There is relatively little known about Middle English poet Thomas Hoccleve, whose career spanned most of the reign of King Henry IV.For much of this reign he held the office of Privy Seal, which was an honor, but also a cause for complaint for Hoccleve who had hoped for an office within the Roman Catholic church. The office informed much of his writing as he was called upon in his Privy Seal role to know both English and Latin. His first known poem was written in 1409, and this was followed by La Male Regle which is known as a mock penitential poem.
This was a poem in which the poet would mock some element of his own life, in this case, Hoccleve's misspent youth. He concedes that his bad behavior as a young man has resulted in his current poor health and that the fact he is even still alive to pen the poem is nothing short of a miracle. As a younger man he ate too much, drank with wild abandon and slept with most of the women that he met at the St Paul's Tavern in Westminster, London. Consequently, he is now abstinent to the same excessive degree that he was profligate, enjoying almost no gluttonous pleasures or sexual encounters, and resenting the fact. The text tells of his "all or nothing" existence that sees him either eating himself sick or eschewing all rich delicacies; sleeping with women of dubious character or abstaining from sex all together. Hoccleve, it appears, is not a man who understands the concept of moderation.
In terms of his standing amongst the poets of the Middle Ages, Hoccleve was considered the poor relation to Geoffrey Chaucer, but he nonetheless filled the void of poet du jour that was created after Chaucer passed away. Although there are few original complete manuscripts of Hoccleve's left, the full manuscript for La Male Regle is kept at Canterbury Cathedral, ironically the nominal "seat" of Chaucer, who is most famous for penning The Canterbury Tales.
