...
and
Notker the Stammerer, ''Two lives of Charlemagne''. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1969.
**Einhard the Frank, ''
The Life of Charlemagne''. 1970.
*
Gregory of Tours
Gregory of Tours (born ; 30 November – 17 November 594 AD) was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours during the Merovingian period and is known as the "father of French history". He was a prelate in the Merovingian kingdom, encom ...
, ''The History of the Franks''. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1974.
*
Gerald of Wales, ''
The Journey Through Wales'' and ''
The Description of Wales''. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1978.
References
*Lewis Thorpe's translation of Gerald of Wales, ''The Journey Through Wales'' and ''The Description of Wales'' (
Penguin Books
Penguin Books Limited is a Germany, German-owned English publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers the Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the ...
, 1978)
*''History of the Kings of Britain'', Penguin 1973 reprint
1913 births
1977 deaths
Latin–English translators
Fellows of the Royal Historical Society
Academics of the University of Nottingham
People from Croydon
20th-century British translators
20th-century British philologists
Fellows of the Royal Society of Arts
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