c.1370 - 1449
A verse play written circa 1427.
This version is made available with the permission of the Master and
Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge, England, the owners of the unique
original manuscript.
For the purposes of this multi-platform electronic text, the medieval
'thorn' (a character representing 'th') has been changed to 'th'. It was
impracticable to reproduce the original punctuation, which mainly
consisted of the virgule or slash. Modern commas and full stops have been
sparingly imposed. Superscript tildes and mid-script tildes have been
removed. Mid-script dots have been changed to colons as they seem to
indicate a deliberate suspension. The last four words of the initial
rubric (Brys : slayne at Loviers) appear to have been added to the
manuscript at a date slightly later than when it was first written.
Section marks occur in the original without consistency; where these
clearly indicate a new section, a blank line has been inserted to produce
a similar effect.
The endnotes include the original stage directions. Two lacunae in the
manuscript have been supplied by reference to John Stow's late 16th-
century manuscript copy of the text. The other endnotes are glosses of
particular words in the text.
The transcription of Lydgate's text has also been published in book form
under the title 'Lydgate's Disguising at Hertford Castle', including a
modern verse translation of the text, an editor's introduction and notes,
and a study of the literary and historical background of the play and of
its first performance, which took place at Hertford Castle as part of the
royal Christmas festivities of, probably, 1427. It is hoped that this
additional material will become available as a Project Gutenberg etext.
Readers interested in the book may wish to have its publication details
Lydgate's Disguising at Hertford Castle by Derek Forbes
with Foreword by Glynne Wickham
First published by Blot Publishing, Pulborough, 1998.
Pp. xiv + 82, f'piece, and 4 plate ills.
Decorated and laminated card cover. ISBN 1 900929 03 1.
Retail price in 2000 six pounds GBP.
Copies of the book are available from
Blot Publishing, 8 Chanctonbury, Ashington, West Sussex, RH20 3QE, UK.
Telephone: +44 (0)1903 893806
Email: <info@blot.co.uk>; Web site: <http://www.blot.co.uk>.
or from the Society for Theatre Research, c/o The Theatre Museum,
1E Tavistock Street, London WC2E 7PA, UK.
Copies of the book were distributed by the Society for Theatre Research to
its members worldwide in 1998, and can be consulted in the libraries of
institutions which subscribe to the Society.