Piers Plowman
Page 36
275 To learn contemplation and logic and law,
And to preach about Plato and Seneca’s proposal
That all things on earth should be held in common.
But I think it is false to give folk such fancies
For God’s law on greed was given to Moses:
Thou shalt not covet any thing that is thy neighbor’s.5
280 That edict’s not applied in the parishes of England,
Where parsons and priests should absolve the people,
And be curates to care for and cure the souls
Of parishioners, imposing penitence and penance,
And shriving their sins. But instead, folk’s shame
285 Sends them flying to friars, just like the fraudsters
Who borrow to bribe the courts and beg
Their friends to prolong or release them from loans,
Yet meanwhile in Westminster waste the money
Of others in amusements and making merry.
290 But the countless folk who confess to the friars,
Unscrupulous jurymen, executors and such,
Who misuse the money others’ toil has made
And give presents to the friars to put them in their prayers,
Will die and be in debt till the Day of Doom.
295 But Envy hated the urgings of Conscience
And financed the friars to learn more logic,
While uncharitable Covetousness challenged Conscience
In the Church of Unity; but he yet would not yield,
Sending Peace the porter to padlock the gates
300 Against tellers of tales and idle tattlers.
Then Hypocrisy took part in the pitiless assault
And fought most fiercely before the gates,
Horribly injuring hundreds of teachers
Who accorded with Conscience and the Cardinal Virtues.
305 So Conscience called on a competent doctor
To salve those sick and wounded by sin.
The potion he proposed was bitter penance
For the wretched wrongs they had sinfully wrought,
And repayment to Piers of the debts that were due.
310 Some detested this treatment and asked to be tended
By surgeons who offered something sweeter.
Sir Lecherous Living lay there and groaned,
Fearing he would die from fasting on Friday.
“There’s a surgeon here somewhere whose treatment is softer,
315 By far more effective and friendly and nice:
A friar called Flatterer, physician and surgeon.”
Contrition said, “Tell him that Unity could use him,
For Hypocrisy has harmed a host of people.”
“No need,” said Conscience, “there’s no better cure
320 Than a penance imposed by a priest or a bishop,
Unless Piers the Plowman, who has power over all,
Will grant an indulgence if the debt’s not too dire.
But since you insist,” Conscience said, “I may send
To fetch Friar Flatterer to give physic to the sick.”
325 The friar heard this and hurried in haste
To a lord for a letter giving leave to function
As a priest in his parish, which he presently brought
Boldly to a bishop, begging for a license
To hear confessions wherever he fancied.
330 He advanced with his fellow to the fortress and knocked,
And Peace, the porter, appeared at the gate
And asked at once what it was they wanted.
“In faith,” said the friar, “for his own advantage
I would talk to Contrition, if that’s no trouble.”
335 “He’s sick,” Peace said, “and so are many others,
So hurt by Hypocrisy it’s hard to heal them.”
“Well, you see a physician and pharmacist before you.
Conscience knows me and my competence at curing.”
“I pray you,” said Peace, “before I let you pass,
340 Tell me your name, and don’t try to pretend.”
“Brother Foot-in-the-door,” the friar’s fellow confided.
“Then push off,” said Peace, “with your pills and your potions.
I shan’t let you in without skills of some sort.
Not eight years since, a similar scoundrel
345 Came clad in a cope to a court where I lived,
And the lord and his lady let him attend them,
And finally this friar, when the lord was afield,
Spread a potion so potent two women fell pregnant!”
But Courtesy countered his caution and said,
350 “Welcome the friar and his fellow fairly
For under his influence while he is here
Life may learn to leave off Pride
And Covetousness too, and accord with Conscience
And embrace him dearly in dread of death.”
355 Thus because of Courtesy the man was admitted,
And he came and gave Conscience a gracious greeting.
“Can you save the sick?” Conscience said. “If so, welcome.
Here’s Contrition, my cousin, who has taken a tumble.
Comfort him and see to his several sores.
360 The plasters and powders from the priest make him itch.
He leaves them too long and is loath to change them,
Letting them trouble him from Lent to Lent.”
“That’s far too long,” the friar confirmed.
He prodded Contrition and proffered a plaster
365 Of “A private payment and I’ll pray for you, sir,
And all you hold dear for the whole of my days.
For money I’ll make you and your lady both members
Of our mendicant order and remember you at Mass.”
Thus for money he dismissed and diminished folk’s sins,
370 Till Contrition forgot his tears of regret
And his worries about wickedness which kept him awake.
And he swapped feeling sorry, the sovereign remedy
For sins of all sorts, for swift absolution.
Then Sloth and Pride both saw the slackness
375 And came back keenly to assail Conscience,
Who summoned Learning to stand at his side
And told Contrition to protect the gates.
But Peace said, “He’s dreaming, like plenty of people,
For the friar has bewitched most folk with his physic
380 And treated them so tamely they’ve no terror of sin.”
“By Christ,” said Conscience, “I’ll become a pilgrim
And walk the whole width of this wide, wide world6
To seek Piers the Plowman, who will put down Pride,
And to find work for friars who flatter out of need
385 And no longer know me. So Nature, requite me
With health and good heart till I hail Piers the Plowman.”
