I think you may be on the right track -
John Lydgate of Bury (c. 1370 � c. 1451) a monk and poet, born in Lidgate, Suffolk, England was a prolific writer of poems, allegories, fables and romances, yet his most famous works were his longer and more moralistic including the Troy Book - the Iliad is an epic Greek poem (ie History) of the Trojan (Troy) War ...... so both works were on HISTORY ......
Richard Pynson printed the first edition of Troy Book in 1513, under the title The hystorye / sege and dystruccyon of Troye
Your answer therefore could be the above Old English spelling of history - ie HISTORYE
some references for you -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lydgate
http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/teams/tro yint.htm
(middle of the 3rd paragraph)