“Us three to trotte un to Newgate”:
Legal Imagery and Marian Lyricism in Hoccleve’s Au Roy
When we think of Thomas Hoccleve, we think of a slightly mad Chaucer hanger-on who never missed an opportunity to show his “friend of Chaucer” card to make a space for his work. However, this received tradition about Hoccleve overlooks the fascinating and disquieting ways the poet plays with gender and queer identities and how these problematic identities intersect with fifteenth century justice and law.
In his short poem Au Roy, Hoccleve gender bends the masculinity of the king as the font of justice and “rial largesse.” And though described by Hoccleve in other poems as “most mighty king,” in “Au Roy” Hoccleve repurposes Marian language, replicating in the king, the Virgin’s generative and maternal functions. He establishes Henry V as merciful and bountiful intercessor, and repurposes this Marian lyric language to petition the king not for grace or salvation, but for money.
Ultimately, Hoccleve, celebrates the possibilities of feminine gender performance while problematizing that gendered identity as embedded in the masculine body politic where the King/Virgin dispenses justice.
Inconstant Moon 