John Lydgate: Fabula Duorum Mercatorum and Guy of Warwyk

This edition presents two short, accessible, yet relatively understudied narrative works by the late medieval poet John Lydgate (ca. 1371–1449). Although differing in subject matter, style, and genre, both texts were likely composed during the same phase of Lydgate’s career in the 1420s and represent a new treatment of an earlier source. In the Fabula Duorum Mercatorum (Tale of Two Merchants), Lydgate transforms a short, straightforward twelfth-century exemplum into a courtly, philosophical romance masterfully exploring the popular theme of male friendship, replete with allusions to Geoffrey Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde and “The Knight’s Tale” as well as Boethius’s Consolation of Philosophy. By contrast, Lydgate’s Guy of Warwyk draws from one of the best-known English medieval romance traditions only to break from it; this self-consciously historical narrative is considerably shorter than its romance counterparts, focusing on Guy’s return to England, his battle against the giant Colbrond, and his death.