LYDGATE, John. - Benedictine monk, b. in 1370, d. in 1451. He was a prolific and prolix author.
He paraphrased Boccaccio’s *De casibus virorum illustrium* in his principal work: *The fall of princes*, a poem in “rime reale” (a stanza of seven decasyllables, already used by Chaucer and perhaps derived from the French *chant royal*). Other works of his are *The story of Thebes* and *The Troy book*, drawn from Guido delle Colonne and in which an encomium of Chaucer is to be found. At the request of Henry V he wrote a *Life of our Lady*. L.’s works have an interest that is popular and edifying, but lack originality.
Bibl.: F. J. Snell, *The age of Chaucer*, London 1901, passim; *The Cambridge bibliography of English lit.*, I, Cambridge 1940, pp. 250-52.