Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
ANALELE UNIVERSITATII OVIDIUS CONSTANTA, SERIA FILOLOGIE, cilt.36, sa.2, ss.14-26, 2025 (Scopus)
This paper aims to examine Benedictine monk John Lydgate’s secular work, Disguising at Hertford (c.1427–30) as a unique example of medieval mumming tradition, one which conceals more serious concerns beneath its ostensibly light-hearted festive and comic tone. The work presents the mock-trial of married couples who exchange their grievances about one another in front of the king. The performance of the players, combined with the humorous language they adopt, sets a distinctly comic tone. However, below its comical surface, the work incorporates broader questions and concerns of gender relations, equality, domestic and legal authority, justice, and even the king’s capacity to rule. Lydgate also puts private lives and domestic concerns in a courtroom setting and blurs the lines between public and private spheres. In this context, this paper approaches Lydgate’s work not only as an entertaining piece but also as one which dramatizes the gender roles, civic discourse, legal agenda, and community values. Consequently, it both foreshadows later developments in English comedy and reveals the ways satire and humour are weaved into serious social, cultural and political concerns in the fifteenth century.