Add MS 29729

Collection of poems by John Lydgate (c. 1370–1449/50?), poet and prior of Hatfield Regis, and others. Chiefly in the hand of John Stowe (1524/5–1605), historian. Copied from a lost manuscript by John Shirley (c. 1366–1456), author, translator and scribe (see Brusendorff, The Chaucer Tradition, 1925).

f. 1r: Title page, ‘Danne Lidigate monke of Burye his woorkes’, with ‘written by Stow’ added. ‘And a translation of Virgils Aneyd dedicated to prince Arthur sonne to kinge Henrye the seventh’.

f. 2r: ‘A pece of ye battayll of the psalms:’ beginning, ‘That every man in his degree’. Copied ‘out of M[a]ster. Blomfelds boke’ [see DIMEV 5129-1].

ff. 3r-4v: ‘Quid eligam igoro:’ beginning, ‘Considring effectually ye great diversitie’ [see DIMEV 1072-2]. See Copies Information for another copy.

ff. 4v-5r: ‘How the plage was sesyd in Rome:’ beginning, ‘So noble medesyne, ne so sovereyne’-‘Explicit. John Lidgate’ [see DIMEV 4942-1].

f. 6r-6v: A poetical epistle ‘per magistrum [Benedictum] Burgh ad Joannem Lidgate:’ beginning, ‘Nat dremyd I in ye mownt of Pernaso’ [see DIMEV 3705-1].

ff. 6v-7r: ‘A leson to kepe well ye tonge, [copied] out of M[a]ster Haulays booke’ beginning, ‘Passe for the pilgryme, and bridle well thy beaste’-‘Explicit. . . . .per magistrum Benedictum Burgh’ [see DIMEV 4346-3]. See Copies Information for another copy, attributed to John Gower.

ff. 7r-8r: ‘Remember man thow art but wormes mette:’ beginning, ‘O mortall man masyd with pompe and pride’ [see DIMEV 4004-1].

ff. 8r-9r: ‘The Epitaphy of kynge Edward ye fowrthe compl[i]yd by John Lidgate monke of Burie:’ beginning ‘Miseremini mei, ye that be my fryndys’ [see DIMEV 3524-2]. Lydgate's name in the title is scratched through with the pen, and that of ‘Skelton’ substituted, and the piece is printed by Dyce (see Publication Note) among the works of the latter.

ff. 9v-10r: ‘A balad made by John lydgat of ye ymage of owr lady:’ beginning, ‘Beholde and se, this gloriows fygure’ [see DIMEV 797-1].

f. 10r-10v: A satirical poem on the times, the burden of which is ‘ryght as a rammes horne’-‘qd. John ludgate: writen out of M[a]ster Philyppes boke’ [see DIMEV 359-5].

ff. 11r-16r: ‘The xv. Oes:’ beginning, ‘O blissed lord, my lord, O Crist Ihesu.’ ‘Explicit. . . . . .compiled by John Lydgat, monke of Bury, and were, here wryten owt of Mastar Stantons boke by John Stowe’ [see DIMEV 3843-4].

f. 16r: ‘The ix properties of wyne per Johannen Lidgate:’ beginning, ‘Wyne of nature hath properties nyne’ [see DIMEV 6697-3].

ff. 17r-83r: ‘The sege of worthy Thebes, by John Lydgatt, monk of Bury, on hos sowll god have marcy; wretyn by John Stowe’ [see DIMEV 6276-17].

ff. 84r-86r: ‘A tretis of the kynges coronacion Henry the vi, made by the monke of Bury John Lidgatt, anno 1430 ye 6 of november:’ beginning, ‘Most noble prince of cristen prences alle’ [see DIMEV 3554-4].

ff. 87r-121v: ‘The court of sapyence compylyd by John Lydgate:’ beginning, ‘The laborous and the most mervelus werkes’ [see DIMEV 5365-2].

ff. 122r-123r: Paraphrase of the ‘Magnificat’ by John Lydgate beginning ‘Miche lawde and prays my sowle magnifieth’ [see DIMEV 4080-18].

ff. 123r-124r: ‘The songe of Just mesure [by John Lidgate] writen by John Stowe’, beginning ‘By wytte of man: a thyng that is contryved’ [see DIMEV 951-1]. See Copies Information for another copy, which contains three fewer stanzas, and was printed in Halliwell (Publication Note).

ff. 124v-126r: ‘Amor vincit omnia, mentiris quod pecunia, John Lydgate’. Beginning ‘Eche man folowith his owne fantasie’ [see DIMEV 1160-2].

f. 126r-126v: Paraphrase in the form of a Will of the couplet ‘Terram terra tegat, demon peccata resumat, mundus res habeat, spiritus alta petat’ ending ‘Amen, qd. Robartus peet’ [see DIMEV 2503-4].

