A Work as a Life: The Literary and Historical Context of Piers Plowman

Summary

No one really knows where or when William Langland was born or died, nor can anyone be entirely certain when he composed the poem for which he is famous. Most critics do agree, however, that he produced successive versions of Piers Plowman over something like a twenty-five year period in the second half of the fourteenth century. The poem's composition therefore coincides with a period of unprecedented literary activity in the English language. Vernacular literature was gaining in status and importance and within this changing climate there is evidence to suggest that Piers Plowman fast became one of the most popular poems of the late Middle Ages. The poem enjoyed a wide audience, especially in the south and the midlands of the country where, as well as finding favour among clerics, it seems to have been read by educated lay people. Though essentially a religious work, one of the reasons for its popularity was almost certainly its urgent engagement with the political and social problems of the age. In Piers Plowman the quest for Christian salvation cannot be disentangled from the issues of the historical moment. In his search for grace, the poet finds himself committed to a rigorous investigation and condemnation of both church and secular government. To understand the poem it therefore becomes necessary to understand something about the rapidly changing world in which and for which it was written.

The mid to late fourteenth century was a time of great social and political upheaval, when both church and secular government came under great scrutiny and pressure to reform. The latter years of Edward III's reign were dogged by court scandals at home and military defeats in France. Richard II's accession to the throne when he was still a boy was a source of further instability and Richard presided over a country torn apart by feuds among the nobility. The period was also one of insurrection and serious civil disobedience. In the great 1381 uprising known as the ‘Peasants’ Revolt’, rebels from the southern and eastern counties seized and burnt hundreds of official archives, executed the Archbishop of Canterbury, the chancellor and the treasurer, and extorted a charter from the king abolishing serfdom.