[1] Whatever the status of its patronage, the Siege of Thebes still managed to gain significant popularity, attested to by its 31 surviving manuscripts.
[3] Lydgate's Siege of Thebes follows and expands upon the Theban Cycle, but makes significant additions to the source materials.
[3] Apart from its complex Lancastrian and pacifist message,[4] the text situates Lydgate as both a follower and rival of Chaucer's poetic tradition, and re-examines the way medieval patronage affected the production of poetry.
However, the plot was expanded on in the Middle Ages, most notably in the 12th century French romance, Le Roman de Thébes.
[5] The plot of Lydgate's epic follows both of these sources, but integrates work from Boccaccio and the framing device used by Chaucer in The Canterbury Tales.