Wollwarde And weteshodd / went I forth after

As A rechelesse felawe / that of no wo recheth

And yede forth like a lorell / all my lyfe-tyme

Till I waxt wery of the worlde / and willed streyt to slepe

And lened me to A lenten / and long tyme I slept

And of Christes passionT / the people þat of-raught

Rest me there and snored fast / till Ramis palmarum

Of gerles and of Gloria laus / greatly I dremed

And Howe Osanna by organy / olde folke song

One sembled the Samaritan / & somedele Piers the Plowman

Barefote on an asseback / botelesse cam prickyng

Without spere or spores / valeantlie he lokyd

As is the kynde of a knight / that commeth to be dubbed

To get hym gilt spores / and galoches couped

Then was feythe in a fenestre / and cried O fili dauid

As dothe an heraude of armes / when aventerouresLX come to iustes

Old Iewes of Ierusalem / for ioye they song

Benedictus qui venit in nomine domini /

Than I asked at feyth / what all that fare ment

And who wold iuste in Ierusalem / IhusIesus He said

And feche that the feend claymeth / piers frute the plowman

TThis IhusIesus of His gentrie will iust in piers Armour

In his Helme and His habergeon / humana natura

That Christ be not knoune Here / for Consummatus deus

In piers paltock the plowman / this priker shall ride

For no dynt shall Him dere / as in deitate patris

Who shall iust with IhusIesus quod I / Iewes or scribes

Nay quod he the foule feende / and false dome and deathe

Death saith He shall fordoo / and adoune bring

All that lyueth or loketh / on lond or water

Lyfe saith that He lyethe / and leyth His life to wedd

That for all that deathe can do / within thre daies

To walke and feche from the feende / piers frute the plowman

And lay it there him liketh / and lucifere bynde

And forbeat and doune bring / bale deathe for euer

O mors ero mors tua /

Then came pilate with much people / Sedens pro tribunali

To se how doughtely death shuld do / and deme both theirT rightes

The Iewes and Iustice / against IhuIesu they were

And all the court out cried / Crucifige eumT /

Then put him forth a pilour / before pilate and said

This IhusIesus of oure Iewes temple / iaped and dispised it

To fordo on one daye / and in thre daies after

Reedifye it eftsone newe / Here he stand that said it

And yet make it asmuche / as muche / in all manere poyntes

Bothe as long as / a[nd] as large / by loft and by grounde

Crucifige quod A cachepoll / I warrant him a wiche

Tolle tolle quod another / and toke of kene th{r}ornes

And began of sharpe thorne / A garland for to make

And set it sore on his head / and said in envie

Aue raby quod that rybawd / and threwe reedes at hym /

Nailed him with thre nailes / naked on the roode

And poyson on a pole / they put vp to His lippes

And bad Him drynke His deatheuell / hise daies were done

And if that þou so konnyng be / Helpe now thy-self

Yf thou be Christ and kynges son / come doune of the rood

Then shall we beleue that lyfe the loue / and wilnot / will not lat the dye

Consummatum est quod Christ / and began to swowne

Pituously and pale / as A prisoner that dieth

The lorde of lyfe and light / then leyd his eyes togither

The day for drede withdrewe / and derk became the sonne

The wall wagged and cleef / and all the world quaued

Dead men for that dein / came out of depe graves

And told why that tempest / so long tyme dured

For a bitter bataile / the dead body sayd

Lyfe and deathe in this darknes / the one fordothe the other

Shall no man knowe perfitely / who shall haue the maistrie

Before sonday about sonne ryse / and sank with that till erthe

Some said that he was goddes son / that so faire dyed

Vere filius dei erat iste /

And some said he was A wiche / good is that we assaie

Whether he be dead or not / doune ere he be take

Too theves also / suffred deathe þat tyme

Besydes Christ vpon a crosse / so was the common lawe

A cachepoll came forth / and cracked bothe his legges

And armes af{h}ter / of either of the theves

But noman / no man was so bold / Christes body to touche

for he was knight and kynges son / kynde forgaf þat tyme

That non harlot were so hardy / to lay handes vpon hym

But there came forth a knight / with a spear sharpe grounde

Hight LongesT as the letter telleth / þat long had lost his sight

Before Pilate and other people / in the place he houed

Maugrie his many tethe / he was made that tyme

To take the spear in his hande / and iusten with IhusIesus

For they were all vnhardy / on horsbacke and on fote

To towche him or tast him / or take doune of the roode

But this blynde bacheler / bare him through the hart

The blood sprang doune by the spear / and vnsperd the knightes eyes

Then fell he vpon his knees / and cried him mercie

Against my will it was lorde / to wounde theLG so sore

he sighed and said / sore it me forthinketh

For the dede I haue done / I do me to thy grace

haue ruthe on me rightfull IhuIesu / and euen with that he wept

Than gan feyth felly / the false Iewes despise /

Calling them caytifes / Acursed for euer

For this foule vilany / vengeaunce to you all