ff. 126v-127v: ‘Verses of ye sawter whiche yt kynge Henry the v., Whoom god assoyle, by gret devocion vsyd in his chapell at his hyze masses. . . . translated by ye monke Lydegat dan John’ [see DIMEV 4051-3].

ff. 127v-129v: ‘Balade whych John Lydgate, the monke of Bery, wrote and made at ye commaundement of ye quene Kateryn’ beginning, ‘Ther is full lytell sikernes’ [see DIMEV 5575-2].

ff. 129v-130r: Poem in praise of the Virgin, beginning ‘O wretched synner what so ever thow be’-‘Finis. Lidgat’ [see DIMEV 4102-2].

f. 130r-130v: Proverbs in verse, beginning ‘See myche, say lytell and lerne to soffar in tyme’-‘Explicit. Lidgat’ [see DIMEV 4800-2].

ff. 130v-131r: Poem in praise of the Virgin, beginning ‘Heyl gloryous virgyne ground of all owr grace’ [see DIMEV 1713-3]. See Copies Information for another copy, attributed to ‘an holy Ankaresse of Maunsffeld’.

f. 131r-131v: Religious poem beginning ‘Upon the crosse nayled I was for the’ [see DIMEV 6132-10]. Attributed to Lydgate, see Ritson (Publication Note).

ff. 131v-132r: Three stanzas on the instability of human affairs, beginning ‘The more I goo the ferther I am behynde’ [see DIMEV 5410-1]. See Halliwell (Publication Note), who does not print the second and third stanzas. They are here headed "Le dis de lidgate’.

f. 132r-132v: Sayings and proverbs, headed ‘Serten thinges of John lygat copied out of the boke of John Sherley by John Stowe’ [see DIMEV 5559-2, 5559-3, 5558-3].

ff. 132v-134r: ‘A letar made in wyse of balad by Dann John Lydgat, brought by a pursyvaunt in wyse of momers dysguysed to fore ye mayre of London [William] Estfeld [Mayor in 1429 and 1437] vpon the twelffthe nyght of christmasse, ordeyned Ryally by the Worthy Merciers’, with notes. Beginning ‘Moste mighty Lord, Jubyter the gret’ [see DIMEV 3553-2].

ff. 134r-135v: A letter ‘for a mommynge whiche ye goldsmythes of London shewyd before Gestfyld [Eastfield] ye mayr on candylmas day’. Beginning ‘That worthy david whiche that sloughe golie’ [see DIMEV 5187-2].

ff. 135v-136v: ‘Balade made by dann John Lidgate at Elltham in Christmasse ffor a mommyng to fore the kynge and the quene’. Beginning ‘Bachus which is god of the glade vyne’ [see DIMEV 747-2].

ff. 136v-140r: ‘The maner of a bille by weye of supplycation put to the kynge holdinge his noble fest of crystniasse in the castell of Hartford, as in dysguysinge of the rude vpplandish people complayninge on theyr wyues; with the boystrus answere of theyr wyues: deuysed by Lidgate at the requeste of the countrowlore Brys slayn at louiers’. Beginning ‘Most noble prynce with support of your grace’ [see DIMEV 3557-2].

ff. 140r-144r: ‘The deuyse of a desgilysinge tofore the grete estates of this land than beinge at London made by Lidgate dann John, the munke of Bury, of dame Fortune, dame Prudence, dame Rightwysnesse, and dame fortitude’. Beginning, ‘Loo here this lady that ye may see’ [see DIMEV 3149-2].

ff. 144r-145v: ‘The deuyse of a momynge to for the kynge Henry the sixte beinge in his castell of Wyndsore the fest of hys crysmasse holdinge ther, made by Lidgate’. Beginning ‘Mooste noble prynce, of cristen prynces all’ [see DIMEV 3555-2].

ff. 145v-146v: ‘Balade. . . . .gyuen vnto ye kyng Henry and to his moder the quene Kateryne sittyng at ye mete vpon the yeares day in the castell of Hertford, made by Lidgate’. Beginning ‘This hardy foole [fowl], this bryd victoryous’ [see DIMEV 5693-3].

ff. 146v-149v: ‘The translacyoune out of Latine in to Engelyshe of gloriosa dicta sunt de te’, ‘translated by Lidgate dame John, the munke of Bury, at thynstaunce of the bushope of Excestre in wyse of a balade’. Beginning, ‘On holly hylles whyehe beoth of gret renoun’ [see DIMEV 4271-4].

ff. 149v-151v: ‘A balad of good counsayle translated out of vercis in Latine into Engelisshe by dame John. . . . . .cleped Lidgate’. Beginning ‘Consider well with euery circumstaunce’ [see DIMEV 1070-4].

