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The Problem of Poverty in Piers Plowman University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 8-2008 "Of beggeris and of bidderis what best be to doone?": The Problem of Poverty in Piers Plowman Dina Bevin Hess University of Tennessee - Knoxville Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Hess, Dina Bevin, ""Of beggeris and of bidderis what best be to doone?": The Problem of Poverty in Piers Plowman. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2008. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/448 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Dina Bevin Hess entitled ""Of beggeris and of bidderis what best be to doone?": The Problem of Poverty in Piers Plowman." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in English. Thomas Heffernan, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Laura Howes, Joseph Trahern, Thomas Burman Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Dina Bevin Hess entitled “Of beggeris and of bidderis what best be to doone?: The Problem of Poverty in Piers Plowman.” I have examined the final electronic copy of this thesis for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in English. Thomas Heffernan, Major Professor We have read this thesis and recommend its acceptance: Laura Howes Joseph Trahern Thomas Burman Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official student records.) “Of beggeris and of bidderis what best be to doone?”: The Problem of Poverty in Piers Plowman A Dissertation Presented for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Dina Bevin Hess August 2008 Copyright © 2008 by Dina Hess All rights reserved. ii To my family iii Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge here the great debt of gratitude I owe to the many individuals who have contributed to the completion of this project. Special thanks are due particularly to Dr. Thomas Heffernan for his invaluable guidance as my research supervisor; his exacting criticism and invariably helpful advice have considerably strengthened this study. I have also greatly benefited from the support and advice of the other members of my doctoral committee: Dr. Laura Howes, Dr. Joseph Trahern, and Dr. Thomas Burman. The staff of the University of Tennessee John C. Hodges Library also contributed to the success of my research on many occasions; I would particularly like to thank Margaret Casado, LouAnn Blocker, and their assistants for their unflagging assistance in locating and acquiring the resources I needed. Finally, the completion of this work owes much to the unfailing love, support, and encouragement of numerous friends and family members. This project is dedicated to you, for without you it would never have come to fruition. v Abstract The purpose of this study is to examine William Langland’s continual wrestling with issues of poverty, both voluntary and involuntary, in Piers Plowman. The poem raises a multitude of questions, but to each question a multitude of contradictory answers is proposed, none of which is long permitted to remain unchallenged. The initially bewildering complexity of the representation of poverty found within the poem, however, may be clarified through the recognition of two fundamental underlying themes: caritas and justitia. Langland relies throughout the poem upon well-established tenets of medieval theology; what sets Piers apart is not that the central tenets of the poem’s theology are unorthodox, but the indefatigable rigor with which the poet explores their implications for day-to-day life within the temporal world and his adamant rejection of popularly-accepted practices which, when subjected to close scrutiny, are shown to be incompatible with the full scope of Christian teaching. The resulting text is notable both for its complexity and for its unrelenting insistence on the responsibility of both individuals and society to reshape themselves and reform their lives accordingly – an adamant insistence on the necessity for belief to be borne out in action, for the theological ideal to be put into daily practice. With poverty as my focus, then, this study examines the essential role played by Langland’s rigorous understanding of divine law as difficult theological, ethical, and social questions are raised throughout the poem. Langland’s persistent probing of the issue of poverty leads both Will and the reader far beyond superficial answers, culminating in a deeper understanding of charity, justice, and, ultimately, the path to redemption. vii Table of Contents Introduction......................................................................................................................... 1 1. Poverty in Piers Plowman: The Roles of Charity and Justice ...................................... 11 2. Piers Plowman and The Problem of the Wastours........................................................ 63 3. “Ne soliciti sitis”: Piers Plowman and the Mendicants .............................................. 105 4. “Et qui bona egerunt ibunt in vitam eternam; Qui vero mala, in ignem eternum”: Poverty and the Attainment of Redemption in Piers Plowman..................... 151 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 187 List of References ........................................................................................................... 193 Vita.................................................................................................................................. 217 viii Introduction William Langland’s continual wrestling with issues of poverty, both voluntary and involuntary, appears throughout all three versions of Piers Plowman: the poem raises a multitude of questions, and to each question a multitude of contradictory answers is proposed, none of which is long permitted to remain unchallenged. Like any great work of literature, Piers Plowman compels new insights with every reading. The initially bewildering complexity of the representation of poverty found within the poem, however, may be clarified through the recognition of two fundamental underlying themes: caritas and justitia. Langland relies throughout the poem upon well-established tenets of medieval theology, teachings intensely examined and elucidated in great detail by no lesser authorities than the Church Fathers themselves; what sets Piers apart is not that the central tenets of the poem’s theology are unorthodox – for indeed, they are not – but the indefatigable rigor with which the poet explores their implications for day-to-day life within the temporal world and his adamant rejection of popularly-accepted practices which, when subjected to close scrutiny, are shown to be incompatible with the full scope of Christian teaching. The resulting text is notable both for the dazzling complexity of Langland’s vision and for its unrelenting insistence on the responsibility of both individuals and society to reshape themselves and reform their lives accordingly – an adamant insistence on the necessity for belief to be borne out in action, for the theological ideal to be 1 put into daily practice. With poverty as my focus, then, this study examines the essential role played by Langland’s rigorous understanding of divine law as difficult theological, ethical, and social questions are raised throughout the poem; numerous simple and static answers are offered in response, but each is persistently tested and rejected in turn in favor of a deeper understanding of both the spiritual and the temporal demands of the Christian faith. Langland’s persistent probing of the issue of poverty thus leads both Will and the reader far beyond superficial answers, culminating in a deeper understanding of charity, justice, and, ultimately, the path to redemption. Any study of Piers Plowman must begin, of course, with the selection of which text of the poem to use as the foundation for further inquiry. While Skeat’s parallel-text edition of 18861 was seminal and remained the standard text for Piers scholarship for nearly a century, it has been largely superseded by more recent editions. As I have based my analysis of the poem upon the B-text, there were two primary critical editions from which to choose: Kane-Donaldson2 and Schmidt,3 both based upon the same manuscript, Trinity College Cambridge MS B.15.17. I have elected to utilize Schmidt because it remains overall more faithful to the manuscript readings, whereas the Kane-Donaldson edition is heavily, albeit intelligently, emended. For those few passages relevant
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