To do the blynde beat him bounde / it was a boies counsaile

Cursed Caitifes / knighthode was it neuer

To misdoo a dead bodie / by day or by night

The gree yet haue he goten / for all his great wounde

For your Champion chivallier / chief knight of you all

Yelt him recreant rennyng / right as IhusIesus will

For be this derknesse done / His deathe is avenged

And ye lurdeyns haue lost / for life shall haue the maistrie

And your fraunchise that fre was / fallen is in thraldome

And ye chorles and your childerne / cheve shall you neuer

Nor haue lordship in lond / nor no lond tille

But all barayne be / and vsurie vse

Which is lyfe þat our lorde / in all lawes acurseth

Now your good daies are done / as danyell prophecied

When Christ come /T of theyr kingdome the croune shulde cesse

What for fear of the ferlie / and of the false Iewes

I drewe me in that derknesse / to descendit ad inferna

And there I sawe sothely / Secundum scripturas

Out of the west coost / a wenche as me thought

Cam walking in the waie / to hellewarde she lokid

Mercie hight that maide / A meke thing withall

A full benygne birde / and gentill of speche

Hir suster as it semed / came truly walkyng

Euen out of the east / and westwarde she looked

A full comelie creature / truth she hight

For the vertue that hir folowed / aferd was she neuer

When thise maidens met / mercie and truthe

Either asked other / of this great mervaile

Of the dien and derknes / and howe the daye rowed

And what a light and leame / Lay before helle

I haue ferlie of this fare / in feythe said truthe

And am going to wite / what this wonder meaneth

Haue no marveile quod mercie / myrthe it betokeneth

A maide that hight Marie / and mother without towching

{A}Of Any manere creature / conceyued through speche

And grace of the holy ghost / wext great with childe

Without weme into this worlde she brought hym

And that my tale be true / I take god to witnesse

Sithe this barne was borne / bene thirtie wynter passed

Whiche died and deathe suffred / this daie about myddaie

And that is cause of this eclipse / that closethe nowe the sonne

In menyng that man shall / frome mekenesse be drawen

The which this light and this leme / shall lucifere ablende

For patriarches and prophetes / haue preached herof long

That man shall man saue / through goddesT helpe

And that was lost through tree / by a tre shalbe / shall be wonne

And that deathe doune brought / death shall releue

That thou tellest quod Truthe / is but a tale of waltrot

for adam and Eue / Abraham and others

patriarches and prophetes / that in peynes lie

Beleue thou {t} neuer that yonder light / bryng them may aloft

Nor haue them out of helle / hold thy tong mercie

Yt is but a trifle þat thou tellest / I Truthe knowe the sothe

For that is ones in helle / out commeth itT neuer

Iob the prophete patriarche / reproueth thi sayinges

Quia in inferno nulla est redemptio /

Then mercie full mekely / mowthed these wordes

Through Experience quod she / I hope they shalbe / shall be saued

For venym fordoth venyme / and that I proue by reason

For of all venymes foulest is the scorpion

May no medicyn helpe / the place there he stingeth

Till he be dead and done therto / the yuell he destroieth

The first venymenesse / thorough wenym of him-self

So shall this fordoo / my lyfe I dare laye

All that death did fyrst / through the deuylles entysyng

And like as through gyle / man was begyled

So shall grace that beganne / make a good sleight

Nowe suffre we said truthe / I se as me thinketh

Out of the nyppe of the Northe / not euen fer hence

Righousnes come ronnyng / rest we a while

For he knoweth more then we / heT was before vs bothe

That is true said mercie / and I se here be sowthe

Where peace commeth playing / in pacience clothed

Loue hathe coueted hir long / I think non other

But he sent hir some letter / what this light meneth

What ouerhoveth helle thus / she shall vs telle

When peace thus apparailed / approched nere them tweyne

Rightwisenesse hir reuerenced / for hir rich clothing

And praid peace to telle hir / to what place she wold

And in hyr gaye garmentes / whome she thought to greet

My will is to go quod she / and welcome them all

That many day might not se / for derkenesse of synne

Adam and Eue / and other moo in helle

Moyses and many more / mercie shall haue

And I daunce therto / do thou so suster

For IhusIesus Iusted well / Ioy begynneth to spring

Loue that is my lemman / such letters me sent

That mercie my suster and I / mankynde shuld saue

And that god hathe forgyuen / & grauntid peace and mercie

And man to saue / for euer after

Lo here the patent quod peace / in pace in idipsum

And that dede shall endure / dormiam et requiescam /

What ravest þou quod Rightousnes / or þou art right dronke

Thinkest thou that yonder light / may vnlocke helle

And saue mannes soule / suster think yt neuer

At the begynnyng /T god gaf the dome him-self

That Adam and eue / and all them sued

Shulde dye douneright / and dwelle in peyne euer

Yf that they touched a tre / and the frute ete

Adam after that / contrarie to the commandement

