Thus I walked and wrote / what I had dreamed

And dight me derely / and hied me to churche

To here hoolly the masse / and to be housled after

In myddes of the masse / the men went to offring

And I eftsones fill aslepe / and sodeynly I dremed

That Piers the plowman / was peynted all bloody

And cam in with a crosse / before the commone people

And euen like in all lymmes / to oure lorde IhuIesu

Than callid I Conscience / to telle me the truthe

Ys this IhusIesus the Iuster quod I / þat iewes did to death

Or is it piers the Plowman / who peynted him so redd

Quod Conscience and kneled then / thise are piers armes

His coloures and cote armure / but he that commeth so bloodie

Ys Christ with his crosse / Conqueroure of cristene

Why call ye him Christ quod I / sith Iewes call him IhusIesus

Patriarches and prophetes / prophecied before

That all manere creatures / shulde knele and bowe

Anon as men named / the hygh name of IhuIesu

Ergo there is no name / to the name of IhusIesus

Nor non so nedefull to be named / by night or daye

For all the derke deuylls / are adrad to here it

And synfull are solaced / and saued by that name

And ye call him Christ / for what cause tell me

Ys Christ more of might / or more worthy name

Than IhuIesu or IhusIesus / that all oure Ioye came of

Thou knowest well quod Conscience / if þou knowest reason

That knight , kyng , Conquerour , / may be one persone

To be called a knight is fair / for men shuld reuerence him

To be called a kyng is fayrer / for he may knightes make

But to be called Conquerour / that commeth of speciall grace

And of hardynesse of hart / and also of gentillnesse

To make lordes of laddes / of lond that he wynneth

And free men foule thralles / þat folow not his lawes

The iewes that were gentilmen / IhuIesu they despised

Bothe his lore and his lawe / nowe are they lowe chorles

As wide as the world is / dwelleth non therin /

But vnder tribute and taillage / as tykes and chorles

And they þat become xpcristen / by counseile of the baptysme

Are Frankelinges fre men / through baptisme þat they toke

And gentillmen with IhuIesu / For IhusIesus was baptized

And vpon Caluarie on crosse / crouned kyng of Iewes

Yt becommeth well a king / to kepe and defend

And Conquerour of conquest / his lawes and his large

And so did IhusIesus to the Iewes / he iustified and taught them

The lawe of Lyfe / that last shall euer

And defended from foule euilles / feuers and fluxes

And from feendes that in them were / and false beleue

Then was he IhusIesus of Iewes called / gentyll prophete

And king of kingdome / and croune bare of thornes

And then conquered he on crosse / as conquerour noble

Might no death him fordo / nor doune bring

That he rose notT and regned / and rauyshed helle

And then was he conqueroure called / of quick and dead

for he gaf Adam and Eue / and othermore blisse

That long had lyne beforne / as Lucifers cherles

And sith he gaf largelie / all his true lieges

Places in paradyse / at ther parting thens

He may well be called conquerour / and þat is Christ to mene

But the cause that he commeth thus / with crosse of the passion

Is to teache vs therwith / that when we be tempted

Therwith to fight and fende vs / from falling in-to synne

And se by his sorowe / that who-so loueth ioye

To penaunce and to pouertie / he must put himself

And much wo in this world / will to suffre

But for to carpe more of Christ / and howe he came to þat name

faithly for to speake his first name was IhusIesus

When he was borne in bedleme / as the book telleth

And cam to take mankynde / kinges and Aungelles

Reuerenced him fayr / with richesse of this erthe

Aungelles out of heauen ca{n}m / kneling they song

Kynges came after / kneled and offred

Myrhe and much golde / without mede asking

Or any kynd of catell / but knowleged him souereyne

Bothe of londT sonne and sea / and then they went

Into their oune countreisT / by counsell of aungelles

And there was þat worde fulfilled / the which þou spake

For all th'aungelles of heauen / at his byrth kneled

And all the witt of the worlde / was in themT thre kinges

