21-447: John Lydgate of Bury ( c. 1370 – c. 1451 ) was an English monk and poet, born in Lidgate , near Haverhill , Suffolk , England. Lydgate's poetic output is prodigious, amounting, at a conservative count, to about 145,000 lines. He explored and established every major Chaucerian genre, except such as were manifestly unsuited to his profession, like the fabliau . In
42-609: A brief catalog of the vicissitudes of Fortune, gives a hint of what is to come in Lydgate's massive Fall of Princes (36,365 lines), which is also derived, though not directly, from Boccaccio's De Casibus Virorum Illustrium . The Man of Law's Tale , with its rhetorical elaboration of apostrophe , invocation, and digression in what is essentially a saint's legend, is the model for Lydgate's legends of St Edmund (3693 lines) and St Alban (4734 lines), both local monastic patrons, as well as for many shorter saints' lives, though not for
63-459: A chamber with windows of stained glass depictions of the tale of Troy and walls painted with the story of The Romance of the Rose . He hears a hunt, leaves the chamber, and inquires who is hunting. The hunt is revealed to be that of Octavian . The dogs are released and the hunt begins, leaving behind the poet and a small dog that the poet follows into the forest. The poet stumbles upon a clearing and finds
84-409: A god such as Juno or Morpheus so that he could sleep like Alcyone. He then describes the lavish bed he would gift to Morpheus should the god discover his location. Lost in the book and his thoughts, the poet suddenly falls asleep with the book in his hands. He states that his dream is so full of wonder that no man may interpret it correctly. He begins to relay his dream. The poet dreams that he wakes in
105-474: A knight dressed in black composing a song for the death of his lady. The poet asks the knight the nature of his grief. The knight replies that he had played a game of chess with Fortuna , and lost his queen and was checkmated. The poet takes the message literally and begs the black knight not to become upset over a game of chess. The knight begins the story of his life, reporting that for his entire life he had served Love, but that he had waited to set his heart on
126-433: A messenger to Morpheus to bring the body of Ceyx with a message to Alcyone. The messenger finds Morpheus and relays Juno's orders. Morpheus finds the drowned Ceyx and bears him to Alcyone three hours before dawn. The deceased Ceyx instructs Alcyone to bury him and to cease her sorrow, and when Alcyone opens her eyes Ceyx has gone. The poet stops relaying the story of Ceyx and Alcyone and reflects that he wished that he had
147-404: A woman for many years until he met one lady who surpassed all others. The knight speaks of her surpassing beauty and temperament and reveals that her name was "good, fair White". The poet, still not understanding the metaphorical chess game, asks the black knight to finish the story and explain what was lost. The knight tells the story of his fumbling declaration of love and the long time it took for
168-453: Is around 250, measured at 241 in the 2011 Census. St Mary's church dates from the 13th century and is a Grade II* listed building. The village was the origin of John Lydgate (c. 1370 – c. 1451), monk and poet; he left his signature and a coded message in graffiti on a wall of the church. The adjacent Lidgate Castle is a medieval motte and bailey castle built to an unusual quadrangular design. It probably dates to The Anarchy during
189-457: The Parlement of Foules , a Valentine's Day Poem); and the allegorical Reason and Sensuality . As he grew older, his poems grew progressively longer, and it is regarding Lydgate's later poetry that Joseph Ritson 's harsh characterisation of him is based: 'A voluminous, prosaick and drivelling monk'. Similarly, one twentieth-century historian has described Lydgate's verse as "banal". At one time,
210-525: The Troy Book (30,117 lines), an amplified translation of the Trojan history of the thirteenth-century Latin writer Guido delle Colonne , commissioned by Prince Henry (later Henry V), he moved deliberately beyond Chaucer's Knight's Tale and his Troilus , to provide a full-scale epic. The Siege of Thebes (4716 lines) is a shorter excursion in the same field of chivalric epic. Chaucer's The Monk's Tale ,
