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The Legend of Saint Alban
'As for the knight who beheaded Alban, he was immediately blinded: his eyes fell right out of his head, and so he lost all his worldly joy forever. In this way, he was punished for wanting to see Alban bleed.'
According to the medieval legend, Saint Alban was martyred outside the city that now bears his name during the reign of the Roman emperor Diocletian.
This book is a re-telling of the legend in modern English, based on a version by the fifteenth-century monk, John Lydgate.
According to the medieval legend, Saint Alban was martyred outside the city that now bears his name during the reign of the Roman emperor Diocletian.
This book is a re-telling of the legend in modern English, based on a version by the fifteenth-century monk, John Lydgate.
29 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 5, 2016
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About the author
John Lydgate
178 books4 followersJohn Lydgate of Bury (c. 1370 – c. 1451) was a monk and poet. He was admitted to the Benedictine monastery of Bury St. Edmunds at fifteen and became a monk there a year later. Having literary ambitions (he was an admirer of Geoffrey Chaucer and a friend to his son, Thomas) he sought and obtained patronage for his literary work at the courts of Henry IV of England, Henry V of England and Henry VI of England. Other patrons included the mayor and aldermen of London, the chapter of St. Paul's Cathedral, Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick, however his main supporter from 1422 was Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester.
In 1423 John was made prior of Hatfield Broad Oak, Essex but soon resigned the office to concentrate on his travels and writing. He was a prolific writer of poems, allegories, fables and romances, yet his most famous works were his longer and more moralistic Troy Book, Siege of Thebes and The Fall of Princes. The Troy Book was a translation of the Latin prose narrative by Guido delle Colonne, Historia destructionis Troiae.
Lydgate was also believed to have written London Lickpenny, a well-known satirical work; however, his authorship of this piece has been heavily discredited. He also translated the poems of Guillaume de Deguileville into English. In his later years he lived and probably died at the monastery of Bury St. Edmunds.
In 1423 John was made prior of Hatfield Broad Oak, Essex but soon resigned the office to concentrate on his travels and writing. He was a prolific writer of poems, allegories, fables and romances, yet his most famous works were his longer and more moralistic Troy Book, Siege of Thebes and The Fall of Princes. The Troy Book was a translation of the Latin prose narrative by Guido delle Colonne, Historia destructionis Troiae.
Lydgate was also believed to have written London Lickpenny, a well-known satirical work; however, his authorship of this piece has been heavily discredited. He also translated the poems of Guillaume de Deguileville into English. In his later years he lived and probably died at the monastery of Bury St. Edmunds.
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December 24, 2024
Heavily abridged "translation" of Lydgate's hagiographic poem into contemporary English prose. Lydgate builds on Bede's story of Alban's martyrdom, making Alban a dashing young governor in Roman Briton - Alban is kind, a friend to the poor, and a wise judge even before he converts to Christianity. Lydgate builds a backstory in which Alban had met Amphibalus previously, and "explains" Alban's willingness to be martyred by the interpolation of a dream of Christ's life after Amphibalus initially tells him of a son of God. A small, useful book but a mere taste of what Lydgate wrote, I suspect.
Displaying 1 of 1 review