[1] See the "Apocalypsis Goliæ" and other pieces in the poems of Walter
Mapes; the Order of Fair Ease in the Political Songs, and the Poems of
Rutebeuf; and, in English, the remarkable "Poem on the Evil Times of Edward
II." in the appendix to the Political Songs. The Poem entitled the Order of
Fair Ease bears some resemblance to the _Abbaye de Theleme_ of Rabelais.
[2] This sentiment was perpetuated in a numerous class of ballads, in which
the monarch is represented as thrown incognito among the lower classes, as
listening to their expressions of loyalty and to the tale of their
sufferings. See the "Tale of King Edward and the Shepherd" in Hartshorne's
_Ancient Metrical Tales_; "The King and the Barker," in Ritson's _Pieces of
Ancient Popular Poetry_; "The King and the Miller," and "King Edward IV.
and the Tanner of Tamworth," in _Percy's Reliques_; &c. The earliest known
form of this tale is the story of "Henry II. and the Cistercian Abbot,"
printed from Giraldus Cambrensis in the _Reliquiæ Antiquiæ_, vol. ii. p.
147.
[3] It was at least a tradition early in the sixteenth century (for we have
no means now of ascertaining whether there were any substantial grounds for
the statement), that the author was named Robert Longlande (or Langlande),
that he was born at Cleobury Mortimer in Shropshire, and that (after
receiving his education at Oxford) he became a monk of Malvern. I do not
think, with Tyrwhitt and Price, that the name _Wil_, given in the poem to
the dreamer, necessarily shows that the writer's name was _William_; and
still less that the mention of "Kytte my wif" and "Calote my doghter" (p.
395 of the present volume), and of the dreamer's having resided at
Cornhill, refer to the family and residence of the author of the poem. If
he were a monk (as appears probable by his intimate acquaintance with the
Scriptures and the Fathers), he would not be married. Sir Frederick Madden
discovered a very important entry in a hand of the fifteenth century on the
fly-leaf of a manuscript of Piers Ploughman in the library of Trinity
College, Dublin, to the following effect--"Memorandum, quod Stacy de
Rokayle, pater Willielmi de Langlond, qui Stacius fuit generosus, et
morabatur in Schiptone under Whicwode, tenens domini Le Spenser in comitatu
Oxon., _qui prædictus Willielmus fecit librum qui vocatur Perys
Ploughman_."--It would perhaps be not impossible to trace the name and
history of this Stacy de Rokayle; but till that be done, I do not think
this memorandum ought to be considered as overthrowing the old tradition
relating to Robert Longlande. It may be mentioned as a remarkable specimen
of the patriotism of David Buchanan, that he lays claim to the author of
Piers Ploughman as a Scotchman:--"Robertus Langland, natione Scotus,
professione sacerdos, vir ex obscuris ortus parentibus, pius admodum et
ingeniosus et zelo divinæ gloriæ plenus; inter monachos Benedictinos
educatus in civitate Aberdonensi, vir æque erat in omni humaniore
literatura insigniter doctus, et in medicina admodum clarus, pium opus
sermone vulgare scripsit cui imposuit, || Visionem Petri Aratoris, lib. 1.
|| Pro conjugio sacerdotum. lib. 1. || Claruit anno Christi Redemptoria,
1369. Regnante Davide Secundo in Scotia."--Dav. Buchanan, _de Scriptoribus
Scotis. MS. Bibl. Univ. Edin._
[4] We may mention another historical allusion in Piers Ploughman, which
seems to involve a chronological difficulty; the dry April in the mayoralty
of John Chichester, 1. 8567. It appears clear that this is an allusion to a
remarkable drought in the year 1351, which answers precisely to a
calculation of the date given in the text, in which all the manuscripts
that I have consulted agree. But the only year in which Chichester is said
to have been mayor was 1368-9 according to some, or 1369-70 according to
others. Stowe (as quoted in the note on this passage) has altered the text
of Piers Ploughman to suit the year in which Chichester is known to have
been mayor: yet there can be little doubt (even from the allusion to the
treaty of Bretigny) that the poem itself was composed before that date, and
therefore the same or another Chichester had probably been mayor before.
[5] Political Songs, p. 240.