Reason and Righousnes / and truthe they offred

Wherfore and why / wise men that tyme

Maisters and lettred men / Magi them called

The one king cam with reason / couered vnder sence

The second king sothely / sithen he offred

Rightousnes vnder red goold / Reasons felawe

Gold is likened to leautie / that last shall euer

And reason to rich gold / to right and to truthe

The thirde king then cam / kneling to IhuIesu

And presented him with pitie / appering to myrrhe

For Myrre is mercie to mene / and myld speche of tong

Thre like honest thinges / were offred thus atones / at ones

Through thre sondry kynges / kneling to IhusIesus

But for all thise preciouse presentes / our lord prince IhusIesus

Was neither king nor conquerour / till he began to wexe

In the manere of a man / and þat by much sleight

As becommeth a conquerour / to knowe many sleightes

And many wiles and wit / that wilbe / will be a leder

And so did IhusIesus in his daies / who-so had tyme to tell it

Sometyme he suffred / and sometyme he hid him

And sometime he fought fast / and fled otherwhile

And sometyme he gaf good / and graunted helth also

Bothe life and lymme / as he list he wrought

As kynde is of a conquerour / so began he /

Till he had all them / that he bledd for

In his youthe / this IhusIesus / at IewesLG fest

Water in-to wyne turned / as holy writ telleth

And there began god / of his grace to Dowell

For wyne is likened to lawe / and life of holinesse

And lawe lacked then / for me / me[n] loued not their enemyes

And Christ counseileth thus and commandeth also

Bothe to lerned and lewde / to loue our enemyes

So at the feast first / as I before said

Began god of his grace / {B} and goodnes to dowell

And then was he calledLX / not onely Christ but IhuIesu

A faunt fyn full of witt / Filius marie

Before his mother Marie / made he that wonder

That she first and foremest / ferme shulde beleue

That he through grace was gett / and of noman / no man ellis

He wrought þat by no witt / but by worde onely

After the kynde that he came of / there began he to dowell

And when he was wexen more / in his mothers absence

He made the lame to lepe / and gaf sight to blynde

And fed with too fishes / and with five loves

Sore ahungred folke / more then five thousand

Thus he conforted the carefull / and caught a greater name

The which was dobet / where that he went

for deef through his doinges to here / and dombe to speak he made

And all he healed and holpe / þat him of grace asked

And then was he called in countrey / of the common people

For the dedes that he did / IhusIesus filius dauid /

for dauid was dowtiest / of dedes in his tyme

The byrdes then song / Saul interfecit mille , et dauid decem miliaC

Therfor the countrie where IhusIesus cam / callid him fili dauid

And named him of Nazareth / & noman / no man so worthy

To be kayser or king / of the kingdome of IudaC

Nor ouer Iewes iustice / as Ihs / Iesus was they thought

Wherof Cayphas had envie / and other of the iewes

And forto / for to do him to death / daie and night they kest

Killed him on crosse wise / at Calvarie on aT fridaye

And sithen buried his bodye / and bad þat men shuld

Kepe it from night commers / with armed knightes

That no freendes shulde him feche / for prophetes them told

That ,P þat blissed bodie / of buriels shuld arise

And go into Galile / and glade his apostles

And his mother Marie / thus men before demed

The knightes þat kept it / knew it themself

That Aungells and Archaungelles / ere the day sprong

Cam kneling to the Corps / and song xpscristus resurgens

Veray man before them all / and forth with them he yede

The Iewes preidT peace / and besought the knightes

Telle the commons that there cam / a company of his apostles

And wiched them as they woke / and awaie stole him

But Marie Magdalene / met him by the waye

Going toward Galile / in godhede and manhede

And lyvisheLX and loking / and she alowd cried

In euery company that she cam / xpscristus resurgens

Thus came it out that Christ ouercame / recouered & lyued

For that women wotLG / maynot / may not be kept counseile

Peter perceyued this / and pursued after

