John Lydgate

The English poet John Lydgate (ca. 1370-1449) ranks as one of the most prolific, versatile writers of the Middle Ages.

Little is known of John Lydgate's life. He was a professed disciple of Geoffrey Chaucer, and for many years his fame rivaled Chaucer's. Lydgate became a Benedictine monk at Bury St. Edmund's about 1385, and he was ordained a priest in 1397. He studied at Oxford. His early poems, written before 1412, include The Temple of Glas, perhaps composed to be read at a wedding ceremony, and Reson and Sensuallyte, an adaptation of part of a long French allegory.

Lydgate's first major poem was his Troy Book (1412-1420), based on the Historia Troiana of Guido delle Colonne (1287). It contains more than 30,000 lines and was dedicated to Henry V. The poet became associated with Chaucer's son Thomas, who entertained a number of prominent persons, including Humphrey of Gloucester, John Tiptoft, Thomas Montague, and William de la Pole, at his estate not far from Oxford. Between 1420 and 1422 Lydgate wrote The Siege of Thebes, a tribute to Geoffrey Chaucer and, in form, a continuation of The Canterbury Tales. Probably at the request of Humphrey, Lydgate wrote The Serpent of Division (1422), a prose life of Julius Caesar designed as a warning against division in the kingdom.

In 1423 Lydgate became prior of Hatfield. During the next few years he wrote a number of "mummings," or allegorical performances, in which various figures appeared and performed symbolic actions while a narrator described the proceedings in verse. About 1426 the poet went to Paris for a visit of about 2 years. There he wrote his verse adaptation of Deguileville's Pelerinage de la vie humaine (original revised about 1355) for Thomas Montague, Earl of Salisbury. This long allegory of salvation contains more than 24,000 lines. He also composed an English version of the Danse macabre.

Between 1431 and 1439 Lydgate worked on his masterpiece, The Fall of Princes, written for Duke Humphrey. Giovanni Boccaccio had written a series of "tragedies," or stories of great men who through a weakness subjected themselves to fortune and thus fell, in a collection called De casibus virorum illustrium (1355-1360). These stories had been adapted into French prose by Laurent de Premierfait. Lydgate turned Laurent's version into an enormously long and popular English poem in nine books.

In addition to these works, Lydgate also wrote saints' lives, devotional poems, and occasional pieces. Generally, artificial diction and obvious moralizing mark his poetry, but it represents the attitudes and tastes of his time.

Further Reading

An interesting study of the poet and his work is Derek Pearsall, John Lydgate (1970).

Additional Sources

Schirmer, Walter F. (Walter Franz), John Lydgate: a study in the culture of the XVth century, Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1979, 1961.

John Lydgate of Bury (c. 1370 – c. 1451)^[1] was a monk and poet, born in Lidgate, Suffolk, England.

Contents 1 Early life and education 2 Patronage 3 Talent 4 Editions 5 Quotations 6 References 7 External links

Early life and education

He was admitted to the Benedictine monastery of Bury St. Edmunds at fifteen and became a monk there a year later.

Patronage

Having literary ambitions (he was an admirer of Geoffrey Chaucer and a friend to his son, Thomas) he sought and obtained patronage for his literary work at the courts of Henry IV of England, Henry V of England and Henry VI of England. His patrons included, amongst many others, the mayor and aldermen of London, the chapter of St. Paul's Cathedral, Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick and Henry V and VI, however his main supporter from 1422 was Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester. In 1423 he was made prior of Hatfield Broad Oak, Essex but soon resigned the office to concentrate on his travels and writing. He was a prolific writer of poems, allegories, fables and romances, yet his most famous works were his longer and more moralistic Troy Book, Siege of Thebes and the Fall of Princes. The Troy Book was a translation of the Latin prose narrative by Guido delle Colonne, Historia destructionis Troiae. Lydgate was also believed to have written London Lickpenny, a well-known satirical work; however, his authorship of this piece has been heavily discredited. He also translated the poems of Guillaume de Deguileville into English. In his later years he lived and probably died at the monastery of Bury St. Edmunds.

Talent

The Oxford English Dictionary cites Lydgate with the earliest record of using the word "talent" in reference to a gifted state of natural ability.

Editions

• J. Allan Mitchell, ed. John Lydgate, The Temple of Glass. Series: TEAMS Middle English Texts. Kalamazoo, MI: Medieval Institute Publications, 2007. Pp. viii, 95.

Quotations

• "Who lesith his fredam, in soth, he lesith all."
  —an old proverb Lydgate included in his moral fable The Churl and the Bird^[1]

• Lydgate wrote that King Arthur was crowned in "the land of the fairy", and taken in his death by four fairy queens, to Avalon where he lies under a "fairy hill", until he is needed again. ^[2]

• Lydgate is also credited with the first known usage of the adage "Needs must" in its fullest form: "He must nedys go that the deuell dryves” in his Assembly of the Gods. Shakespeare later uses it in All's Well That Ends Well.

• Lydgate is a character in a 2003 mystery novel The Bastard's Tale, by Margaret Frazer, which takes place in Bury St. Edmunds in 1447.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Platt, Colin (1996). King Death: The Black Death and its aftermath in late-medieval England. London: UCL Press Limited. ISBN 1-85728-313-9. 
2. ^ The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Fairies, Anna Franklin, Sterling Publishing Company, 2004, p 18

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: John Lydgate

• John Lydgate at luminarium.org, including links to online texts
• Works by John Lydgate at Project Gutenberg
•  "John Lydgate". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913. http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia_(1913)/John_Lydgate. 

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