Reassess medieval literature and the relationship between writers and power in England by arguing that major works commissioned by or written for a succession of Lancastrians--Henry IV, Henry V, Henry VI, and Prince Edward--reveal that John Gower, Thomas Hoccleve, John Lydgate, and John Fortescue were not propagandists. When texts have been severed from the primary audiences that could fill in any such blanks, then present-day scholars are left to make the attempt. That is the task Sobecki has set himself, and which he is pursuing with admirable energy and enthusiasm.