He groaned then for Grace, and I gradually woke.
Here ends Piers the Plowman.
1Attributed to Plato, as in Step XI line 37.
2Not said on the cross but earlier. See Matthew viii 20: “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air nests: but the son of man hath not where to lay his head.”
3i.e., something useless.
4Psalm cxlvi 4 (KJV Psalm cxlvii 4). The Latin original is omitted to avoid repetition.
5Exodus xx 17, the last of the Ten Commandments.
6This line brings the poem right back to its beginning.
Selected Bibliography
Source Texts and Translation Used
Schmidt, A.V.C., ed. Piers Plowman: A Parallel-Text Edition of the A, B, C and Z Versions. Vol. 1: Text. London: Longman, 1995.
_____. Piers Plowman: A Parallel-Text Edition of the A, B, C and Z Versions, 3 vols., rev. ed., 2011. Kalamazoo: Western Michigan University Medieval Institute (Vol. I. London: Longman, 1995, vol. II. Kalamazoo: Western Michigan University, 2008).
_____. William Langland, The Vision of Piers Plowman: A Critical Edition of the B-Text Based on Trinity College Cambridge MS B.15.17. London: J.M. Dent Everyman, and North Clarendon, VT: Charles E. Tuttle, 2d ed., 1995.
Schmidt, A.V.C., trans. Piers Plowman: A New Translation of the B-Text. Oxford World’s Classics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
Skeat, W.W., ed. William Langland. The Vision of William Concerning Piers the Plowman in Three Parallel Texts Together with Richard the Redeless. Vol. I: Text; vol. II: Notes. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1886, 10th ed., 1923, reprinted 1968.
Other Editions of the B Text
Kane, George, and E. Talbot Donaldson, eds. Piers Plowman: The B-Version. London and Los Angeles: Continuum, 1988. (first published London: Athlone Press).
_____, and _____. Piers Plowman: The B Version—Will’s Visions of Piers Plowman, Do-Well, Do-Better and Do-Best: An Edition in the Form of Trinity College Cambridge MS B.15.17, Corrected and Restored from the Known Evidence, with Variant Readings, rev. ed. London and Los Angeles: Continuum, 2002.
Robertson, Elizabeth, and Stephen H.A. Shepherd, eds. William Langland, Piers Plowman. London and New York: W.W. Norton, 2006.
Editions of the Bible Used
The Holy Bible Appointed to Be Read in Churches (the “Authorized,” or King James Version of 1611, KJV), various editions.
The Holy Bible Translated from the Latin Vulgate. London: Baronius, 2012 (the “Douay-Rheims Bible”).
Rhodes James, Montague, trans. The Apocryphal New Testament. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1924.
Principal Materials Consulted
Only the main titles of edited works are given unless authors are cited in footnotes.
Adams, Robert. Langland and the Rokele Family: The Gentry Background to Piers Plowman. Dublin: Four Courts, 2013.
Alford, John A., and M. Teresa Taormina, eds. Yearbooks of the International Piers Plowman Society, esp. vols. 1–7. East Lansing, MI: Colleagues, 1987–1993.
Baldwin, Anna. A Guidebook to Piers Plowman. Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.
Barr, Helen, ed. The Piers Plowman Tradition. London: J.M. Dent Everyman, 1993.
Bennett, Michael. “William Called Long Will.” In The Yearbook of Langland Studies vol. 26, Fiona Somerset and Lawrence Warner, eds., 1–25. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2012.
Berington, W.J.C. Little Malvern Court. Malvern: Privately published, 1948.
Brewer, C. Editing Piers Plowman: The Evolution of the Text. Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature 28. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
Bright, A.H. New Light on Piers Plowman. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1928.
British History: www.british-history.ac.uk.
Bryer, Ronald. Not the Least: The Story of Little Malvern. Hanley Swan, Worcs: Self-Publishing Association, 1993.
Burrow, John. “An Alliterative Pattern in Piers Plowman B.” In The Yearbook of Langland Studies vol. 25, Andrew Cole, Fiona Somerset and Lawrence Warner, eds., 117–129. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2011.
_____, ed. English Verse 1300–1500. Longman Annotated Anthologies of English Verse, vol. I. London and New York: Longman, 1977.
Catholic Encyclopedia: www.newadvent.org/cathen.
Cawley, A.C., ed. Everyman and Medieval Miracle Plays. London: J.M. Dent Everyman, 1956.
Coghill, Nevill. The Pardon of Piers Plowman. Sir Israel Gollancz Memorial Lecture, British Academy, 1945. Proceedings of the British Academy Vol. XXXI. London: Geoffrey Cumberlege.
Cole, Andrew, Fiona Somerset, and Lawrence Warner, eds. The Yearbook of Langland Studies, vol. 25. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2011.
Colwall Village Society. Colwall History Map. Colwall, Herefordshire: Colwall Village Society, 2000.
Corbett, John. “William Langland—Poet and Hermit.” Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological Society lvii (1961–64): 224–230.
Deane, Anthony Charles. A Short Account of Great Malvern Priory Church. London: G. Bell and Sons, 1914.