231-597: The Fall of Princes . The Fall of Princes (1431–8), is the last and longest of Lydgate's works. Of his more accessible poems, most were written in the first decade of the fifteenth century in a Chaucerian vein: The Complaint of the Black Knight (originally called A Complaynt of a Loveres Lyfe and modelled on Chaucer's The Book of the Duchess ); The Temple of Glas (indebted to The House of Fame ); The Floure of Curtesy (like
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#1732845087082252-490: The Rose . Based on the themes and title of the poem, most sources put the date of composition after 12 September 1368 (when Blanche of Lancaster died) and before 1372, with many recent studies privileging a date as early as the end of 1368. Overwhelming (if disputed) evidence suggests that Chaucer wrote the poem to commemorate the death of Blanche of Lancaster , wife of John of Gaunt . The evidence includes handwritten notes from Elizabethan antiquary John Stow indicating that
273-420: The beginning of the poem, the sleepless poet, who has suffered from an unexplained sickness for eight years (line 37), lies in his bed, reading a book. A collection of old stories, the book tells the story of Ceyx and Alcyone . The story tells of how Ceyx lost his life at sea, and how Alcyone, his wife, mourned his absence. Unsure of his fate, she prays to the goddess Juno to send her a dream vision. Juno sends
294-417: 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. His main supporter from 1422 was Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester . In 1423 Lydgate was made prior of Hatfield Broad Oak , Essex . He soon resigned
315-468: The long allegorical poem The Assembly of Gods was attributed to him, but the work is now considered anonymous. Lydgate was also believed to have written London Lickpenny, a well-known satirical work; however, his authorship of this piece has been thoroughly discredited. He also translated the poems of Guillaume de Deguileville into English. In his later years he lived and probably died at Bury St Edmunds Abbey . At some point in his life he returned to
336-566: The office to concentrate on his travels and writing. He was a prolific writer of poems, allegories, fables and romances. His most famous works were his longer and more moralistic Troy Book (1412–20), a 30,000 line translation of the Latin prose narrative by Guido delle Colonne , Historia destructionis Troiae , the Siege of Thebes which was translated from a French prose redaction of the Roman de Thebes and
357-437: The poem was written at John of Gaunt's request. There are repeated instances of the word "White", which is almost certainly a play on "Blanche". In addition, at the end of the poem there are references to a "long castel", suggesting the house of Lancaster (line 1,318) and a "ryche hil" as John of Gaunt was earl of Richmond (mond=hill) (line 1,319) and the narrator swears by St. John, which is the name of John of Gaunt's saint. At
378-523: The reign of King Stephen . 52°11′N 0°31′E / 52.183°N 0.517°E / 52.183; 0.517 This Suffolk location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . The Book of the Duchess The Book of the Duchess , also known as The Deth of Blaunche , is the earliest of Chaucer 's major poems, preceded only by his short poem, "An ABC", and possibly by his translation of The Romaunt of
399-525: The richer and more genuinely devout Life of Our Lady (5932 lines). In a graffito written towards the end of his life, Lydgate admitted to all manner of childhood sins: "I lied to excuse myself. I stole apples … I made mouths at people like a wanton ape. I gambled at cherry stones. I was late to rise and dirty at meals. I was chief shammer of illness". He was admitted to the Benedictine monastery of Bury St Edmunds Abbey in 1382, took novice vows soon after and
420-611: The village of his birth and added his signature and a coded message in a graffito onto a wall at St Mary's Church, Lidgate, discovered in 2014. A few of Lydgate's works are available in modernised versions: Lidgate Lidgate is a small village and a civil parish in the West Suffolk district, in the English county of Suffolk . Lidgate is located on the B1063 road in between the towns of Newmarket and Clare . The population of Lidgate
441-486: Was ordained as a subdeacon in 1389. Based on a letter from Henry V , Lydgate was a student at Oxford University , probably Gloucester College (now Worcester College ), between 1406 and 1408. It was during this period that Lydgate wrote his early work, Isopes Fabules , with its broad range of scholastic references. 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
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