Forget Robin Hood! (re)Introducing medieval folk hero Piers Plowman

Introduction

Let’s talk medieval folk heroes. I’m betting you probably jumped straight to Robin Hood and his band of merry men, stealing from the rich and giving to the poor? Robin Hood does have many ballads dating from the medieval period but another colourfully-named folk character had more of an impact on the 14th century – a ploughman, called Piers Plowman. So why did Robin Hood endure as a folk hero while Piers Plowman has been forgotten?

Who is Piers Plowman?

The character of Piers Plowman was introduced in the latter half of the 14th century, in a time of great upheaval and societal and cultural change. There was a much-reduced population caused by the Black Death, a difficult-to-enforce outdated feudal system, foreign wars, and a new child king on the throne. Uncertainty in religious teaching and government authority ultimately culminated in the Peasants’ Revolt in 1381. Observations were starting to be made about the perceived corruption within the Roman Catholic church, sowing the seeds for protestant reformations across Europe in the 16th century. 
Piers Plowman is best explored in a Middle English text written from 1370-1390 (Hanna 2014) by William Langland, a shadowy character nevertheless well-versed in court culture. The Vision of Piers Plowman is a poem outlining the “visions” of the main character Will, who is both the author and the allegorical embodiment of human will. The “visions” Will meets are largely allegorical characters like St Truth, Reason and Conscience – but Piers Plowman is different.

Piers is depicted as an everyday ploughman, hence his last name (plowman is the Middle English spelling of ploughman). As such he is an immediately recognisable and accessible figure who at the time was essential to rural food production. However, he is also portrayed as Christ and St Peter, invoking the bible and all the social and religious significance therein, and giving his character a depth beyond this poem (Warner 2014).

As Piers became a popular symbol and folk icon his stories became politicised and agendas of the day were pushed onto this simple ploughman. Piers is particularly vocal on the corruption of the church. There is an incident were Piers rips up a pardon issued to him, deeming it worthless as it has been bought, not earned. This was one of the key criticisms of Catholicism at the time – that the rich could pay for sins to be forgiven and time in purgatory reduced.

“That have the welthe of this world and wise men ben holden,
To purchace yow pardon and the Popes bulles.”

“That have the wealth of this world and wise men that hold it,
To purchase you a pardon and a papal bull.”

Piers Plowman Text- B passus vii, lines-186-187

Enter Robin Hood…

The first known written reference to Robin Hood actually appears in The Visions of Piers Plowman! The allegorical characters of the Seven Deadly Sins mention “the rhymes of Robin Hood” when they are kicked out of a pub for being drunk and disorderly…

““I kan nought parfitly my Paternoster as the preest it syngeth,
But I kan rymes of Robyn Hood and Randolf Erl of Chestre”

“I can not perfectly say the Lord’s Prayer as I do not know it properly,
But I can the rhymes of Robin Hood and Randolf Earl of Chester”

Piers Plowman Text- B passus v, lines 395-396

Robin Hood had been around as a character in the oral tradition for some years by the time he was mentioned in this poem. He too appears at a time of political turmoil, around 1190AD, when King Richard I was away on crusade and England ‘ruled’ by his brother John. Another similarity is that both Piers and Robin are practicing Catholics (Hilton 1958). So why is it that Robin Hood has stood the test of time, and we’re not telling tales of Piers Plowman and his Merry Men?

Perhaps it’s because Robin Hood lives outside the boundaries of society, a recurring theme in medieval literature. In many poems magical and unworldly acts often happen in woods or forests (Marvin 2006), and therefore Robin Hood’s Sherwood Forest and his role as “the outlaw” therefore excludes him from social norms. This includes the need to attend mass and live a righteous life as he lives “beyond the law” (Holt 1960). Therefore Robin Hood as a character is easier to mould into the society which is writing about him, as by living beyond the law he isn’t set in a certain time. Today we often think of the character of Robin Hood as non-religious even though he lives with a Catholic Friar!

Why have we forgotten Piers Plowman?

It seems that Piers could not make the transition out of the society he was written into, and the trope of this accessible (at the time) Catholic ploughman was no longer recognised by later societies (Little 2010). This is the key difference between Piers and Robin – one lives firmly rooted in society, and the other outside its boundaries.
We see The Visions of Piers Plowman excluded from the runs of the first printing press in Britain in 1476, whereas works like the less overtly Catholic The Canterbury Tales were reproduced. Piers’ absence is notable – the press made written works much cheaper to produce and therefore more accessible, and the decision to exclude it reflects society’s lack of demand for this work. In 1550 a version was printed by Robert Crowley (King 1976), but this had been heavily edited to make it more pro-protestant. Thus Piers the friendly neighbourhood ploughman began to be forgotten.

Conclusion

Many societies have folk characters, and those that are popular and have their tales retold have the ability to change and adapt, depending on the societal need for them at any given point in time. Modern folk characters can be of any religion (or none) and still have an impact on culture. Piers Plowman can help us understand how societal attitudes change and evolve, as well as how others can morph to fit the agendas of the time.

References

Cover image: Ploughman and team with “god speed the plough” written above. Trinity College Cambridge MS R.3.14 fol.001v-002r https://mss-cat.trin.cam.ac.uk/Manuscript/R.3.14 

Hanna, R, 2014 The Versions and Revisions of Piers Plowman, in The Cambridge Companion to Piers Plowman (eds A Cole and A Galloway), 33-49

Hilton R, 1958 The Origins of Robin Hood, Past & Present, 14, 30-44

Holt, J, 1960 The Origins and Audience of the Ballads of Robin Hood, Past & Present, 18, 89-110

King, J, 1976 Robert Crowley's Editions of "Piers Plowman": A Tudor Apocalypse, Modern Philology, 73(4), 342-352

Little, K, 2010 Transforming Work: Protestantism and the Piers Plowman Tradition, Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies, 40(3), 497-526

Marvin, W, 2006 Hunting Law and Ritual in Medieval English Literature

Warner, L, 2014 Plowman Traditions in Late Medieval and Early Modern Writing 198-213, in The Cambridge Companion to Piers Plowman (eds A Cole and A Galloway), 198-213