Lay Piety and Religious Discipline in Middle English Literature

An examination of spiritual discipline, religious identity, and orthodoxy in Langland and Chaucer.

In late-fourteenth-century England, the persistent question of how to live the best life preoccupied many pious Christians. One answer was provided by a new genre of prose guides that adapted professional religious rules and routines for lay audiences. These texts engaged with many of the same cultural questions as poets like Langland and Chaucer; however, they have not received the critical attention they deserve until now. Nicole Rice analyses how the idea of religious discipline was translated into varied literary forms in an atmosphere of religious change and controversy. By considering the themes of spiritual discipline, religious identity, and orthodoxy in Langland and Chaucer, the study also brings fresh perspectives to bear on Piers Plowman and The Canterbury Tales. This juxtaposition of spiritual guidance and poetry will form an important contribution to our understanding of both authors and of late medieval religious practice and thought.

Introduction; 1. Translations of the cloister: regulating spiritual aspiration; 2. Dialogic form and clerical understanding; 3. Lordship, pastoral care, and the Order of Charity; 4. Clerical widows and the reform of preaching; Conclusion: spiritual guides in fifteenth-century books: cultural change and continuity; Bibliography.

In this 2009 book Nicole Rice analyses late medieval prose guides that disseminated the idea of religious discipline to a lay audience. By considering the themes of spiritual discipline, religious identity, and orthodoxy in Langland and Chaucer, the study also sheds new light on Piers Plowman and The Canterbury Tales.