Both Iames and Iohan / IhuIesu for to seche

Thadee and tean moo / with Thomas of ynde

And as all thise wise men / were togithers

In an house all close / and the dores fast barred

Christ came then in / bothe dores and gates shet

To peter and th'other apostles / saying pax vobis

And toke Thomas by the hand / and taught him to grope

And fele with his fyngers / his fleshly hart

Thomas touched it / and with his tong said /

deus meus et dominus meus /

Thou art my lorde I beleue / god lord IhuIesu

Thou diedest and death suffredest / and deme shalt vs all

And now art lyving and loking / and last shalt þou euer

Christ said then / and curteisly spake

Thomas for that þou truly dost beleue

Blessed mut thou be / and be shalt for euer

And blissed mut they all be / in bodie and soule

That neuer shal{t} se me in sight / as thou doest nowe

And yet truly beleue this / I loue them and blisse them

And when this dede was done / dobest he taught

And gaf piers poure / and pardon he graunted

To all manere of men / mercie and forgiuenesse

Him might to Assoile / of all manere synnes

In covenaunt that they come / and knowlege to paye

To piers pardon the plowman / Redde quod debes

Thus hathe piers poure / be his pardon paid

To bynde and to vnbynde / bothe here and elliswhere

And assoile men of all synnes / saue of dett onely

Anone after to go / vp into heauen

He went and dwelleth there / & will come at last

And rewarde him right well / þat reddit quod debet

Paieth perfitely / as pure truth wolde

And what person paieth not / punyshe he will

And deme them at domesdaie / both quick and dead

The good to the godhede / and to great ioye

And the wicked do dwelle / in wo without ende

Thus conscience of Christ / and of the crosse carped

And counseiled me to knele therto / and then cam me thought

One Spiritus paracletus / to piers and his felawes

In likenesse of a lightnyng / he light vpon them all

And made them for to knowe / all manere langages

I wondered what yt was / and wagged Conscience

And was aferde of the light / for in likenesse of fyre

Spiritus paracletus / ouerspredd them all

Quod Conscience and kneled / this is Christes menssenger

And commeth from the great god / and grace is his name

Knele nowe quod Conscience / and if thou canst syng

Welcome him and worshup him / with Veni creator spiritus

Than sang I that song / and so did many a hundred

And cried with Conscience / helpe vs god of grace

And then began grace / to go with piers plowman

And counseiled him and Conscience / the commons to somone

For I will dele this daie / and divide grace

To all manere creatures / þat haue their fyve wittes

Treasure to lyue by / to their lyues ende

And wepen to fight with / that will neuer fayle

For Antecryst and his / all the world shall greue

And encombre the Conscience / but if Christ helpe

And false prophetes many / flaterers and glosers

Shall come and be curates / ouer Kynges and erles

And pride shalbe / shall be pope / prynce of holie church

Couetise and vnkyndnesse / Cardynalls him to lede

Therfor quod Grace ere I go / I will giue you treasure

And wepen to fight with / when Antechrist you assayle

And gyue eche man a grace / to rule with himself

That ydelnesse encombre him not / Envie nor pride /

Diuisiones graciarum multe sunt /

To some he gaf wit / with wordes to shewe

WittP to get lyvingLX with / as the worlde asketh

As prechours and preestes / and prentises of lawe

They truly to lyve / by labour of tong

And by wit to lerne other / as grace them wold teache

And some he taught craft / and konnyng of sight

with bying and selling / their lyving to gett

And some he lerned to labour / a good life and true

And some he taught to tille ground / to diche and to thatch

To wynne ther living / by lore of his teaching

Some to divyne and divide / nombres to knowe

TAnd some to se and saye / what shuld befall

Both of well and wo / tell it or it fell

As Astronomiers through Astronomye / & philosophers wise

And some to ride and to recouer / that vnrightfully was gett

He taught them to get it agayn / through wightnesse of handes

