Lydgate's Siege of Thebes

i RegnaiPrincipiis,!Discordisei filius1 Angliae,jPersona,IAITemporary Preface.viihave caught at once the attention of Chaucer. But on the whole itmay be said that everytliing the poem possesses of poetic charm, it l^owes to Lydgate's work.The hero of parts II and III is Tydeus, on wliom Lydgate hivisheshis highest praise. In painting Tydeus' character and extolling hisexploits, the author had, no doubt, in his mind's eye England'syouthful hero, King Henry Y. Here and there in the poem alhisions uto contemporary political events may be traced (see for inst. § 6).§6. Lydgate probably began his Thebes in the latter part of 1420.It was finished before the death of Henry V (August 31, 1422).iAnd it seems safe to assume that the poem had been completed solong before that date that copies ofit had been made and circulated.For if it had still been in its author's hands when he learnt theirreparable loss his country had suffered, he would certainly haverecast the end of it. In writing 11. 4690-4703, and especially thelast lines of this passage ": And charite . . . shal her bryghtehemes sprede ... in dyuers naciouns Forto reforme atwixe RegiounsPees and quyet, concord and vnyte," Lydgate clearly had in viewcertain terms of the treaty of Troyes concluded in May 1420. The24th paragraph of this treaty says (see Rymer's Foedera, Tom. ix,p. 901):Item, lit Concordia, Pax, & Tranquilhtas inter pnedicta Franciiie & Angliaeperpetuo faturis temporibus observentur, & obvietur Occasiouibus kex quibus inter eadem Regna, quod absit, Debata, Dissensiones seufuturis possent temporibus exoriri, Coucordatum est, quod dictusnoster Rex Henricus laborabit, . . . ambo Coronse, scilicet Franciae etperpetuo futuris temporibus commanebunt k erunt in una k eademviz. sua, etc,comparison of the words of this paragraph with 1. 4703 showsat once whence have sprung Lydgate's " Pees and quyet, concord andvnyt^." See also the 25th paragraph. Cf. Troy Book, v, 3999-3442.The whole passage 1. 4690 sq. of Thebes resounds with a jubilantnote of hopefulness, and could not possibly have been written or issuedafter England's hopes of a triumphant peace had been so suddenlyblighted by the King's death.§ 7. The Siege of Thebes is written in heroic couplets. It haslong been held up as a specimen of unusually bad metre. This „censure seemed to be justilied by the character—very unsatisfactory^ Cf. Koeppel 1. c, and Schick, Lydgate's Temple of Glas, 1891. AlsoH. Hergen, Tlie MSS. and Prints of Lydgate's Troy Book. Bungay, ChaucerI'ress, 1906.