literary mirrors have typically presented positive exam-
ples for readers to follow, but A Mirror for Magistrates’s
title relies on a second meaning for mirror—warning
(ca. 1325–1610)—and thus demonstrates conduct to
be avoided.
Most of the stories are told in fi rst person by the
“fallen prince.” In every version, the vignettes are writ-
ten in RHYME ROYAL, and prose bridges connect the
poems. The common verse form provides uniformity,
while seven authorial styles give variety.
This collection of tragedies rendered in verse rein-
forces Renaissance views of morality and teaches Eng-
lish history with a Tudor political infl ection. One of
the overarching themes is lust of varying sorts: The
lives of Henry Percy, Owen Glendower, and Jack Cade
caution against lust for power; Richard II tells readers
that his lust for admiration allowed him to be easily
deceived; Eleanor Cobham lusted after power (she
wanted her husband, Duke Humphrey, to be king so
badly that she conspired with witches); Jane Shore,
mistress to Edward IV, describes the effects of physical
lust on her life.
Another common strain throughout A Mirror for
Magistrates is the inevitability of punishment for vice:
Neither position nor secrecy can protect those who
behave immorally. FORTUNE’s wheel turns and throws
the one on top to the bottom. Just as Lady Philosophy
in BOETHIUS’s The CONSOLATION OF PHILOSOPHY is the ser-
vant of God, so, too, is Fortune in A Mirror for Magis-
trates, dispensing God’s justice in earthly life.
See also WARS OF THE ROSES.
FURTHER READING
Budra, Paul. A Mirror for Magistrates and the de casibus Tra-
dition. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2000.
Kiefer, Frederick. “Fortune and Providence in the Mirror for
Magistrates.” Studies in Philology 74 (1977): 146–164.
Winston, Jessica. “A Mirror for Magistrates and Public Politi-
cal Discourse in Elizabethan England.” Studies in Philology
101 (2004): 381–400.
Karen Rae Keck
MIRRORS FOR PRINCES A genre of politi-
cal writing popular during the Middle Ages and the
Renaissance. Poems and prose treatises in this genre
were, essentially, instruction manuals for rulers. As lit-
erary works, they often include historical or literary
examples designed to illustrate positive or negative
examples of rulers.
Perhaps the most famous example is Niccolò Machi-
avelli’s The Prince (1532), but numerous other exam-
ples exist from a wide variety of cultures. The early
16th century text A MIRROR FOR MAGISTRATES, a continu-
ation of JOHN LYDGATE’s The FALL OF PRINCES, was par-
ticularly popular in England.
FURTHER READING
Meens, Rob. “Politics, Mirrors of Princes and the Bible: Sins,
Kings and the Well-Being of the Realm.” Early Medieval
Europe 7, no. 3 (1998): 345–358.MORALL FABILLIS OF ESOPE THE
PHRYGIAN, THE (OVERVIEW) ROBERT
HENRYSON (ca. 1485) Robert Henryson’s collec-
tion of BEAST FABLEs is generally considered the fi nest
medieval example of the genre and was widely read
in late-medieval Scotland. However, no editions of
the work survive from Henryson’s lifetime. In fact, all
texts date from at least 75 years after his death, so
determining the date and order of composition of the
13 FABLES, their accompanying morals (see ALLEGORY),
and the Prologue is a diffi cult task. Some work has
been done to assign priority based on source study,
but fables were such a popular genre in the Middle
Ages that it is nearly impossible to determine source
relationships with the precision necessary to date
individual fables. In the most general terms, Hen-
ryson’s sources fall into two categories: the Aesop tra-
dition and the Old French REYNARD LITERATURE.
Aesop’s fables were a staple of medieval pedagogy,
and if Henryson had not been exposed to them in
oral recitations, he certainly would have been familiar
with them in his role as schoolmaster. The tales of
Reynard the fox, on the other hand, were generally
considered strictly entertainment. By adapting them
for didactic purposes and providing each with an
allegorical interpretation, Henryson made an original
contribution to the beast fable genre.
Within the text itself, this didactic emphasis appears
in the very fi rst lines as Henryson stresses that fables,
despite their status as fi ctions, are useful in teaching
moral lessons. He conveys this point through several278 MIRRORS FOR PRINCES