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Three of John Lydgate's early works on the theme of love, in newly modernised versions, are now available here.

John Lydgate of Bury (c. 1370 – c. 1451) an English monk and poet, was born in Lidgate, near Haverhill, in the county of Suffolk. He was admitted to the Benedictine monastery of Bury St Edmunds Abbey in 1382, took novice vows soon after, and was ordained as a subdeacon in 1389. He was likely a student at Oxford University, between 1406 and 1408. He admired Geoffrey Chaucer’s work, was a friend to the latter’s son, Thomas, and gained literary patronage at the courts of Henry IV, Henry V, and Henry VI. A prolific writer, Lydgate penned poems, fables, allegories, and romances. The most extensive of his writings were: his Troy Book (1412–20), a translation of the Latin prose narrative Historia destructionis Troiae, by Guido delle Colonne; the Siege of Thebes, a translation of a French prose version of the Roman de Thebes; and the Fall of Princes (1431–8), the last and longest of his works.

Regarding the three poems offered here, which belong to his earlier period, 1400-1410, and are modelled on Chaucer's works:

The Floure of Courtesye is, like Chaucer’s Parlement of Foules, a Valentine’s Day Poem. 

The Complaint of the Black Knight, originally called A Complaynt of a Loveres Lyfe, is modelled on The Book of the Duchess,

The Temple of Glas is indebted to  ‘The House of Fame.’