{ "viewingDirection": "left-to-right", "metadata": [ { "label": "Binding", "value": "

Late seventeenth-century binding of blind-tooled leather. The manuscript was rebacked by Douglas Cockerell and Son of Letchworth in July 1962, as noted on the first flyleaf<\/a>. The title \"The Prophecies of Piers Plowman\" and shelfmark from the previous binding have been pasted inside the back cover<\/a>.<\/p>" }, { "label": "Condition", "value": "Quite severely cropped in places, with text lost on folio 1r<\/a>, for example, or on folio 25v<\/a>. Red staining, from the rubric ink, on folio 17v<\/a>. Otherwise, generally very good condition." }, { "label": "Script", "value": "

All the texts are written in sixteenth-century Secretary hand<\/i> by the same scribe. The rubricated sections are written by the same hand but in a different, more careful script.<\/p><\/div><\/div>" }, { "label": "Provenance", "value": "Possibly owned and annotated at the time of its creation by someone who signs themselves W.H. In 1656, the manuscript was given by Robert Morgan (1608-1673), later bishop of Bangor and alumnus of Jesus College, to Cambridge University Library." }, { "label": "Physical Location", "value": "Cambridge University Library" }, { "label": "Extent", "value": "ii + 106 + ii Leaf height: 250 mm, width: 174 mm. Written height: 238 mm, width: 140 mm." }, { "label": "Funding", "value": "" }, { "label": "Abstract", "value": "

A sixteenth-century copy of the Vision of Piers Plowman<\/i>, one of the most famous medieval texts in English, by the otherwise largely unknown figure, William Langland. Written in the late fourteenth century, this allegorical dream vision poem offers both a quest of personal purification, and a critique of lax morals at all levels of Langland's society. It details the encounters of a pilgrim, Will, with various allegorical figures representing the soul's journey to salvation and the perils along the way; this varied and colourful cast of characters includes the mysterious Piers the plowman, who has a strong connection to Christ.<\/p>

The poem survives in more than 50 manuscripts in three distinct versions, labelled A, B and C. CUL MS Gg.4.31 is a copy of the most widely accepted and edited version, the B text. Its significance primarily lies in the evidence it offers of continued interest in and engagement with the text in the sixteenth century, possibly due to its critique of the immorality of lax clergy. Gg.4.31 is unique in containing a table of contents after the main text, on folio 101v<\/a> onwards, which may represent an otherwise unattested personal engagement with the Piers Plowman text on the part of the original scribe, or annotator who signs him/herself W. H. There is also a short devotional poem at the end of the manuscript.<\/p>" }, { "label": "Date of Creation", "value": "Sixteenth century C.E." }, { "label": "Title", "value": "Vision of Piers Plowman" }, { "label": "Author(s) of the Record", "value": "Arthur Westwell" }, { "label": "Material", "value": "Paper. According to Jefferson (2011), the paper of the main text has a watermark of a \"waterwheel with teeth + three oak leaves, cf. Briquet 13396 (1514), Heawood 4025 (1579), Heawood 4024 (undated).\" The last is the closest to the watermark in Gg.4.31 and, according to Michael Beazeley, can be dated to 1544." }, { "label": "Collation", "value": "

The MS consists of 9 quires as follows: