Dodd, Gwilym, 'A parliament full of rats? Piers Plowman and the Good Parliament of 1376', Historical Research 79 (2006), 21-49

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Quick Summary

Langland’s Middle English poem Piers Plowman criticizes members of parliament in the 1370s for their failure to represent the interests of the country

  • The ‘rat fable’ is an attack aimed at members of parliament in the 1370s
  • The poem captures the mood of political despondency that led to the Peasants’ Revolt in 1381
  • Both Piers Plowman and the rebels in 1381 looked authoritive kingship to save the kingdom
Key Conclusion

Dodd reconsiders the relationship between the Middle English poem Piers Plowman and the Good Parliament of 1376. The article concludes that the ‘rat fable’, which forms part of the Piers Plowman poem, represents an attack against the individuals who attended parliament in the 1370s and who failed to ‘represent adequately the interests of the community of the realm’ (p. 48).

Content Overview

The huge significance of the poem Piers Plowman and the Good Parliament of 1376 have been widely recognized within the literary and historical disciplines. Yet, despite the fact that the Good Parliament sat only a few years before Langland wrote the second version of his Piers Plowman poem, Dodd notes that the the link between the poem and the parliament has never been recognized. The article argues that Piers Plowman is so useful as a historical text because it provides insight into the ‘mood of political despondency’ which gripped England following the Good Parliament and ‘set the conditions for rebellion in 1381’ (p. 48).

Further Findings

As a final consideration, Dodd reflects that while both Langland’s Piers Plowman and the rebels during the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 offered criticism of the status quo, both looked to ‘authoritative kingship’ to save the kingdom. However, during the 1370s and 1380s the king was either too old (Edward III) or too young (Richard II) to offer strong political leadership. Therefore, disillusionment with politics was ‘fundamentally a product of acute anxiety caused by the vacuum of power at the very apex of the political hierarchy’ (p. 49).

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