Lydgate, John (c. 1370–1449)

English poet and Benedictine monk John Lydgate.

English poet. He was a Benedictine monk and later prior. His numerous works, including poems, moral tales, legends of the saints, and histories, were often translations or adaptations. His chief works are Troy Book, written during 1412–21 at the request of Henry V when Prince of Wales, The Siege of Thebes (1420–22), and The Fall of Princes (1431–38). He was a friend and admirer of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer.

Lydgate was probably born in Lydgate, Suffolk. He was educated at the Benedictine abbey of Bury St Edmunds, where he became a monk at the age of 16; a great part of his life was spent there, and he is often called ‘the Monk of Bury’. He is said to have studied at Oxford, Paris, and Padua, was for a time a court poet, and was patronized by Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester. He was prior of Hatfield Broadoak, Essex, 1423–34.