Thomas Hoccleve was born about 1367, as appears from the age he gives for himself in the
Dialogue with a Friend, written about 1420, part of the late grouping of his writings called the
Series: “Of age I am fifty winter and thre” (line 246). Nothing is known of the first twenty years of his life, before he was appointed as a clerk in the office of the Privy Seal about 1387. Again a later poem, the
Regiment of Princes(1410-13), where he speaks of having worked in that office for twenty-four years “come Easter” (presumably the Easter of 1411), provides the evidence (line 805). It was the occupation he was to follow for the rest of his life, without much advancement, until his death in 1426.
His first significant poem was the Letter of Cupid, or Epistre de Cupide (1402), a free
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Citation: Pearsall, Derek. "La Male Regle de Thomas Hocleve". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 11 June 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=4143, accessed 24 November 2024.]
