Piers Plowman and The Roman de Fauvel

Abstract

That French literature exerted some influence upon the author of Piers Plowman has been recognized since the time of Thomas Warton, who, in his History of English Poetry, pointed out the similarity between Langland's vision of Antichrist and Huon de Méri's Tournoiement de l'Antéchrist. This influence had not been examined with any particularity, however, until Miss Dorothy Owen, of the University of London, made an illuminating study of Piers Plowman in comparison with some earlier and some contemporary French allegories. The French pieces used for this comparison are Le Roman de Carité by the Reclus de Moilliens; Le Songe d'Enfer by Raoul de Houdenc; Le Roman de la Rose; Huon de Méri's Tournoiement de l'Antéchrist; Rutebeuf's Voie de Paradis; Guillaume de Deguileville's Pèlerinage de la Vie Humaine; Le Salut d'Enfer, and De Dame Guile. Miss Owen has shown certain correspondences between the English poem and the French allegories studied, but in no case, I believe, has she been able to establish a definite connection. Students of Piers Plowman know, however, that it is very difficult to trace any of Langland's allegories to certain sources. It is doubtful whether the source of any passage of considerable length in Piers Plowman has ever been convincingly identified.