Ete of that frute / and forsoke as it were

The loue of the lorde / and his lore bothe

And folowed that the feend taught / and his felawes will

Against reason and righousnesse / record thus with truthe

That their peynes be perpetuall / and no preyer them helpe

Therfor lat them chewe as they chose / and we not susters

For it was bootelesse bale / the bitt that they ete

And I shall proue quod peace / their peyne must haue ende

And wo in-to wele / mustLG turne at last

For had they wist of no woo / welthe had they not knoune

for noman / no man wot what welth is / that neuer woo suffred

Nor what is sharpeLX hunger / that neuer had defaute

Yf there were no night / noman / no man as I thinke

Shuld knowe perfitely / what the daie is

Shuld neuer riche man / that lyueth in rest and ease

knowe what wo is / were not the deathe of kynde

So god that began all / of his good will

Became man of a maid / mankynde to saue

And suffred to be solde / to the sorowe of death

Which vnknytteth all care / and begynnyng is of rest

For till Modicum / mete with vs / I may it well avowe

Wot no wight as I wene / what is ynough to mene

Therfor god of his goddnesse / the first man Adam

Set him in solace / and in souereyne myrthe

And sithens he suffred him synne / sorowe to fele

To wite what welth was / kyndlie to knowe it

And after god aventured Him-self / and toke adams kynde

To wite what he had suffred / in thre sondrie places

In heuen and erthe / and to helle he thinketh

To wite what all wo is / þat wot of all ioye

So shall it fare by thise {/}folke / their folie and their synne

Shall lerne them what langor is / and peyneLX without ende

Wot noman / no man what werre is / there as peace reygneth

Nor what is perfitely welthe / till wellawaie him teache

Then was there A man / with ij / two brode eyes

Book hight þat felawe / a bolde man of speche

By goddes bodie quod this book / I will beare witnesse

That when this babe was borne / the{s}re blased a sterre

That all the wyse of this world / in one wit accorde

That such a barne was borne / in Bethleem citie

That mannes soule shulde saue / and synne destroye

And all the elementes saith the book / herof beareth witnesse

That he was god that all wrought / the Ayre first shewed

Tho that were in heauen / tooke Stella comata

And lightned as a torche / to reuerence his birthe

The light folowed the lorde / in-to the lowe erthe

The water witnessed that he was god / for he went on yt

Peter th'apostle / perceyued his gate

And as he went on the water / well him knewe and said

Iube me domineT venire ad te super aquas /

And lo how the sonne / did loke his light in himself

When he se Him suffre / that sonne and sea made

The erthe for heuynesse / that he shuld suffre

Quakyd as quick thing / & all to-quashedLX the roche

Lo heauenT might not hold / but opened when god suffred

And let out Symondes sonnes / to se him hang on rood

And now shall Lucifere beleue it / although he be loth

For Gigas the giaunt / with a gyn engynned

To breake and to beat doune / that bene against IhusIesus

And I booke wilbe / will be brent / but IhusIesus rise to lyue

In all mightes of man / and his mother glade

And confort all his kyn / and out of care bring

And all the IewesLG ioye / vnioyne and losen

And but if they reuerenseT his rood / and his resurreccion

And beleue on a newe lawe / be lost lyfe and soule

Suffre we said truthe / I here and se bothe

How a spirit speketh to helle / and bidd vnspere the gates

Attollite portas &c

A voyce lowde in that light / to lucifere crieth

Ye prynces of this place / vndo your gates

For here commeth with croune / that {kis} kyng is of glory

Then sighed Sathan / and said to them all

Such a light against our leue / Lazar outT fet

Care and combraunce / is come to vs all

Yf this kyng come in / mankynde will he feche

And lede himT there he liketh / and lightlie me bynde

Patriarches and prophetes / haue spoken herof long

That such a lorde and light / shuld lede them all hens

Lysten quod Lucifer / for I this lorde knowe

TMay no deathe him dere / nor no feendes craftes

And where he will is his weye / but ware Hym of the perils

Yf he reaveth me my right / he robbeth me by maistrie

For by right and reason / they that be here

Bodie and soule be myne / both good and euyll

For himself said / that father is of heauen

Yf Adam ete the Apple / all shulde dye

And with vs deuilles dwelle / this threatning he made

And he that sothenesse is / said these wordes

And sithen I seised / seauen hundred winter

I beleue that lawe will not / leue him the leest

That is sothe quod Sathan / but I me sore drede

For thou get him with gyle / and his garden breeke

And in semblaunce of a serpent / set vpon an apletre

And eggedest th{i}emP to ete / Eue by hir name

And toldest hyr a tale / of treason were the wordes

And so thou gattest them out / and hither at the last

Hit was not trulie gotten / for gyle was the roote

God willnot / will not be begyled / quod Goblyn nor beiaped

We haue no true tytle to them / for through treson were they damp[ned]

