1. Background  People in the fourteen-century had difficulty to live accord with Christian principle  Society's failure is attributable in part to the corruption of the church and ecclesiastics  The failure of the wealthy laity--untaught by the church to practice charity--to alleviate the sufferings of the poor.

2. William Langland  The sole author of a long religious allegory in alliterative verse

3. William Langland  A native of the Malvern hill  Lack of preferment, never became a priest  Those “ hermits ” in the prologue are his life ’ s epitome

4. William Langland  In “ Piers Plowman ” Langland uses the form of a dream vision  The theme includes the the history of Christianity and heart of an individual fourteen century Christian