Written by a fourteenth-century cleric, this spiritual allegory explores man in relation to his ultimate destiny against the background of teeming, colorful medieval life.
Born in about 1332 in Shropshire, the son of a small Oxfordshire landholder, William Langland trained to be a priest but due to the death of his patrons he only took Minor Orders and was unable to advance in the Church. He wandered a good deal in England and lived an unconventional life, constantly writing verse. He died at the end of the century.