Certes I drede me quod the deuyll / lest truth will them feche

Thise thirtie yeres as I think / he hathe goneT and preached

I haue assailed him with synne / and somtyme asked

Yf he were god or goddes son / he gaf me short answere

And thus haue trolled forthe / this xxxijti / two and thirti wynter

And whan I se it was so / leaping I went

To warne pilates wyfe / what manereLX man was IhusIesus

For Iewes hated hym / and haue done him to death

I wold haue lengthed his lyfe / for I thought if he dyed

That his soule wold suffre / no synne / in his sight

for the bodie while it on bones went / about was euer

To saue men from synne / if themself wolde

And now I se where a soule / commeth hitherward sailing

With glorie and great light / god it is I wot well

I rede we fle quod he / fast all hens

for we we / [+] were bettre not be / then abide his sight

For thy lesynges lucifer / lost is all oure praye

First through the we felle / from heauen so highe

for we trustid thy leasinges / lost haue we Adam

And all our lordship I think / on lond and watre

Nunc princeps huius mundi eijcietur foras /

Then the light bad vndo / and Lucifer Answerd

What lord art thou quod lucifer / quis est iste

Rex glorie / said the light by and by

And lord of might and mayne / and all maner vertues

Dominus virtutum /

Dukes of this dymme place / Anon vndo the gates

That Christ may come in / the kinges son of heauen

And with that word /T helle brake with belialles barres

For Any man or warde / wide open the gates

Patriarches and prophetes / Populus in tenebris /

Song S . Iohanes song / Ecce agnus dei /

Lucifer might not looke / the light so did him blynde

And them that our lorde loued / in-to his light he raught

Saying vnto Sathan / lo here my soule to Amendes

For all synfull soules / to saue that be worthy /

Myne they be and of me / I may the bettre them clayme

Although reason recorde / and right of my-self

That if they ete the Apple / all shuld die

I behight them not here / helle for euer

For the dede that they did / thy deceyt it causedC

With gyle þou them gett / Against all reason

for in my palais paradise / in persone of an Edder

Falsly thou fettest there / the thing þat I loued

Thus like a lyzarde / with a ladies visage

Thefelike þou diddest me robbe / the old lawe graunteth

That gylers be begylde / and that is good reason

Dentem pro dente et oculum pro oculo /

Ergo soule shall soule quyte / and synne to synne go

And all that man hath mysdone / I man will Amende

Membre for membre / in the old lawe was Amendes

And lyfe for lyfe also / and by þat lawe I clayme it

Adam and all his yssue / at my will hereafter

And that death in them fordid / my death shall releue

And both quicken and quyte / that lost was through synne /

And that grace may gyle destroie / good feythe it asketh

So I think Lucifer / agaynst the lawe I do not feche them

But by right and reason / I raunsone here my liges

T{o}hou diddest fet myne in my place / against all reason

Falslie and felonlie / good feithe me it taught

To recouer them by raunson / and by no reason elles

So that which through gyle þou gat / through noweT is it wonne

Thou Lucifer in likenesse / of A lither Addre

Gatest by gyle / them that god loued

And I in likenes of a man / that lorde am of heauen

Graciouslie thy gyle haue quyt / go gyle againest gyle

And as Adam and all / through a tre dyed

Adam and all through A tre / shall turne agayn to lyfe

And gyle is begyled / and in his gyle fallen

Now begynneth thy gyle / against the to turne /

And my grace to growe / ay greater and wyder

The bitternesse þat thou hast browneLX / browke it thy-self

That art doctour of death / drink þat þou madest

For I am lorde of lyfe / loue is my drink

And for þat drink this daie / I dye vpon erthe

I faught so I thurst yet / for mannes soules sake

May no drinke me moist / nor my thurst slake /

Till the vendage fall / in the vale of Iosophat

That I drink right rype must Resurreccio mortuorum

And then shall I come as a king / crowned with Aungelles

And haue out of helle / all mennes soules

Feendes and feendkyns / before me shall staund

And be at my bidding / whersoeuer me like

And to be mercifull to man / than my kynd it asketh

For we be bretherne of blood / but not of baptisme all

But all þat be myn oune bretherne / in blood and in baptisme

Shall not be dampned to the death / þat is without ende

Tibi soliP peccaui &c /

It is not vsed in erthe / to hang a felon

Ofter then ones / though he were a traitour

And if the king of that kingdome / came in þat tyme

There the felon shuld suffre / death or ellesT

Lawe wold he gaf him lyfe / if he lokid on him

And I that am king of kinges / shall come such a tyme

There dome to the death / dampneth all wicked

And if Lawe {I} will þat I looke on them / it lythe in my grace

Whether they die or not / for þat they did euyll

Be it any thing about the boldnesse of their synnes

I do mercy through righousnes / and all my wordes true

And though holy / [writ]T wyll me to be wroken of them þat did yll

Nullum malum inpunitum &c /

They shalbe / shall be clensed clerely / and washen of ther synnes

In {p} my prison purg'T / till Parce it hoote

And my mercie shalbe / shall be shewed / to many of my bretherne

For bloude may suffre bloude / both hungrie and cold

But bloud maynot / may not se blood / blede but he rewe

But my great rightousnes / shall rule all helle

And mercie allmankynde / all mankynde / before me in heauen

For I were an vnkynde kyng / but I my kynde holpe

And namely at such a nede / there nedes helpe behoueth

Thus by lawe quod this lorde / lede I will from hens

Them þat me louyd / and beleued in my commyng

And for thy lye þou lucifer / that þou made to Eue

Thou shallt abie yt bitter / and bounde him with chaynes

Astaroth and all the route / hidde them in corners

They durst not looke on our lorde / the boldest of them all

But lete him lede forth whome he wolde / & leue whom he list

Many hundred aungelles / harped and song

Culpat caro purgat caro , regnat deus dei caro /

Then pyped peace / of poesy a note

After sharpe showres quod peace / most shene is the sonne

Ys no wether warmer / then after watry clowdes

Nor no loue derer / nor trustier freendes

Then after werre and woo / when loue and peace be maisters

Was neuer werre in this world / nor wickednesse so kene

That loue if he list / to laughing haue not brought

And peace through pacience / all perils stopped

Trewce quod truthe / thou tellest vs soth by IhusIesus

Clippe we in covenaunt / and eche of vs kisse other

And lat no people quod peace / perceyue that we chidd

For impossible is nothing / to him that is allmighty

Tho saist true quod Rightousnesse / and reuerently hir kist

Peace , and peace hir / per secula seculorum

Truthe tromped then / and song Te deum laudamus /

And then luted loue / in a lowde note

Till the daie dawed / these damoselles daunced

That men rong to þe resurreccion / and euen with that I waked

And callid kytt my wyfe / and Calote my doughter

To Arise and reuerenceT / goddes resurreccion

And crepe to the crosse {/}onT knees / and kisse it for a Iewell

For goddes blessyd body / it bare for our boote

And it frayeth the feende / for such is the might

May no grisly ghoost / glyde there it shadoweth