Lydgate’s poem consists of nineteen stanzas written in rhyme royal: the first three stanzas are narrated by an ymage in poete-wyse, while the following stanzas consist of direct speech from Bycorne, a group of husbands, a woman who is being devoured by Chychevache, and, finally, Chychevache and an old man whose wife has been eaten. Pearsall notes that the story of Bycorne and Chychevache, already well known by Chaucer’s time, became popular in murals and tapestries of the fifteenth century, the most famous example being the mural paintings in the castle of Villeneuve-Lembron in France, where the verses are written on scrolls between the pictures ( John Lydgate, pp.
While no direct source has been traced, Lydgate might have known French versions of the story, such as the Dit de la Chincheface (printed by Jubinal, 1:390). Bycorne also echoes Chaucer’s Wife of Bath’s and Clerk’s tales, with explicit references to patient Griselda and the question of sovereignty in marriage. Like the Disguising at Hertford, the poem is part of a misogynist tradition of complaints about unruly women and of advice on marital behavior, as is underscored by one manuscript of the poem, Trinity R.3.19, which also includes the conduct poems How the Good Wife Taught Her Daughter and How the Wise Man Taught His Son. MacCracken TB: Lydgate, Troy Book.īycorne and Chychevache tells the satiric story of two legendary beasts, one of whom dines on patient men, the other on submissive women. JOHN LYDGATE, BYCORNE AND CHYCHEVACHE: EXPLANATORY NOTESĪBBREVIATIONS: BL: British Library CT: Chaucer, Canterbury Tales MED: Middle English Dictionary MP: Minor Poems of John Lydgate, ed. JOHN LYDGATE, BYCORNE AND CHYCHEVACHE: FOOTNOTESġ …with a walking stick on his back, threatening the beast in order to rescue his wifeĢ And cried, “Wolf’s head obedience!” (i.e., “Outlaw obedience!”)
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