[6] This terrible calamity was said by the astrologers to have been brought
about by an extraordinary conjunction of Saturn with the other planets,
which happened scarcely once in a thousand years. An astrologer and
physician, who witnessed its effects, Symon de Covino, has left a Latin
poem on the subject under the title _De Judicio Solis in Conviviis
Saturni_, in which he describes Saturn as indulging his malevolence towards
the human race by obtaining a judgment against men for their sins. This
opinion is alluded to in Piers Ploughman, l. 4453,
"And so seide Saturne,
And sente yow to warne."
The influence of this planet was represented by astrologers as being
peculiarly noxious, as is expressed in the following old distich:--
"Jupiter atque Venus boni, Saturnusque malignus,
Sol et Mercurius cum Luna sunt mediocres."
[7]
"Qui male pastus erat fragili virtute ciborum,
Labitur exiguo percussus flamine cladis:
Indeque Saturni vulgus, pauperrima turba,
Grata morte cadunt, quia vivere talibus est mors.
Post quos lunares pereunt et mercuriales.
Et sic debilior succumbit in ordine primo:
Post alii tandem pestem secuntur eamdem.
Sed dea principibus et nobilibus, generosis,
Militibus, seu judicibus fera Parca pepercit.
Raro cadunt tales, quia talibus est data vita
Dulcis in hoc mundo, quam gloria laudat inanis."
_Symon de Covino_, in the _Bibliothèque de l'Ecole des
Chartes_, tom. ii. p 236.
[8] We have a very remarkable proof of the popularity of Piers Ploughman
with the lower orders (among whom probably parts of it were repeated by
memory), and of its influence on the insurrections of the peasantry in the
reign of Richard II., in the seditious letter of John Ball to the commons
of Essex, preserved by Thomas Walsingham (_Hist. Angl._ p. 275). I am not
sure if "John _Schep_" may not contain an allusion to the opening of the
poem; but the second passage, here printed in Italics, refers evidently to
Passus VI. and VII., and the third is an allusion to the characters of
Do-well and Do-best.
"John _Schep_ sometime Seint Mary priest of Yorke, and now of Colchester,
graeteth well John Namelesse, and John the Miller, and John Carter, and
biddeth them that they beware of guyle in borough, and stand together in
Gods name, and biddeth _Piers Plowman goe to his werke_, and chastise well
Hob the robber, and take with you John Trewman, and all his fellows, and no
moe. John the Miller hath y-ground, smal, small, small. The kings sonne of
heaven shal pay for all. Beware or ye be woe, know your frende fro your
foe. Have ynough, and say hoe: _And do well and better_, and flee sinne,
and seeke peace and holde you therin, and so biddeth John Trewman and all
his fellowes."
[9] The mention of Wycliffe and of Walter Brute and other circumstances,
fix the date of Piers Ploughman's Creed with tolerable certainty in the
latter years of the reign of Richard II. It was probably written very soon
after the year 1393, the date of the persecution of Walter Brute at
Hereford; and from the particular allusion to that person we may perhaps
suppose that like the Vision it was written on the Borders of Wales.
[10] Different circumstances connected with this poem (which also appears
to have been proscribed, for we have no early manuscript of it) lead me to
suppose that it was written in the reign of Henry IV., when the _burning_
of heretics came into fashion, which is alluded to in the following
stanza:--
"Were Christ on earth here, eftsoone
These would damne him to die:
All his hestes they han for-done,
And saine his sawes ben heresie:
And ayenst his commaundements they crie,
And _damne all his to be brende_;
For it liketh not hem such losengerie,
God almighty hem amend!"
In another passage, the writer of this poem alludes to the Creed of Piers
Ploughman as though he were the author of it, and as a piece then known to
everybody.
"And all such other counterfaitours,
Chanons, canons, and such disguised,
Been Gods enemies and traitours,
His true religion han foule despised.
Of _freres_ I have told before,
In a _making of a Crede_;
And yet I could tell worse and more,
But men would werien it to rede."
Perhaps, however, the writer only claims the authorship of the Creed in his
allegorical character, as the representative of that class of satirical
writers who were then attacking the monastic orders.
[11] We may enumerate the following as specimens of such works published in
the sixteenth century. Several similar publications appeared in the century
following.
"Pyers Plowmans Exortation vnto the lordes, knights, and burgoysses of the
parlyament house." 8vo. printed by Anthony Scholoker, in the reign of
Edward VI.
