Osbern Bokenam (c. 1393 – c. 1464, also spelt Bokenham) was an English Augustinian (Austin) friar and poet. He was a follower of Geoffrey Chaucer.

Life

Osbern Bokenam was born, according to his own account, on 6 October 1393. His name suggests he may have been a native of Bokeham, now Bookham, in Surrey, or of Buckenham in

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

. In a concluding note to his ''Lives of the Saints'', Bokenam is described as a "Suffolke man, frere Austyn of Stoke Clare" (friar at

Clare Priory Clare Priory is a religious house in England, originally established in 1248 as the first house of the Augustinian Friars in England. It is situated on the banks of the River Stour, a short distance away from the medieval village of Clare, Suffo ...

in Suffolk).Macpherson, Ewan. "Osbern Bokenham." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. Retrieved 28 March 2013
Bokenam travelled in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

on at least two occasions, possibly living for a time in Venice and Rome. In 1445 he was a

pilgrim A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) who is on a journey to a holy place. Typically, this is a physical journey (often on foot) to some place of special significance to the adherent of ...

Santiago de Compostela Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, in northwestern Spain. The city has its origin in the shrine of Saint James the Great, now the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, as the destination of the Way of S ...

in Spain.

Writings

Bokenam wrote a series of 13 legends of holy maidens and women, chiefly in seven and eight-lined stanzas. Nine of these have

prologue A prologue or prolog (from Greek πρόλογος ''prólogos'', from πρό ''pró'', "before" and λόγος ''lógos'', "word") is an opening to a story that establishes the context and gives background details, often some earlier story that ...

s. Bokenam was a follower of

Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for '' The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He w ...

and Lydgate, and doubtless had in mind Chaucer's ''Legend of Good Women''. His chief, but by no means only source was the ''Legenda Aurea'' of

Jacobus de Voragine Jacobus de Voragine (c. 123013/16 July 1298) was an Italian chronicler and archbishop of Genoa. He was the author, or more accurately the compiler, of the '' Golden Legend'', a collection of the legendary lives of the greater saints of the medi ...

Archbishop of Genoa The Archdiocese of Genoa ( la, Archidioecesis Ianuensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Italy. Erected in the 3rd century, it was elevated to an archdiocese on 20 March 1133. The archdiocese of Ge ...

, whom he cites as "Januence". The first of the legends, ''Vita S n e Margaretae, virginis et martyris'' (Life of St Margaret, Virgin and Martyr), was written for a friend, Thomas Burgh, a

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

monk. Others are dedicated to pious ladies who desired the history of the patron saints after whom they had been named. The ''Arundel MS. 327'' (in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

) is a unique copy of Bokenam's work. It was finished, according to the concluding note, in 1447, and presented by the scribe, Thomas Burgh, to an unnamed

convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglic ...

"that the nuns may remember him and his sister, Dame Betrice Burgh." The poems were edited in 1835 for the

Roxburghe Club The Roxburghe Club is a bibliophilic and publishing society based in the United Kingdom. Origins The spur to the Club's foundation was the sale of the enormous library of the Duke of Roxburghe (who had died in 1804), which took place over 46 day ...

with the title ''Lyvys of Seyntys...'', and by Dr Carl Horstmann as ''Osbern Bokenams Legenden'' (Heilbronn, 1883), in

Eugen Kölbing Eugen Kölbing (1846-1899) was a German philologist, a specialist in the study of Nordic, English, and French language and literature and comparative linguistics and literature. Academic career Eugen Kölbing studied Philosophy, Classical Philolo ...

's ''Altengl. Bibliothek'', vol. i. Both editions include a dialogue written in Latin and English, taken from

William Dugdale Sir William Dugdale (12 September 1605 – 10 February 1686) was an English antiquary and herald. As a scholar he was influential in the development of medieval history as an academic subject. Life Dugdale was born at Shustoke, near Coles ...

's ''Monasticon Anglicanum'' (ed. 1846, vol. vi, p. 1600), between a "Secular asking and a Frere answerynge at the grave of Dame Johan of Acres hoshewith the lyneal descent of the lordis of the honore of Clare fro... MCCXLVIII to... MCCCLVI". Bokenam wrote, as he tells us plainly, in the Suffolk speech. He explains his lack of decoration on the plea that the finest flowers had been already plucked by Chaucer,

Gower Gower ( cy, Gŵyr) or the Gower Peninsula () in southwest Wales, projects towards the Bristol Channel. It is the most westerly part of the historic county of Glamorgan. In 1956, the majority of Gower became the first area in the United Kingdom ...

and Lydgate. In 2004 a manuscript copy of Bokenam's version of ''Legenda Aurea'' was found in the library of

Abbotsford House Abbotsford is a historic country house in the Scottish Borders, near Galashiels, on the south bank of the River Tweed. Now open to the public, it was built as the residence of historical novelist and poet Sir Walter Scott between 1817 and 1825 ...

, Scotland. It had been bought in 1809 by

Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy' ...

and then forgotten.

References

* * Watt, Diane, ''Medieval Women's Writing'' (Polity, 2008)

External links

Catholic Encyclopedia articleBokenam on Augustinian web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bokenam, Osbern 1393 births 15th-century deaths English biographers Augustinian friars English male poets English male non-fiction writers Male biographers