ff. 151v-154r: ‘A balade of good counsayle made by Lidgate danne John’. Beginning "Lyffte up the eyeghen of your aduertence’ [see DIMEV 3080-3]. See Halliwell (Publication Note), who prints this poem from a copy (Harley MS 2251) with a missing line that is included here.

ff. 154r-155r: ‘A balade made in our Engelishe language by dame John Lidgate translated out of Frenche’. Beginning ‘This world is full of stabellnes’ [see DIMEV 5792-5]. See Halliwell (Publication Note), whose printed copy differs considerably.

ff. 155r-157r: ‘A balade made at the reuerence of our lady, by dame Johan Lidegate ye munke of Bury in wyse of chesinge loues at sainte valentyne's daye’. Beginning ‘Saynt valentyne of customs yeare by yeare’ [see DIMEV 4769-3].

f. 157r-157v: ‘A balade which ye Lydegate wrote at ye request of a squyer yt serued in loue's court’. Beginning ‘Freshe lusty beaute joyned with gentyllnesse’ [see DIMEV 1452-2].

ff. 157v-160r: ‘A comendable balade by Lydegate dame John at ye reuerence of my lady [Jacqueline, Countess] of Holand and of my lord [Humphrey, duke] of Gloucester to fore ye daye of there maryage [in 1423 in the desyrous tyme of ther true louynge’. Beginning ‘Thorough glad aspectis of ye god cupyde’ [see DIMEV 5913-3].

ff. 160r-161r: ‘A balade sayde by a gentillwoman which loued a man of gret estate made by Lidgate’. Beginning ‘Allas I wofull creature’ [see DIMEV 283-2].

ff. 161r-166r: ‘A sayenge of ye nightingalle. Imagened and cumpyled by danne John Lidgate’. Beginning ‘In Juygne whan tytan was in ye crabes lied’ [see DIMEV 2525-3].

ff. 166r-168v: ‘An ordenaunce of a presesyon of ye feste of Corpus Cristic made in London by dame John lydegate’. Beginning ‘This hye feste now for to magnefye’ [see DIMEV 5697-3]. At the end is the note ‘Sherleye could fynd no more of this coppe’, which is also found at the end of the same piece in another copy (see Copy Information).

f. 169r-169v: ‘Seuen balades mad by dame John Lydgqate of the sodeine fall of certayne princes of Fraunce and Engelond now late in our dayes’. Beginning ‘Beholde thys greate prynce Edward ye seconde’ [see DIMEV 813-2].

ff. 169v-170v: ‘A balade ryall now late made by dame John Lydgate ymagined by him within ye tyme of his stranslation of Bocas by ye commaundement of my lord of Glocester’. Beginning ‘This tragedye gyueth a gret varnynge’ [see DIMEV 1904-17].

ff. 170v-177v: ‘Ye lyffe of saynt Margret translated in to Engelyshe by danne John Ludgate, munke of Berye, at ye request of my lady of Huntingeton some some ye countes of ye Marche’ [Anne, widow of Edmond Mortimer, Earl of March, ob. 1424, and wife of John Holland, Earl of Huntingdon, cr. Duke of Exeter, 1445]. Beginning ‘At ye reverence of saynt margret’ [see DIMEV 720-5].

ff. 177v-179r: ‘Kalundare of John Shirley, which he sett in ye beginninge of his booke’. Beginning ‘O ye my lordes whan ye beholde’ [see DIMEV 4115-1]. At the end of this piece is the note ‘Here endeth ye works of John Lidgate, which John Stow hath caused to be coppyed out of an owld booke somtyme written by John Sherleye as is aboue made mencyon’. To this Stowe has added ‘John Sherley wrat in ye tyme of John Lydgate in his lyffe, tyme’.

ff. 179v-183v: ‘Prologe of John Lydgattes testament whiche I [John Stowe] fownd in M[a]ster. Stantons boke’. Beginning ‘O howe holsum and glad is the memorie’ [see DIMEV 3937-5].

ff. 184r-286v: John Lydgate, ‘Of reson and sensuallyte’. Beginning ‘To all folkys vertuouse’ [see DIMEV 5964-2]. Imperfect, ending in the middle of a moralisation upon the game of chess.

ff. 287r-288r: ‘Ye fyftene ooes drawen oute of Latyn vnto Engelishe by [John] Lidgate’. Beginning ‘Jhesu called Alpha and 0o’ [see DIMEV 3843-5].

f. 288v: Stanza headed ‘Boecius de consolatio [sic.] philosophie’. Beginning ‘As poverte causithe sobernes’ [see DIMEV 4490-2].

f. 288v: Stanza beginning ‘Sum wemen wepyn of peure feminite’ [see DIMEV 1418-12].

f. 288v: Note: ‘This boke perteynythe to John Stowe and was by hym wryten in ye yere of owr lord MDVLIII’.