"Newes from the North, Otherwise called the Conference between Simon
Certain, and Pierce Plowman, faithfully collected and gathered by T. F.
Student." 4to. London, John Allde, 1579.
"The Plowmans complaint of sundry wicked livers, and especially of the bad
bringing vp of children; written in verse by R. B. printed for Hugh Corne,
1580." 8vo.
"A goodlye Dialogue and dysputacion between Pyers Ploweman and a Popish
Preest, c[=o]cernynge the Supper of the Lorde." 8vo, without date.
[12] Printed in the _Reliquiæ Antiquæ_, vol i. pp. 170-188. On the date of
this poem, see the _Biographia Britannica Literaria_ (by the editor of the
present work), Anglo-Saxon period, pp. 395, 396.
[13] Printed in the _Altdeutsche Blätter_ von Moriz Haupt und Heinrich
Hoffmann, vol. ii. pp. 99-120, and in the _Reliquiæ Antiquæ_, vol. i. pp.
208-227.
[14] Discovered in a MS. at Worcester by Sir Thomas Phillipps, who
published a small edition of it, in folio.
[15] Edited by Sir Frederick Madden, for the Society of Antiquaries.
[16] Many instances of this will be found in my _Specimens of Lyric
Poetry_, composed in England in the reign of Edward the First (Percy
Society Publication).
[17] Such as _William and the Werwolf_, edited by Sir Frederick Madden; the
_Romance of Jerusalem_; that of _Alexander_; &c.
[18] MS. Harl. 2253. In this manuscript, and in several others which I have
seen the rhyming poems in short lines, whether in English, Latin, or
French, are arranged in this manner; and I have met with instances in which
part of a poem has been arranged in this way, and other parts of the same
poem have been arranged in short lines, to suit the scribe's convenience. I
have a strong impression of having met with an early English manuscript in
which a fragment of alliterative verse was written in short couplets.
[19] _Text I._ is from the edition now offered to the public: _Text II._
from that edited by Dr. Whitaker.
[20] The title of the second impression is, "The Vision of Pierce
Ploughman, nowe the seconde time imprinted by Roberte Crowley, dwellynge in
Elye rentes in Holburne. Whereunto are added certayne notes and cotations
in the mergyne gevynge light to the Reader, &c. Imprinted at London by
Roberte Crowley, dwellyng in Elye rentes in Holburne. The yere of our Lord
M.D.L. Cum privilegio ad imprimendum solum." 4to, 125 leaves.
[21] The title consists merely of the words "Pierce the Ploughman's Crede,"
upon a tablet in the midst of a wood-cut which had evidently been brought
from the continent. A fac-simile of the most important part of the cut is
given in Mr. Payne Collier's Bibliographical Catalogue of the Library of
Lord Francis Egerton, p. 235. The colophon, on a separate leaf, is
"Imprinted at London. By Reynold Wolfe. Anno Domini M.D.L.III." It consists
of 16 leaves in 4to.
[22] The title of this edition is, "The Vision of Pierce Plowman, newlye
imprynted after the authours olde copy, with a brefe summary of the
principall matters set before every part called Passus. Wherevnto is also
annexed the Crede of Pierce Plowman, neuer imprinted with the booke before.
¶ Imprynted at London, by Owen Rogers, dwellyng neare vnto great Saint
Bartelmewes gate, at the sygne of the spred Egle. ¶ The yere of our Lord
God, a thousand, fyve hundred, thre score and one. The xxi. daye of the
Moneth of Februarye. Cum privilegio ad imprimendum solum." 4to. This
edition is not foliated, or paged; and it is remarkable that it is as
frequently found without the Creed, as with it. This edition of the Creed
is also sometimes found separate.
[23] Whitaker's edition bears the following title,--"Visio Willielmi de
Petro Plouhman, Item Visiones ejusdem de Dowel, Dobet, et Dobest. Or, The
Vision of William concerning Piers Plouhman, and The Visions of the same
concerning the Origin, Progress, and Perfection of Christian Life, &c. By
Thomas Dunham Whitaker, LL.D., &c." 4to. London. Murray, 1813.
[24] This manuscript was bought at Heber's sale for the British Museum,
where it is classed as Additional MS. No. 10,574.
* * * * *