The Series – Thomas Hoccleve
Contents
The Series – Thomas Hoccleve..........................................................................................................1
The Complaint...............................................................................................................................2
The Dialogue with a Friend...........................................................................................................4
Lerne to Dye – [tw: death, I guess?]..............................................................................................7
Jereslaus' Wife –[tw: threats of violence, threats of rape, sexual intimidation, tr*mp references
I guess]........................................................................................................................................11
Jonathas –[tw: emotional manipulation, suicide mention, murder, general sexism]..................15
Articles.............................................................................................................................................18
Critical Response to ‘Psychosomatic Illness and Identity in London, 1416–1421’ by Matthew
Boyd Goldie – Presentation Notes..............................................................................................18
The Bureaucratic Muse, Chapter 6 – Ethan Knapp......................................................................19
Critical Response to ‘Madness and Texts’ by James Simpson – Presentation Notes...................21
Thomas Hoccleve’s Complaint and Dialogue, introduction, pages lvii-lxiii – J. A. Burrow...........22
Critical Response to ‘Some New Light on Thomas Hoccleve’ by Linne R. Mooney – Presentation
Notes...........................................................................................................................................23
Last Words, Chapter 2 – Sebastian Sobecki.................................................................................24
Critical Response to ‘Lerne for to Dye and the Author’s Death in Thomas Hoccleve's Series’ by
Christina Von Nolcken – Presentation Notes..............................................................................26
Thomas Hoccleve's Self-Publication and Book Production’ – David Watt...................................27
‘“What World is This? How Vunderstande Am I?” A Reappraisal of Poetic Authority in Thomas
Hoccleve's Series’ – Sebastian James Langdell............................................................................29
Critical Response to ‘Penitential Discourse in Hoccleve’s Series’ by Robyn Malo – Presentation
Notes...........................................................................................................................................32
Seminar Notes.................................................................................................................................33
, The Complaint 2
The Complaint
prologue
After autumn and Michaelmas have come, the tree loses her leaves. There is no stability in life, only
change and alteration. Even if a man starts prosperous, it will not endure. He will lose it. No matter
how strong, rich, vigorous and happy you are, you cannot stop change. Hoccleve cannot sleep, for he
is ill with melancholia. The grief in his heart swells, it becomes so big it must burst out.
the complaint
God has not forgotten Hoccleve. Friends promised to go on pilgrimage for his health (let God reward
them). His illness, causing him to hurdle him out of his own self, was known far and wide, it was not
a private matter. And although his memory briefly left him, at All Saint’s day 5 years ago the Lord
restored it. Ever since, Hoccleve has thanked the Lord for his good and gracious reconciliation of his
wit. However, ever since his wit has been restored, he has lived in constant torment and suffering.
People around him did not understand/accept that he was healed. He has lost friends, nobody wants
to talk to him anymore and the world treats him like a stranger.
Often when Hoccleve is in Westminster Hall or London, among the crowds, he saw the faces around
him grow pale and dejected. Those who used to join him now turn their heads away when they meet
him, as if they don’t see him. He cites Psalm 31:11-12. People believe his illness will return,
especially now that Hoccleve is older. However, they cannot know what will happen, only God can.
Whatever happens, no matter what people judge or speculate, is only known to God.
Nobody has certainty that they will stay healthy. God can heal and can hurt. Even when you are in
prosperity, it is a mark of wit to expect/dread a fall from grace. Who pays attention can see that the
world changes and is mutable in different ways.
People said he looked like a wild ox: he carried his head high like one and people believed him to be
well suited to sit in the ranks of those who can give an idiotic opinion since there is no soundness in
his head. After Hoccleve changed the way he walked, people started saying he looked like a doe, 1 not
resting or stopping but completely brainsick. He never stood still, and if he was standing still to talk
to people his eyes kept looking around the room. He always listened to these criticisms and made
sure to reflect upon it. He knew that it was best to leave quickly before he would misbehave in
public and become the laughingstock.
So Hoccleve withdrew, keeping himself hidden away with little reason to be happy. He worked really
hard to look acceptable to society, even though he feels consistently anxious. In his chamber at
home, he examines his reflection in the mirror, looking for bits to change. He practices facial
expressions for in public, so he looks genuine and normal and without suspicion. He tried to think of
ways to bring his troubled spirit to rest but could not come up with any.
Since he recovered, he has often had cause to be angry and impatient, but he bears it calmly and
gently, enduring his suffering, keeping his silence to people won’t think he is ill again. One day, when
arriving at Westminster, he thinks himself a fool for working so hard and earning nothing but misery.
However, he also realises that if he is not seen in the crowd people will think he is ill again.
He cannot prevent people from imagining things, people will always speculate. They might not find
the truth, only thing known by proof. Judgement is hidden in the mist, man shall be known by his
deeds and not by his looks.
1
🎵A deer, a female deer🎵
, The Complaint 3
If you taste fruit, you know what it is. There is no need for further proof. Every man knows this. In
the same way, people believe Hoccleve’s wit is gone, since they ‘taste’ that he is still ill. However, it
is hard for people to assess others based on just a look. The truth is hidden. The best test to see
someone’s health is through a conversation about ordinary things, since Hoccleve is not educated
and he can do nothing more but speak of ordinary things.
If a man falls in drunkenness, will he stay in that state? No, even when someone drinks so much he
cannot walk and his wit leaves him, he will always be returned to his old self again. Just so, Hoccleve
is healed again. Some people look wise but are fools, whilst others look foolish but are wise.