And fech it from false men / with foulesT lawes

And some lerned to lyue / in longing to be hens

In pouertie and penaunce / to pray for all xpcristen

And all he lerned to be true / and euery man loue other

And forbad them all debate / þat non were among them

Though some be clenner then some / ye se well quod grace

That he þat vse the fairest craft / to þe foulest I could haue put him

Think all quod grace / that grace commeth of my gift

Loke that non Lacke other / but loue all as bretherne

And who þat most maistries can / be gentillest of bearing

And croune Conscience king / and make connyng your styward

And after his counseile / clothe you and fede you

For I make piers the plowman / my proctour and my Reve

And Regester to receyue / Redde quod debes /

My prowour and my plowman / Piers shalbe / shall be on erthe

And for to tylle truthe / A teame shall he haue

Grace gaf piers a teame / foure great oxen

The one was Luke a large beast / and a lowe chered

And Mark / and Mathue the third / mightie beastes bothe

And Ioyned to them one Iohan / most gentill of all

The price nete of piers plowgh / passing all other

And Grace gaf piers / of his goodnesse four bullockes

All that his oxen eried / they to harowe it after /

One hight Augustine / and Ambrose another

Gregory the great clerk / and Ierome the good

Thise foure the feith to teache / foloweth piers teame

And harowed in an handwhile / all holie scripture

With too harowes that they had / an old and a newe

Vetus testamentum et Nouum /

Grace also gaf greynes / the Cardinalles vertues

And sewe it in mannes soule / and told then their names

Spiritus prudencie / the first sede hight

And who-so eteth that / ymagyn he shuld

Ere he did any thing / devise well the ende

And lerned men a ladell to bye / with a long steall

That cast for to kepe a crocke / to saue the fat aboue

The second sede hight / Spiritus temperantie

He that ete of that sede / had such a kynde

Shuld neuer meat nor much drink / make him to swelle

Nor no skorner nor scolde / out of skille him bring

Nor wynnyng nor welth / of worldely richesse

Wast worde of ydelnesse / nor wicked speche moue

Shuld no curious clothe / come on his backe

Nor no meate in his mouthe / þat Maister Iohan spiced

The third sede that piers sewe / was Spiritus fortitudinis

And who-so ete of that sede / hardie was euer

To suffre all þat god sent / sikenes or Angres

Myght no leasinges nor lyer / nor losse of catell

Make him for any mournyng / but to be mery in soule

And bold and abiding / all troublesLX to suffre

Pleying ay with pacience / and Parce mihi domine

And couereth him vnder counseile / of Cato the wise

The fourth sede þat piers sewe / was Spiritus iusticie

And he that ete of that sede / shuld be euer true /

with god and not agast / but of gyle onelie

For gyle gothe so privilie / that good feith otherwhiles

Maynot / May not be espied / for Spiritus iusticie /

Spiritus Iusticie / Spareth not to spille

Them that are giltie / and forto / for to correct

The kyng if he fall / in gilt or in trespasse

for counteth he no kinges wrathe / when he in court sitteth

To deme as a domesman / aferd was he neuer

Neither of duke or death / that he ne did lawe

For presentes or prayers / or any princes letters

He doth equitie to all / euen for his poure

Thise foure sedes Piers sewe / and sith he did them harowe

With old and new lawe / that loue might waxe

Among the foure vertues / and vices destroy

For comonlie in countries / Cammokes and wedes

Fowleth the fruyt in the feeld / there they growe togethers

And so do vices / vertues worthy

Harrowe all þat haue wit quod pers / by counseile of graceT

And tille after his teaching / the cardinall vertues

Agaynst thy graynes quod Grace / begynne to ripe

Ordeyne the an houseT / to lay in thy corne

By god grace quod piers / you must gyue tymber

And ordeyne that house / ere ye hens wende

And grace gaf him the crosse / with þe croune of thorne

That Christ vpon Calvarie / for mankynd peyned

And of his Baptisme and blood / þat he bled on the rood

He made a morter / and mercie it hight

And therwith grace began / to make a foundacion

