Wynnere and Wastoure
Encyclopedia
Wynnere and Wastoure is a fragmentary Middle English
poem written in alliterative verse
sometime around the middle of the 14th century.
Additional MS. 31042. This manuscript was compiled in the mid-15th century by Robert Thornton
, a member of the provincial landed gentry
of Yorkshire
, who seems to have made a collection of instructional, religious and other texts for the use of his family. It is not known where Thornton found the text of Wynnere and Wastoure, which has not survived in any other sources, but the dialect of the poem indicates that it most likely written by someone originating from the north Midlands.
The poem can be dated with some confidence due to its prominent reference to William Shareshull, Chief Justice of the King's Bench, who left the post in 1361 and died in 1370. It also appears to make reference to the Treason Act 1351
and the Statute of Labourers 1351; it is therefore generally thought to have been written sometime in the 1350s.
(Rough translation: "But I shall tell you a tale that once happened to me / As I went in the west, wandering on my own / By a bank of a stream; bright was the sun / Under a beautiful wood by a pleasant meadow: / Many flowers unfolded where my foot stepped. / I laid my head on a bank beside a hawthorn
/ The thrush
es vigorously competed in song / Woodpeckers hopped between the hazel
s / Barnacles
struck their bills on bark, / The jay
jangled on high, the birds chirped.")
Wynnere and Wastoure is the earliest datable poem of the so-called "Alliterative Revival
", when the alliterative style re-emerged in Middle English. The sophistication and confidence of the poet's style, however, seems to indicate that poetry in the alliterative "long line" was already well established in Middle English by the time Wynnere and Wastoure was written.
's Historia Regum Britanniae
, of the founding of Britain by Brutus, the great-grandson of Aeneas
. The poet then goes on to speak of the marvels and disorder currently seen in the land, commenting that Doomsday must surely be approaching (4-16).
Wandering by himself, the poet lies down by a hawthorn tree and has a dream vision, a "sweven" (46), in which he sees two opposing armies, and a gold and red pavilion raised on top of a hill (rather in the manner of a tournament
). Inside the pavilion is a richly-dressed, brown-bearded king, who has been firmly identified as Edward III of England
. One army is led by Wynnere, a figure representing monetary gain and financial prudence; the other by Wastoure, a figure representing prodigality and excess. The king, after sending his herald to intervene between the two armies (105), agrees to listen to Wynnere and Wastoure's complaints against each other and to give his judgement on them.
There follows a lengthy debate between Wynnere and Wastoure, each giving complex arguments against the other and about the effects on society of the principles they represent. At the end, the King gives his judgement, though the poem breaks off, at line 503, before this has been completed. He appears to endorse elements of both Wynnere's sparing and Wastoure's spending, though ultimately the poem seems to condemn both viewpoints as unbalanced, selfish, and leading to inequality and social abuses. It seems likely that the poem forms a sophisticated comment on the pressures facing the king and on the principles of good governance, with additional satire directed against the rising merchant class in the person of Wynnere. Though his subject is the feudal economy, the poet's themes are essentially moralistic.
The poem is clearly within both the strong mediaeval tradition of the poetic debate
, in which two opposing positions are argued, and within the tradition of the "dream vision
", in which the narrator falls asleep and witnesses an event often with an allegorical character (such as in several of Geoffrey Chaucer
's poems, or in Piers Plowman
). It also has something in common with the genre of the chanson d'aventure
, in which the solitary, wandering poet overhears a complaint or debate. Wynnere and Wastoure also has some form of relationship to the Piers Plowman tradition
. Some critics, such as John Burrow, have argued that Langland
was probably influenced by Wynnere and Wastoure, but that he perhaps deliberately diluted its style to make it more accessible to southern readers.
The writer of Wynnere and Wastoure was clearly a very sophisticated poet, confident in both the alliterative verse-form and in handling complex satire. However, we know nothing about the author's identity other than what can be deduced from the poem's language. Modern opinion identifies the dialect, and therefore the author, as originating from the north-west Midlands, possibly as far north as southern Lancashire
(the poem may make reference to a rebellion that occurred in Chester
, so a north-western provenance is likely). The presence of some East Midland forms - those of the contemporary dialect of London
- has led to the suggestion that the poet may have been part of the household of a lord whose seat was in the north-west, but who had connections with London and the court. The academic Thorlac Turville-Petre has proposed that the king's herald in the poem can be identified as Sir John Wingfield
, steward of the Black Prince's lands around Chester in 1351. In this interpretation, the poet could have travelled with Wingfield and Chief Justice Shareshull to Chester for a judicial enquiry, or eyre
, recorded in 1353; the poem would have been a suitable entertainment for the banquet held by the Prince at Chester Castle
for local administrators.