Donaldson, E. Talbot. “Piers Plowman: The Religious Allegory of the C Text.” In Interpretations of Piers Plowman, Edward Vasta, ed. 130–189. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1968.
Dugdale, Sir William. Monasticon Anglicanum: A History of the Abbies and Other Monasteries, Hospitals, Frieries, and Cathedral and Collegiate Churches etc. [First published in Latin]. London: Longman, et al., 1823, esp. vols. III and IV.
Dunning, T.P. “Structure of the B Text of Piers Plowman.” In Interpretations of Piers Plowman, Edward Vasta, ed., 259–277. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1968.
Elliott, R.W.V. “The Langland Country.” In Piers Plowman: Critical Approaches, S.S. Hussey, ed., 226–244. London: Methuen, 1969.
Ford, Boris, ed. The Age of Chaucer: Volume I of the Pelican Guide to English Literature. London: Penguin, 1959.
Garrard, Rose. A Malvern Treasury. Malvern: Garrard Art, 2010.
Gaut, R.C. A History of Worcestershire Agriculture. Worcester: Worcester County Council and Littlebury, 1939.
Green, Valentine. The History and Antiquities of the City and Suburbs of Worcester, vol. I. London: W. Bulmer, et al., 1796.
Harwood, Britton J. Piers Plowman and the Problem of Belief. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1994.
Hillaby, Joe. Ledbury: A Medieval Borough. Ledbury, Herefordshire: Ledbury and District Society Trust in assoc. with Logaston, 2005.
Hoepli, Adriano. Dizionario di Abbreviature Latine ed Italiane. Milan: Ulrico Hoepli, 1973.
Hort, Greta. Piers Plowman and Contemporary Religious Thought. London: SPCK, 1938.
Hurle, Pamela. Hanley Castle: Heart of Malvern Chase. London and Chichester: Phillimore, 1978.
Hussey, S.S., ed. Piers Plowman. Critical Approaches. London: Methuen, 1969.
Inge, W.R. Christian Mysticism. The Bampton Lectures. London: Methuen, 1899.
Inoue, Noriko, and Myra Stokes. “Restrictions on Dip Length in the Alliterative Line: The A-Verse and the B-Verse.” In The Yearbook of Langland Studies vol. 26, Fiona Somerset and Lawrence Warner, eds., 231–260. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2012.
James, Stanley R. Back to Langland. London: Sands, n.d. [1935].
Jusserand, J.J. Piers Plowman: A Contribution to the History of English Mysticism. Translated from the French by M.E.R. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1894.
Kane, George. The Autobiographical Fallacy in Chaucer and Langland Studies. The Chambers Memorial Lecture. London: H.K. Lewis for University College London, 1965.
Lawler, Traugott. “Langland Versificator.” In The Yearbook o
f Langland Studies vol. 25, Andrew Cole, Fiona Somerset and Lawrence Warner, eds., 37–76. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2011.
Lawton, David. “The Subject of Piers Plowman.” In Yearbook of the International Piers Plowman Society, vol. 1, John A. Alford and M. Teresa Taormina, eds. 1–30. East Lansing, MI: Colleagues, 1987.
Martin, Priscilla. Piers Plowman: The Field and the Tower. London: Macmillan, 1979.
Middleton, Anne. “The Passion of Saint Averoys: ‘Deuynyng’ and Divinity in the Banquet Scene.” In Yearbook of the International Piers Plowman Society vol. 1, John A. Alford and M. Teresa Taormina, eds., 31–40. East Lansing, MI: Colleagues, 1987.
Milburn, R.L.P. Saints and Their Emblems in English Churches. London: Oxford University Press, 1949.
Nair, Gwyneth, and David Poyner. “Concerning the Langland Family of Kinlet.” Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological and Historical Society lxxxiv (2009): 15–20.
Osborne, Bruce, and Cora Weaver. Celebrated Springs of the Malvern Hills. Andover, Hampshire: Phillimore, 2012.
Owst, G.R. “A Literary Echo of the Social Gospel.” In Interpretations of Piers Plowman, Edward Vasta, ed., 22–53. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1968.
Quiller-Couch, Sir A., ed. The Oxford Book of English Verse. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1939 [First published 1900].
Parry, Joseph Henry, ed. The Register of John de Trillek, Bishop of Hereford (AD 1344–1361), vols. I and II. Hereford: Wilson and Phillips, 1910.
Pollard, Alfred W., ed. English Miracle Plays Moralities and Interludes. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1923.
Robertson, D.W., Jr., and Bernard F. Huppé. Piers Plowman and Scriptural Tradition. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1951.
Ross, James Bruce, and Mary Martin McLaughlin, eds. The Portable Medieval Reader. New York: Viking, 1949.
Ryan, William M. William Langland. New York: Twayne, 1968.
Salter, Elizabeth. Piers Plowman: An Introduction. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1962.
Schmidt, A.V.C. Earthly Honest Things: Collected Essays on Piers Plowman. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars, 2012.
Shropshire Promotions: www.shropshire-promotions.co.uk.
Simpson, James. Piers Plowman: An Introduction, 2d ed., Exeter: Exeter University Press, 2007.