Hoccleve’s wits have returned after his illness, but he now sighs and mourns.
Since his good fortune has disappeared, he is ready to die. His life is joyless, so what is he doing
here? He can no longer be happy. 2 Farewell, wealth, farewell fortune, prosperity, fortune and luck.
However, Hoccleve soon realised that mourning like this only invites more adversity.
He was happy sometimes, but people consistently misjudged him, thinking he was ill. He puts no
fault in them, but one: that they believed him to be ill whilst neither when speaking or silent did they
find me acting strange. This caused them to ask his friends in the Privy Seal what really was going
on,3 but they don’t believe the answers they get.
This troublesome life has endured long enough. Hoccleve has given up on complaining about these
people. Let them talk, he doesn’t care anymore. He read a good lamentation in a book recently,
written by a sorrowful man consoled by Reason, which really soothed him. The man in the book
complained about his life, and how sorrow followed him everywhere. However, Reason told him to
look at people who have it worse, and at how graciously they carry their burden. Everyone’s life is
shit, and you have to carry it with grace, for you don’t know what God’s plan is, and you deserve to
be punished for your offences. The only thing you can do is hope God gives you mercy.
Hoccleve would have loved to continue reading the book, but the person he borrowed it from
wanted it back. Luckily he has learned some from the book. God gave Hoccleve his punishment.
Hoccleve ignored God when everything went well, so now this has happened to him to make him
more aware of God (as a form of discipline). 4 So farewell sorrow! With patience, Hoccleve will pick
the lock of melancholia and let him out of his thoughts. Now God, if He wants, can make Hoccleve’s
previous feelings return. God is just in His judgement. He gives and takes away and has allowed
Hoccleve to repent for his sin. He praises God and thanks him for being a medicine to all sadness. He
thanks God for his well-being and adversity, his growing older and sickness. He calls out for God’s
infinite mercy.
2
Do you ever just wanna bring someone to the 21 century just so they can get some proper therapy? Bc poor
dude. And he couldn’t even just stay in bed for an entire day eating B&J’s and Tony chocolonely whilst binging
Galavant.
3
Oh man do I hate that question.
4
Man, words cannot express how much I disagree with this theology.
, The Dialogue with a Friend 4
The Dialogue with a Friend
After Hoccleve ends his Complaint, some loudly knocks on his door, asking if he is there since it has
been quite a while since the person has seen him. At least for three months! Hoccleve steps out of
his room and greets this person, an old friend of his. He asks what Hoccleve was doing whilst the
friend was knocking, and Hoccleve shows his friend the complaint he wrote. The friend asks if
Hoccleve was planning on spreading this writing, and when he replies in the affirmative the friend
immediately advises against it. He should not remind people of what happened to him, people have
finally forgotten about it! He shouldn’t stir it up again. But Hoccleve says that he knows what people
have said and are saying about him. He thanks the friend for the kind advice, but Hoccleve believes
nobody should be ashamed of being punished by God. He also wants to show the other side of the
story: people kept gossiping about him, so now he wants to tell people the truth. Reminding people
would indeed have been unwise if he had been known as a murderer or robber or another kind of
cheat, but that is not the case. Those are all failings men stir up in themselves, but this illness was
caused by God. Because it is caused by God Hoccleve is bound to declare it, he should not hide this
gift, this miracle in which God’s greatness can be seen.
However, out of all the vices he mentions in the Complaint, there is one that has hurt Hoccleve the
most: his poor money management. Gold, nowadays, is weighed, to prevent counterfeit money. But
some coins (halfpennies) are so thin and light that people refuse to accept them. 5 And those that
make counterfeit coins don’t even get the capital punishment! Even though they should! 6 People
who consent to falsehoods shall be punished just as much as the people who commit falsehoods.
The sin of counterfeiting coins is hurting the king and his loyal subjects. [Hoccleve’s rant against
counterfeit money continues for quite a while].
The friend asks if Hoccleve was planning on adding anything to the Complaint. Yes, he answers, he
was planning on translating a small Latin treatise called Learne for to Die. The moral of that lesson is
that death comes, but no man can know when/where. So Hoccleve hopes to inspire others with this
text and encourage them to examine their conscience, make an account of what he has done in his
life and give his reckoning before he dies. All of this if God allows it, of course. After this project is
finished, Hoccleve will not write anymore. He is 53 after all, so he is growing old; his limbs are weak
and he is getting blind and he can’t think as well as he did previous years. It’s the Wheel of Fortune:
one day you might be on top, the next you’re at the bottom. Every good and fair and precious thing
is like a flower: it has beauty but will be gone in a snap. 7 Everyone will die. Land, riches, gold, honour
etc are all temporary. Even castles and palaces will be taken from us when we die. So it is wise to
prepare yourself for death, so you can go with a clear conscious.
The friend agrees that Hoccleve has good intentions, but he says he does not believe that the
Complaint is the right way to go about it. He tells Hoccleve fears that this entire contemplation will
cause him to fall back into his illness. This frustrates Hoccleve, and he reminds his friend of what he
just read. He Complaint shows that he is healthy again! Why doesn’t he believe that? A true friend
would believe him. Hoccleve had promised himself to always stay friends with him, and he will keep
5
People mistrust money now since so many counterfeit coins exist, and since you can’t weigh (and therefore
can’t check) such light coins as halfpennies they can’t know if they are counterfeit or real, and therefore don’t
dare to accept them.
6
Hey buddy, maybe calm down on the murder there.
7
