Jacobus de Voragine
Bokenam wrote a series of 13 legends of holy maidens and women, chiefly in seven and eight-lined stanzas. Nine of these have prologues. Bokenam was a follower of Chaucer and Lydgate, and doubtless had in mind Chaucer's "Legend of Good Women". His chief, but by no means only source was the "Legenda Aurea" of Jacobus de Voragine, Archbishop of Genoa, whom he cites as "Januence". The first of the legends, "Vita S[an]c[t]ae Margaretae, virginis et martyris" (Life of St Margaret, Virgin and Martyr), was written for a friend, Thomas Burgh, a Cambridge monk. Others are dedicated to pious ladies who desired the history of the patron saints after whom they had been named.