John Lydgate

John Lydgate

John Lydgate of Bury (c. 1370 – c. 1451)cite book |last=Platt |first=Colin |title=King Death: The Black Death and its aftermath in late-medieval England |year=1996 |publisher=UCL Press Limited |location=London |isbn=1-85728-313-9 ] was a monk and poet, born in Lidgate, Suffolk, England.

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 William of Digulleville 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.

Quotations

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

* 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. ["The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Fairies", Anna Franklin, Sterling Publishing Company, 2004, p 18]

* 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.

References

External links

* [http://www.luminarium.org/medlit/lydgate.htm John Lydgate] at luminarium.org, including links to online texts
*
*


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • John Lydgate — John Lydgate. John Lydgate (cerca 1370 1451), monje y poeta inglés, nacido en Lidgate, Suffolk, Inglaterra, y muerto en Bury Saint Edmunds, Suffolk. Contenido …   Wikipedia Español

  • John Lydgate —     John Lydgate     † Catholic Encyclopedia ► John Lydgate     Born at Lydgate, Suffolk, about 1370; d. probably about 1450. He entered the Benedictine abbey at Bury when fifteen and may have been educated earlier at the school of the… …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • John Lydgate — (* um 1370 in Lidgate, Suffolk; † um 1451) war ein englischer Mönch und Dichter. Im Alter von fünfzehn Jahren wurde er im Benediktinerkonvent zu Bury St. Edmunds aufgenommen und eignete sich dort sowie vermutlich an den Universitäten von Oxford… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • John Lydgate — Portrait de John Lydgate publié en 1820 dans The Lives of Eminent and Remarkable Characters from the Counties of Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk. John Lydgate of Bury (vers 1370 à Lidgate, Suffolk, Angleterre – vers 1451)[1] est un moin …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Lydgate, John — • Writer, born at Lydgate, Suffolk, about 1370; d. probably about 1450. He entered the Benedictine abbey at Bury when fifteen and may have been educated earlier at the school of the Benedictine monks there and have been afterwards at the… …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • Lydgate — John Lydgate John Lydgate (* um 1370 in Lidgate, Suffolk; † um 1451) war ein englischer Mönch und Dichter. Im Alter von fünfzehn Jahren wurde er im Benediktinerkonvent zu Bury St. Edmunds aufgenommen und eignete sich dort sowie vermutlich an den… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Lydgate — could refer to: *Lydgate, Greater Manchester in the parish of Saddleworth, England *Dr. Tertius Lydgate, a character in George Eliot s Middlemarch , *John Lydgate, an English monk and poet …   Wikipedia

  • John Skelton — John Skelton, also known as John Shelton (c. 1460 ndash; June 21, 1529), English poet, was born at Diss in Norfolk. EducationHe is said to have been educated at Oxford. He certainly studied at Cambridge, and he is probably the one Scheklton… …   Wikipedia

  • Lydgate, John — (ca. 1370–ca. 1449)    John Lydgate was a Benedictine monk from Bury Saint Edmunds who wrote more poetry than any other known medieval English poet.He was much praised by his contemporaries and by writers in the years immediately following his… …   Encyclopedia of medieval literature

  • Lydgate, John — ▪ English writer born c. 1370, Lidgate, Suffolk, Eng. died c. 1450, Bury St. Edmunds?  English poet, known principally for long moralistic and devotional works.       In his Testament Lydgate says that while still a boy he became a novice in the… …   Universalium

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”