And strongly walled it / with his peynes and passion

And of all holy writ / he made a roof after

And callid þat house vnitie / holy church in englishe

And whan this dede was done / grace devised

A Cart hight xpcristendome / to cary piers corne

And gaf him caples to his cart / Contricion & confession

And made preesthood heyward / whill himself went

As wide as the world is / with piers to tille truthe

Nowe is piers to the plowgh / and pride it espied

And gathered him a great hoost / to hurt him sore

Conscience and all xpcristen / and all cardinall vertues

Blowe them doune and breake them / and bight atoo the mores

And sent forth Surquidous / his sergeant of Armes

And his spie spill loue / one speke euill behinde

These too cam to Conscience / and to xpcristen people

And tolde him tydinges / þat they shuld lose the sedes

That piers there had sowne / the cardinall vertues

And Piers berne was broke / and they that be in vnytie

Shall come out and Conscience / and your ij / two caples

Confession and Contricion / and your cart theybeleue / they beleue

Shalbe / Shall be coloured so queyntly / and couered vnder our Sophistrie

That Conscience shall not knowe / by Contricion

Nor by Confession / who is xpcristen orT hethen

Nor no manere marchaunt / þat with money deleth

Whether he wynne with right / with wrong or with vsurie

With such coloures and couetise / commeth pride armed

With the lorde that liveth / after þe lust of his body

To wast on welfare / and on wicked keping

All the world in a while / through our wit and pride

Quod Conscience to all xpcristen then / my conseile is to wende

Hastely into vnitie / and hold we vs there

And pray we that a peace were / in piers berne the plowman

For surely I wot well / we be not of strength

To go Against pride / but grace be with vs

And than cam kynd wytt / Conscience to teache

And cried and commanded / to all xpcristen people

For to delue and diche / depe about vnytie

That the church stode in vnytie / as it a pile were

Conscience commanded then / xpcristen to delue

And make a great moot / that might be a strength

To helpe holy church / and them that it kepe

Than all manere xpcristen / saue commone women

Repented and refused /T synne saue they onely

And false men flaterers / vsurers and theves

Lyers and questmongers / þat be forsworne ofte

Witingly and willfully / with the false that hold

And for siluer forsworne / sothely they knowing it

There was no xpcristen creature / þat kynd wit had

Saue shrewes only / such as I spake of

but he holpe somethingLX / holynesse to growe

Some through prayingT / and some through pilgrimage

And other privie peynes / and some through pens dealing

And then welled water / for wicked workes

Egrely rennyng / out of mennes eyen

C{y}lennesse of the commons / and clerkes clene lyving

Made vnytie holy church / in holynes to stond

I carenot / care not quod Conscience / though pryde come nowe

The Lorde of lust shalbe / shall be letted / all this lent I hope

Come quod Conscience / ye xpcristen and dyne

That haue labored truly / all this lent tyme

Here is bread blissed / and goddes body vnder

Grace through goddes worde / gaf piers powre

And might to make it / and men to eat yt after

In helpe of their helthe / ones in a moneth

Or as oft they haue nede / they that had paid

To piers pardon the plowman / Redde quod debes

WhowLX / quod all the commons / þou counseilest vs to yeld

All that we owe anyman / any man / ere we go to howsell

That is my counseile quod Conscience / and Cardinalls vertues

That eueryT man forgyue other / and þat will pater noster

And so to be assoiled / and then howselld

Yea baw quod a brewer / I wilnot / will not be ruled

By IhusIesus for all your iangling / of Spiritus iusticie

Nor after Conscience by Christ / whill I can selle

Bothe dregges and draff / and drawe it at one hoole

Thick ale and thyne ale / for þat is my kynde

And not hacke after holinesse / hold thy tong Conscience

Of Spiritus iusticie / thou spekest much in veyne

Caytif quod Conscience / cursed wreche also

Vnblessed art þou brewer / but if the god helpe

