Piers Plowman is one of the most significant middle English poems. It was written in the years following the Black Death and is important for its demonstration of Roman Catholic beliefs in England in the fourteenth century. The poem is believed to have been written by William Langland, a monk, probably from the West Midlands, and describes a series of allegorical visions made in the Malvern Hills on the Worcestershire-Herefordshire border. Langland used the poem to critique religious life in England and the character of Piers Plowman demonstrated to the reader that they alone were responsible for their own salvation by living a good life.
This edition was edited by the antiquary Thomas Dunham Whitaker and published in 1813..