The Life of St Edmund King and Martyr

Written in the 1430s for Bury St Edmunds and presented to the young Henry VI, this Middle English verse life tells of Edmund, king of the East Angles, his Christian rule, and his death in 869 at the hands of Danish invaders who shoot him and behead him when he will not recant. Lydgate adds miracles at the shrine, the finding of the head, and the later fortunes of the abbey that kept the body. The poem is a hagiographic narrative in rhyme royal, not a chronicle of the whole Danish wars.

Bound in cream Nigerian goatskin blocked with a design in gold and coloured title, bevelled spine, ribbon marker. Commentary and transcript volume -a.S.G.Edwards, bound in gold blocked dark green buckram. Dark green solander box with red leather label on spine.