Julia Boffey & A. S. G. Edwards 
A Companion to Fifteenth-Century English Poetry 

This collection of fourteen original essays by leading authorities offers, for the first time, a comprehensive overview of the significant authors and important aspects of fifteenth-century English poetry.


This collection of seventeen original essays by leading authorities offers, for the first time, a comprehensive overview of the significant authors and important aspects of fifteenth-century English poetry. The major poets of thecentury, John Lydgate and Thomas Hoccleve, receive detailed analysis, alongside perhaps lesser-known authors: John Capgrave, Osbern Bokenham, Peter Idley, George Ashby and John Audelay. In addition, several essays examine genres and topics, including romance, popular, historical and scientific poetry, and translations from the classics. Other chapters investigate the crucial contexts for approaching poetry of this period: manuscript circulation, patronageand the influence of Chaucer.


Julia Boffey is Professor of Medieval Studies at Queen Mary, University of London; A.S.G. Edwards is Professor of Medieval Manuscripts at the University of Kent.


Contributors: Anthony Bale, Julia Boffey, A.S.G. Edwards, Susanna Fein, Alfred Hiatt, Simon Horobin, Sarah James, Andrew King, Sheila Lindenbaum, Joanna Martin, Carol Meale, Robert Meyer-Lee, Ad Putter, John Scattergood, Anke Timmermann, Daniel Wakelin, David Watt.

Table of Content

Introduction – Julia Boffey and A S G Edwards

The Patronage of Poetry – Carol Meale

Forms of Circulation – Simon Horobin

Thomas Hoccleve – Sheila Lindenbaum

Thomas Hoccleve’s
Regiment of Princes – David Watt

John Lydgate’s Major Poems – Robert J Meyer-Lee

John Lydgate’s Religious Poetry – Anthony Bale

John Lydgate’s Shorter Secular Poems – Joanna Martin

John Capgrave and Osbern Bokenham: Verse Saints’ Lives – Sarah James

Peter Idley and George Ashby – John Scattergood

John Audelay and James Ryman – Susanna Fein

Fifteenth-Century Chaucerian Visions – Ad Putter

Historical and Political Verse – Alfred Hiatt

Classical and Humanist Translations – Daniel Wakelin

Romance – Andrew King

Scientific and Encyclopaedic Verse – Anke Timmermann

Popular Verse Tales – Julia Boffey

Beyond the Fifteenth Century – A S G Edwards

About the author

JULIA BOFFEY is Professor of Medieval Studies in the Department of English at Queen Mary University of London.