''Siege of Thebes'' is a 4716-line poem written by

John Lydgate John Lydgate of Bury (c. 1370 – c. 1451) was an English monk and poet, born in Lidgate, near Haverhill, Suffolk, England. Lydgate's poetic output is prodigious, amounting, at a conservative count, to about 145,000 lines. He explored and estab ...

between 1420 and 1422. Lydgate composed the ''Siege of Thebes'' directly following his composition of ''

Troy Book ''Troy Book'' is a Middle English poem by John Lydgate relating the history of Troy from its foundation through to the end of the Trojan War. It is in five books, comprising 30,117 lines in ten-syllable couplets. The poem's major source is Gui ...

'' - which was patronized by

King Henry V Henry V (16 September 1386 – 31 August 1422), also called Henry of Monmouth, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1413 until his death in 1422. Despite his relatively short reign, Henry's outstanding military successes in the Hu ...

- and directly preceding his production of ''

The Fall of Princes ''The Fall of Princes'' is a long poem by English poet John Lydgate John Lydgate of Bury (c. 1370 – c. 1451) was an English monk and poet, born in Lidgate, near Haverhill, Suffolk, England. Lydgate's poetic output is prodigious, amounting, ...

'' - which Humphrey Duke of Gloucester patronized during King Henry VI's regency. The poem is particularly significant because it was written without an identifiable patron, and most probably without patron or commission whatsoever. Whatever the status of its patronage, the ''Siege of Thebes'' still managed to gain significant popularity, attested to by its 31 surviving manuscripts. The poem is, in large part, a response to Geoffrey Chaucer's '' The Canterbury Tales''. Lydgate's poem borrows ''The Canterbury Tales

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...

-based

framing device Framing may refer to: * Framing (construction), common carpentry work * Framing (law), providing false evidence or testimony to prove someone guilty of a crime * Framing (social sciences) * Framing (visual arts), a technique used to bring the focu ...

and is written as an additional tale in the cycle. However, unlike Chaucer, Lydgate establishes himself as the narrator of the work, and recounts the siege of Thebes. Lydgate's ''Siege of Thebes'' follows and expands upon the

Theban Cycle __NOTOC__ The Theban Cycle ( el, Θηβαϊκὸς Κύκλος) is a collection of four lost epics of ancient Greek literature which tells the mythological history of the Boeotian city of Thebes.West, M.L. (2003), ''Greek Epic Fragments'', Loeb C ...

, but makes significant additions to the source materials.

Criticism

Although literary critics generally used to believe that the work was a poor imitation of Chaucer's work rather than a work warranting criticism in and of itself, in recent years the ''Siege of Thebes'' has undergone more extensive study and some scholars have come to conclude that the ''Siege of Thebes'' indeed merits study. Apart from its complex Lancastrian and pacifist message, the text situates Lydgate as both a follower and rival of Chaucer's poetic tradition, and re-examines the way medieval patronage affected the production of poetry.

Source materials

The plot of the ''Siege of Thebes'' was influenced by several sources, both classical and medieval. Classically, the plot can be traced to

Statius Publius Papinius Statius ( Greek: Πόπλιος Παπίνιος Στάτιος; ; ) was a Greco-Roman poet of the 1st century CE. His surviving Latin poetry includes an epic in twelve books, the ''Thebaid''; a collection of occasional poetry, ...

' epic, the ''

Thebaid The Thebaid or Thebais ( grc-gre, Θηβαΐς, ''Thēbaïs'') was a region in ancient Egypt, comprising the 13 southernmost nomes of Upper Egypt, from Abydos to Aswan. Pharaonic history The Thebaid acquired its name from its proximity to ...

'' and Seneca's '' Oedipus''. However, the plot was expanded on in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, most notably in the 12th century French romance, '' Le Roman de Thébes''. The plot of Lydgate's epic follows both of these sources, but integrates work from

Boccaccio Giovanni Boccaccio (, , ; 16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanist. Born in the town of Certaldo, he became so well known as a writer that he was some ...

and the framing device used by Chaucer in ''The Canterbury Tales''. Lydgate also was influenced greatly by Martianus Capella's '' De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii'', '' Roman de Edipus,'' the '' Hystoire de Thebes'', the Old Testament, and the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chri ...

. However, the poem also contains original elements and expands upon its source materials thematically.

Modern editions

Only one rendition of the ''Siege of Thebes'' into modern English has been published - that by D.J. Favager: ''The Siege of Thebes: A Modern English Verse Rendition'' (Kindle 2018).

References

External links

TEAMS edition of the poem, edited by Robert R. Edwards
{{Authority control Middle English poems 15th-century poems