The vision and creed of Piers Ploughman. Newly imprinted [with notes and a glossary by Thomas Wright]

Langland William 1330?-1400?

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• Wright

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• Publié par: les_archives_du_savoir
• Nombre de lectures: 7
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 11 Mo

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NOTES AND A GLOSSARYWITH
BY THOMAS WRIGHT M.A. F.R.S. ETC.
VOL. I.c\r\6 \&va
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CHARLES WHITTINGHAM
CHISWICKINTRODUCTION.
inof the MiddleHistory Ages England,
to us a seriesTHE as in other countries, represents
of coexistentconsecutive movements,great political
with a similar of intellectual revolutions inseries
the mass of the The vast mental deve-
people.
caused the universities in the twelfth
lopement by
led the for the to obtain restrugglecentury way
and in the thirteenth. Theligious political liberty
numerous of that which have songs period
the hand of and above all the mass oftime,escaped
satirical ballads the Church of whichRome,against
under thename of Walter arecommonly go Mapes,
remarkable monuments of the intellectual history
areof our forefathers. Those ballads written in
Latin for most learned class ofit was the the
;
which made the first standcommunity great against
the encroachments and of the
corruptions papacy
and the influence of the monks. We
increasing
know that the alluded to wasstruggle historically
unsuccessful. The baronial wars ended in the
bvi INTRODUCTION.
entire destruction of the leaders but their;popular
cause did not at Evesham had laid;expire they
foundations which no storm could notoverthrow,
on the uncertain surface ofplaced hastily popular
fixed inbut the mind. Thefavour, deeply public
who had so often and sobarons, fought staunchly
for the had lost their evencharter, ;great power
the of the universities had faded under thelearning
of monachism but the remem;withering grasp
brance of the old contest and what wasremained,
its literature was the which hadmore, left, songs
abroad the for orwhich,spread principles against
had carried them downwhich, Englishmen fought,
to their(a precious legacy) posterity. Society
itself had an : it wasundergone important change
no a feudal which held the destilonger aristocracy
nies of the in its iron hand. Thecountry plant
which had been cut took root in anotheroff, again
soil and the which had;(a healthier) intelligence
lost its force in the ranks of
higher society began
to itself the commons. Even in theamongspread
thirteenth before the close of the baronialcentury,
the so in thewars, complaints vigorously expressed
Latin had both in andsongs, begun, England
to in the of theFrance, appear language people.
of the satirical of Rutebeuf and otherMany poems
writers the are littleagainst monks,contemporary
more than translations of the Latin whichpoems
under the name of Waltergo Mapes.