Lydgate

Lydgate,John (circa 1370-1451), poet, was born at Lydgate near Newmarket, and became a monk in the Benedictine Abbey of Bury St. Edmund's. He was patronised by the first two Lancastrian kings, and during the reign of Henry VI. seems to have occupied a position corresponding pretty closely with that of the poets-laureate of a later age. He wrote on a variety of themes, usually suggested by the circumstance of the time or the demands of his patrons. His chief efforts were three narrative poems entitled the Falls of Princes, the Troy Book, and the Story of Thebes (from Boccaccio), the two former of which extend to a prodigious length. Lydgate's works are tedious in the extreme, and utterly devoid of artistic sensibility or imaginative power. His satirical poem, London Lackpenny, is more lively than most of his productions, and throws much light on the manners of the age.