>English poems by Thomas Hoccleve and John Lydgate

Title

>English poems by Thomas Hoccleve and John Lydgate

Shelfmark

MS. Seldon Supra 53

Summary

English poems by Thomas Hoccleve and John Lydgate:

Fol. 1. The Regement of Princes, by Thomas Hoccleve, wanting sixteen leaves (128 stanzas) at the beginning: the text beg. 'Knyghthood awake, thou slepist to longe': at end 'Explicit Egidius de Regimine Principum'.

Fol. 76. Hoccleve's Complaint, with prologue, but no author's name.

Fol. 83v. Hoccleve's Dialogue, without author's name: at end 'Explicit Dialogue'.

Fol. 98v. 'Incipit quedam fabula de quadam bona & nobili Imperatrice Romana', Hoccleve's Tale of the Emperor Gerelaüs: followed at fol. 115v by its prose moralization (with prologue in verse), but all after 'the good conscience wher' is wanting, a leaf being lost.

Fol. 117. 'To lerne to die', by Hoccleve, wanting the first three stanzas, a leaf being lost: a well executed miniature of Death approaching a man is on fol. 118. At end follows a verse 'prolog on the ixe lessone that is redde on Alle Halwen day', with a prose commentary on the lesson (fol. 133).

Fol. 134v. 'The Tale of Jonatas', by Hoccleve, with verse prologue and prose moralization.

Fol. 148. 'The Daunce of Deeth', by John Lydgate, here without author's name.

A slightly later hand of about 1475 has added (1) two 8-line stanzas (beg. 'Let se your hand my ladi dam emperys'), fol. 158v, and (2) the poem beginning 'Erthe apon erthe', B version, fol. 159v.

There is some scribbling, annotating, and drawing in the margins after fol. 83, largely by Richard Burnett in the 16th cent.

Date

Written in the second quarter of the 15th century

Language

English

Physical facet

On parchment, with one miniature, illuminated capitals, etc.

Physical extent

161 Leaves

Custodial history

Manuscript 3456 acquired by the Bodleian Library