Chapter VII: Part 7

[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.

* * * * *

Corrections made to printed text

Page xxxiii, Text II: "Al the welthe of this worlde" corrected from "... wordle".

Page xxxix, foot: "undertake" corrected from "untertake".

Line 935: "fructum" corrected from "fructrum".

Line 3740: "myghtestow" corrected from "mgyhtestow".

Headings: Passus VIII "incipit Do-wel" corrected from "Primus de Do-wel". Passus VIII "Primus de Do-wel" corrected from "Primus de Do-bet". Passus VIII clearly concerns Do-wel (see the Introduction); Passus XVI is the true "Primus de Do-bet".

Line 5058: "Who" corrected from "Whe".

Line 5384: "minuentur" corrected from "minuenter" (Ps. 33:11).

Line 6186: "mansede" corrected from "mausede" (noted as erratum in Volume II).

Line 6528: "vi rapiunt" corrected from "irapiunt" (noted as erratum in Volume II).

Line 7624: "Nolite judicare, et non judicabimini" corrected from "Polite judicare, et not judicabimini" (Luke 6:37).