Thomas Hoccleve
born
1368/69, London
died c. 1450?, Southwick, Eng.
English poet, contemporary and imitator of
Chaucer, whose work has little literary merit
but much value as social history.
What little is known of Hoccleve’s life must be
gathered mainly from his works. At age 18 or 19
he obtained a clerkship in the privy seal office
in London, which he retained intermittently for
about 35 years. His earliest dated poem, a
translation of Christine de Pisan’s L’Épistre au
dieu d’amours, appeared in 1402 as “The Letter
of Cupid.” His poem La Mâle Règle (1406; “The
Male Regimen”) presents a vivid picture of the
delights of a bachelor’s evening amusements in
the taverns and cookshops of Westminster.
Hoccleve married in about 1411.
In 1411
he produced The Regement of Princes, or De
regimine principum, culled from a 13th-century
work of the same name, for Henry, Prince of
Wales. A tedious homily, it contains a touching
accolade to Chaucer, whose portrait Hoccleve had
painted on the manuscript to ensure that his
appearance would not be forgotten. In his later
years Hoccleve turned from the ballads addressed
to his many patrons to serious religious verse
and to recording the ills of the day in a
literal-minded manner that presents a clear
picture of the time. His most interesting work,
La Mâle Règle, contains some realistic
descriptions of London life.
