Notes
1] Full title, The Vision of William concerning Piers the Plowman. There are some 45 MSS. of the 14th and 15th centuries. There are three versions of the poem, the A-text (ca. 1362), the B-text (ca. 1377), and the C-text (ca. 1393). First printed 1550. The author is thought to have been William Langland, native of Shropshire and later resident in London as a clerk in minor orders. Some hold that he wrote only the prologue and first eight passus of the A-text and that the remainder, with the two later texts, is the work of other men. The poem consists of a series of allegorical visions which satirize the political and social abuses of the time.
2] I arrayed myself in a garment as if were a shepherd.
5] Malverne huller. Malvern Hills between Worcestershire and Herefordshire, near the supposed birth-place of the poet.
6] ferly. Marvel.
fairie. Enchantment.
7] forwandred. Worn out with wandering.
8] bourne. Burn's, brook's.
9] leonede. Leaned.
10] swyed so murie. Sounded so pleasantly.
11] meeten a sweven. Dream a dream.
12] wuste. Knew.
14] sauh. Saw.
tour. Tower.
toft. Open space. (The tower symbolizes Heaven, the dungeon Hell, and the field Earth.)
tryelyche. Choicely, skilfully.
i-maket. Made.
18] mene. Mean, common.
20] pleiden. Played.
21] settynge. Planting.
swonken. Toiled.
22] And won what these wasters destroy by their gluttony.
23-24] Some gave themselves up to pride (i.e., display) and dressed themselves accordingly, came disguised in the fashion of their clothing.
25] Putten hem monye. Many applied themselves.
28] ancres. Anchorites.
holdeth hem. Keep themselves.
29] cairen. Roam.
30] non likerous lyflode. Any luxurious food.
licam. Body.
31] chaffare. Trade.
cheeven. Succeed.
33] cunne. Know how.
35] Bote. But.
38] preoven. Adduce.
39] He who speaks slander is Lucifer's servant. (The Latin quotation is not from St. Paul and has not been identified.)
40] eoden. Went.
41] balies. Bellies.
bretful i-crommet. Crammed brim-full.
42] Feyneden hem. Practised deception.
atte. At the.
44] this roberdes knaves. These robber rascals.
45] steughth. Sloth.
suweth. Follow.
46] plihten hem. Pledged themselves.
47] seche. Seek.
Seint Jame. The shrine of St. James at Compostella in Spain.
50] Ermytes. Hermits.
on an hep. In a crowd.
51] Walsyngham. The shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham in Norfolk.
52] lobres. Lubbers.
swynke. Labour.
54] schopen hem to hermytes. Shaped, made themselves into hermits.
55] foure ordres. The Carmelites (white friars), Augustines (Austin friars), Dominicans (black friars), and Franciscans or Minorites (gray friars).
56] wombes. Bellies.
57] Glosyng. Interpreting, with already the bad sense of explaining away or wresting.
58] On account of their covetousness of fine cloaks they mistranslate it.
59] mowen. May.
60] Money and their trade are closely related.
61] Since these charitable orders have become traders and are the principal confessors of noblemen.
62] ferlyes. See on 1. 6.
63] But. Unless.
heo. She, or they.
bet. Better (the adverbial form).
64] molde. Earth.
65] pardoner. A seller of indulgences. See Chaucer's Prologue, 669-714.
67] asoylen. Absolve.
68] vouwes i-broken. Broken vows.
69] lewede. Ignorant (O.E. Iœewed, lay, unlearned).
levide. Believed.
71] bonchede. Struck.
brevet. Letter (of indulgence).
blered heore eiyen. Bleared their eyes, deluded them.
72] raughte. Reached, i.e. got.
ragemon. A document with a long list of names; sometimes called rageman-rolle, hence modern rigmarole. Here the papal licence with the names and seals of many bishops attached. See Chaucer, Cant. Tales, C, 334-342.
73] yiveth. Give.
oure. Your.
74] losels. Rascals.
haunten. Practise.
75] eres. Ears.
79] yif that heo ne weore. If they did not exist, if it were not for them.
80] Persones. Parsons.
playneth. Complain.
81] seththe. Since.
pestilence. The Black Death of 1348-9; there was a second plague in 1361-2, shortly before this was written.
83] singe ther for simonye. To obtain appointments as chantry-priests to sing masses for the souls of the dead at better pay and with less labour than that entailed by their parish duties. Hence the accusation of simony (see Acts, viii.18).
84] hoved. Hovered, lingered about.
houves of selke. Silk coifs or hoods.
85] Serjauns. Sergeants, lawyers of high rank. See the description of one in Chaucer's Prologue, 309-330.
87] ones. Once.
88] meten. Measure.
89] mom. Mumble.
90] divyne. Divinity.
91] clerkes of acounte. Accountants.
94] Ben lopen. Have leapt, i.e. run.
95] schende. Injure.
96] burgeis. Burgesses.
97] semblé. Assembly.
98] bochers. Butchers.
breusters. Brewers.
99] Wollene-websteris. Weavers of wool.
100] tokkeris. Tuckers, finishers of cloth.
101] minours. Miners.
102] Dykers. Diggers of ditches.
don heore dedes ille. Do their work badly.
103] And spend the whole day long in singing popular songs. The song "God save you, Dame Emma" may have been the same as a ballad sung by a minstrel at Winchester in 1338, telling of the trial of Emma, wife of King Canute, for adultery, and with a refrain as above sung by the audience.
104] knaves. Boys, servants.
105] gryse: pigs.
107] Oseye: Alsace.
108] Ryn: Rhine.
defye: defy, i.e., withstand, digest.
109] seve sithes more. Seven times more than this.
Online text copyright © 2009, Ian Lancashire (the Department of English) and the University of Toronto.
Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries.
Original text: unspecified ("A-text").
First publication date:
1370
RPO poem editor: N. J. Endicott
RP edition: 2RP.1.6; RPO 1996-2000.
Recent editing: 2:2002/4/18
Composition date:
1362
Form note: alliterative