This is my first reading of Hoccleve's Regiment of Princes, and while I think I prefer "My Compleinte" more, this text has some rather interesting elements for my research interests. As the title suggests, the larger portion of the text is constructed as a mirror for princes. What's rather interesting is the form that this particular mirror comes in. The first 2000 lines or so form the prologue of the Regiment, in which Hoccleve, as the narrator, wanders the straight utterly distraught at his financial well-being, or lack thereof, when an old man on the street says hello. When Hoccleve does not provide a sufficient response, the old man first shakes the poet to wake him, and then engages in an extended Boethian (or at least somewhat Boethian) dialogue. The old man pushes Hoccleve to explain his sorrow, confess his feelings, and argues that poverty is a blessing rather than a curse, the old man often citing his own youthful ways as exempla (which mirror the description Hoccleve provides of his own youth in other poems). As to my particular interests here, and to explain the above image, I found it rather interesting that the tenor of the dialogue changes as soon as Hoccleve reveals he is married. Up to this point, the old man suggests that poverty will solve more problems than it causes, that an income dropped from 20 to 6 marks annually is a blessing in disguise, but the old man's interests shift as Hoccleve's marital status becomes apparent. The old man desires to know if Hoccleve has married for lust or money, as this would change the nature of his advice. Here, as well, the old man raises interesting points in suggesting that marriage for money can come both in the form of receiving a spouse's dowry but also in the possible marrying of one's children to more financially beneficial individuals. The section is short, but this hint at the economic aspect of exogamy may be something I'll return to in my project. The old man eventually suggests that, as Hoccleve is married, he should write to the king to seek an improvement to his condition, that marriage is a valid reason to seek more financial stability and a point that is of great interest to where my project seems to be turning.
After the prologue, the mirror itself is in the form of the letter that Hoccleve is writing to the king. Rather than just focusing on his own issues, or ever really making a specific claim for his own benefit, Hoccleve's letter suggests a more ideal pattern of behavior for the king. Citing Aristotle and other sources extensively, Hoccleve does spend a fair amount of time emphasizing the need for largess and avoidance of avarice, aspects that would certainly benefit the poet if enacted. I may return to David Matthews' Writing to the King to see if Matthews brings in this text. While certainly later than Matthews' larger focus, the later transition of his points into the Regiment would be interesting to consider. For example, even though this text is in the form of a letter to the king, it is still clearly a poem that talks about the king, and in suggesting what the monarch should do the suggestion is that the king is to some extent deficient in these matters. The rhetorical form of the letter and its leaning on other sources buffers Hoccleve to some extent, but I must in this case agree with the introduction that something of a shadow of the usurpation by Henry IV hangs over this text.
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