| Abstract | Paper -a:
This paper will examine whether royal and dynastic commemoration of Edward II was a process that can be seen to have a consistent strategy over time, or instead was made up of unconnected commemorative events. Is it possible to see whether Edward's memory was consistently expressed, or if it was reshaped, used and then hidden away until next politically necessary? This can be seen in anniversary celebrations, royal pilgrimages, and benefits granted for celebrating the memory of the former king. The uniqueness of Edward II's as a deposed monarch made this question of his memory complicated, particularly for his successor.
Paper -b:
In The Fall of Princes, John Lydgate states that remembering the mistakes of past kings is the surest way of preventing them from being repeated. However, Henry VI, the child king under whom Lydgate wrote, was notoriously difficult to teach. Like many children, he resented punishment, but his guardians were reluctant to chastise him for fear of the repercussions that his dislike might have on their political careers. One of the ways around this impasse was through educational entertainment. In the years before The Fall of Princes was commissioned, John Lydgate wrote a number of performative works to be played before the young king. These performances, which included mummings, disguisings, pageants, and verses for the coronation banquet, often contained depictions of the kings of the past. From Clovis and Henry V to a ghostly pageant of fallen monarchs in Of the Sodein Fal of Princes in Oure Dayes, these performances physically brought to life the memories of past kings. They installed in Henry VI, who had never known a king other than himself, a sense of his place in the succession and an expectation of kingly behaviour. As such, these surviving texts are perfect mirrors through which to examine how memories of past kings, both real and fictionalised, were used to shape the character of the emerging ruler. This paper will explore how Lydgate's performance pieces provided a physical continuity between the past and the present and how, in the transference of these pieces into manuscript form, they themselves became memorials of the creation of a king.
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