Half-Acre Bylaws: Harvest-Sharing in Piers Plowman

Abstract

This essay argues that Piers’ pardon is a harvest-sharing contract that combines Last Judgement theology with the regulatory language of the village bylaw. Looking first at the Athanasian Creed and the Gospel of Matthew, the essay examines the pardon in relation to late medieval perceptions of charity and salvation. The essay then considers the pardon alongside contemporary harvest bylaws and their regulation of gleaning and suggests that Piers can be seen as a local bylaw custodian who reinforces the agricultural basis of spiritual community on the half-acre. Although other late medieval authors – notably Chaucer and the author of the Northern Homily Cycle – treat devotion in agricultural terms, the essay contends that Langland is uniquely attentive to the distinctly collective nature of harvest as a way of exploring Christian spiritual community on the half-acre.