for onlesse thou lyve by lore / of Spiritus iusticie

The chief sede that piers sewe / saued shalt þou be neuer

But conscience the commons fede / & cardinalls vertues

Trust well they be lost / both lyfe and soule

Than is many a man lost / quod a lewd vicare

That am a curate of holy church / & cam neuer in my tyme

Any to me that coulde telle / of cardynalls vertues

Or þat acounted conscience / at a cockes fether or hennes

I knewe neuer Cardinall / But þat cam from the Pope

And fewe vertues be there / or elles nonT

We clerkes when they come / for their commons paye

For their furres and palfreyes mete / and pillours þat them folowe

The commons Clamat cotidie / euery man to other

The countrey is the curseder / þat cardinalls come in

And there they ly and byde / most lecherie regneth

Therfor quod this vicar / by veray god I wold

That no Cardinall come / Among the common people

But in ther holynesse / held them stille

At Auyon Among the Iewes / Cum sancto sanctus eris

Or in Rome as theyr rule is / þe reliques for to kepe

And thou Conscience in kinges court / & neuer to come thens

And grace that thou speakest so of / guyder of all clerkes

And piers with his new plowe / and eke with his old

Emperoure of all the world / þat all men were xpcristen

Inperfite is that pope / þat all the wolde / wo[r]lde shuld helpe

And send them that {f}sleith such / as he shuld saue

And well worth piers the plowman / þat pursueth god in doing

Qui pluit super iustos et iniustos at ones

And sent the sonne / to saue a cursed mannes tylth

As bright as to the best man / or to the best woman

Right so piers the plowman / peyneth him to tylle

As well for a wastour / and wenches of the stewes

As for himself and seruauntes / saue he is first serued

And travaileth and tilleth / for a traitour euen as sore

As for the true tidie man / all tymes alike

Worshipped be he þat wrought all / both good and euyll

And suffreth the synfull lyue / till sometyme þat they repent

And god Amende the pope / þat pilleth holie church

And claymeth before the king / to be keper of xpcristen

And passethLX not though xpcristen be / killed and robbed

And fynd folk to fight / and xpcristen folke to spille

Against both old and new lawe / as Luke witnesseth

It semeth that incase / in case / himself had his will

That he careth right nought / of all the remenaunt

And Christ of his curtesie / the Cardinalles saue

And turne their wit to wisdome / and to welth of soule

For the commons quod this Curate / counte full litell

The counseile of Conscience / or Cardinalles vertues

But if they perceyue / to haue some {v}wynnyng

Of gyle nor of lyeng / passe they not at all

For Spiritus prudentie / Among the people is gyle

And all the foule vices / as vertues they seme

Eche man soteleth a sleight / synne for to hyde

And coloureth it for a connyng / and a clene lyving

Then lough there a lorde / and by the light said

I hold it right and reason / of my Reue to take

All þat myn Auditor / orelles / or elles my Stiward

Counseileth me by their Acomptes / and my clerkes writing

With Spiritus intellectus / they seke the Reves rolles

And with Spiritus fortitudinis / fech it they will

And then cam there a king / and by his croune said

I am a king with croune / the commons to rule

And holy church and clergie / from cursed men to defend

And if me like to liue / by the lawe will I take itT /

There I may easeliest come by it / for I am head of the lawe

For you be But membres / and I aboue all

And sithe I am your head / I am your heale also

And holy churches chief helpe / and cheftayne of the commons

And what I take of you two / I take it of the teaching

Of Spiritus iusticie / for I iudge you all

So may I boldelie be howsled / for I borowe neuer

Nor craue of any commons / But as my kynde asketh

In condicion quod Conscience / þat þou can defende

And rule thy realme by reason / as right will and truthe

Take thou mightT in reason / as thy lawe askethe

Omnia tua sunt ad defendendum , sed non ad depredandum /

The vicar had fer home / and faire he toke his leue

And I waked therwith / and writ as I dremed