William Langland From LoveToKnow 1911 WILLIAM LANGLAND c. 1332-c. 1400), the supposed English poet, generally regarded until recently as the single author of the remarkable 14th-century poem Piers the Plowman. Its full title is - The Vision of William concerning Piers the Plowman, together with Vita de Do-wel, Do- bet , et Do-best, secundum Wit et Resoun; usually given in Latin as the whole work being sometimes briefly described as Liber de Petro Plowman. We know nothing of William Langland except from the supposed evidence of the MSS. of the poem and the text itself, and it will be convenient first to give a brief general description of them. The poem exists in three forms. If we denote these by the names of A-text (or Vernon ), B-text (or Crowley), and C-text (or Whitaker), we find, of the first, ten MSS., of the second fourteen, and of the third seventeen, besides seven others of a mixed type. It will be seen that we thus have abundance of material, a circumstance which proves the great popularity of the poem in former times. Owing to the frequent expressions which indicate a desire for reformation in religion, it was, in the time of Edward VI ., considered worthy of being printed. Three impressions of the B-text were printed by | |
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