This volume serves as a critical scholarly edition of John Lydgate's 'Fall of Princes', a monumental 15th-century poem exploring the instability of fortune and the rise and fall of historical figures. Editor Henry Bergen provides a rigorous textual reconstruction, drawing upon extensive manuscript research to present a definitive version of this expansive work for the Early English Text Society. The text functions as both a historical record of medieval moral philosophy and a linguistic artifact of Middle English literature.

Experts regard this edition as a foundational resource for the study of Middle English poetry and the works of John Lydgate. Scholars frequently cite Bergen’s meticulous editorial work as the standard reference for researchers investigating the moral and political themes of the late medieval period.