The author laments at the start of Wynnere and Wastoure that poetic standards and appreciation have degenerated alongside society; where once lords gave a place to skilled "makers of myrthes" (21), the serious poets have been supplanted by beardless youths who "japes telle" (26), having "neuer wroghte thurgh witt three wordes togidere" (25). This complaint could indicate a certain conservatism on the poet's part, though it could also be merely conventional, as similar passages are quite common.
It has been argued (following the poem's first editor, Israel Gollancz
) that the similar alliterative work The Parlement of the Thre Ages, which shares the same dialect and which Thornton also copied into BL Add. MS. 31042, is by the same author, although there is no conclusive evidence.
Middle English
Middle English is the stage in the history of the English language during the High and Late Middle Ages, or roughly during the four centuries between the late 11th and the late 15th century....
poem written in alliterative verse
Alliterative verse
In prosody, alliterative verse is a form of verse that uses alliteration as the principal structuring device to unify lines of poetry, as opposed to other devices such as rhyme. The most commonly studied traditions of alliterative verse are those found in the oldest literature of many Germanic...
sometime around the middle of the 14th century.
Manuscript
The poem occurs in a single manuscript, British LibraryBritish Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...
Additional MS. 31042. This manuscript was compiled in the mid-15th century by Robert Thornton
Robert Thornton (scribe)
Robert Thornton was a Yorkshire landowner, a member of the landed gentry. His efforts as an amateur scribe and manuscript compiler resulted in the preservation of many valuable works of Middle English literature, and have given him an important place in its history.-Biography:Thornton's name is...
, a member of the provincial landed gentry
Landed gentry
Landed gentry is a traditional British social class, consisting of land owners who could live entirely off rental income. Often they worked only in an administrative capacity looking after the management of their own lands....
of Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
, who seems to have made a collection of instructional, religious and other texts for the use of his family. It is not known where Thornton found the text of Wynnere and Wastoure, which has not survived in any other sources, but the dialect of the poem indicates that it most likely written by someone originating from the north Midlands.
The poem can be dated with some confidence due to its prominent reference to William Shareshull, Chief Justice of the King's Bench, who left the post in 1361 and died in 1370. It also appears to make reference to the Treason Act 1351
Treason Act 1351
The Treason Act 1351 is an Act of the Parliament of England which codified and curtailed the common law offence of treason. No new offences were created by the statute. It is one of the earliest English statutes still in force, although it has been very significantly amended. It was extended to...
and the Statute of Labourers 1351; it is therefore generally thought to have been written sometime in the 1350s.
Poetic form
Wynnere and Wastoure is written in a four-stress unrhymed alliterative line, usually thought to be a late development, or perhaps revival, of the alliterative line used in Old English poetry.- Bot I schall tell yow a tale that me bytyde ones
- Als I went in the weste, wandrynge myn one,
- Bi a bonke of a bourne; bryghte was the sone
- Undir a worthiliche wodde by a wale medewe:
- Fele floures gan folde ther my fote steppede.
- I layde myn hede one ane hill ane hawthorne besyde;
- The throstills full throly they threpen togedire,
- Hipped up heghwalles fro heselis tyll othire,
- Bernacles with thayre billes one barkes thay roungen,
- The jay janglede one heghe, jarmede the foles. (31-40)
(Rough translation: "But I shall tell you a tale that once happened to me / As I went in the west, wandering on my own / By a bank of a stream; bright was the sun / Under a beautiful wood by a pleasant meadow: / Many flowers unfolded where my foot stepped. / I laid my head on a bank beside a hawthorn
Common Hawthorn
Crataegus monogyna, known as common hawthorn or single-seeded hawthorn, is a species of hawthorn native to Europe, northwest Africa and western Asia. It has been introduced in many other parts of the world where it is an invasive weed...
/ The thrush
Song Thrush
The Song Thrush is a thrush that breeds across much of Eurasia. It is also known in English dialects as throstle or mavis. It has brown upperparts and black-spotted cream or buff underparts and has three recognised subspecies...
es vigorously competed in song / Woodpeckers hopped between the hazel
Hazel
The hazels are a genus of deciduous trees and large shrubs native to the temperate northern hemisphere. The genus is usually placed in the birch family Betulaceae, though some botanists split the hazels into a separate family Corylaceae.They have simple, rounded leaves with double-serrate margins...
s / Barnacles
Barnacle Goose
The Barnacle Goose belongs to the genus Branta of black geese, which contains species with largely black plumage, distinguishing them from the grey Anser species...
struck their bills on bark, / The jay
Eurasian Jay
The Eurasian Jay is a species of bird occurring over a vast region from Western Europe and north-west Africa to the Indian Subcontinent and further to the eastern seaboard of Asia and down into south-east Asia...
jangled on high, the birds chirped.")
Wynnere and Wastoure is the earliest datable poem of the so-called "Alliterative Revival
Alliterative Revival
The Alliterative Revival is a term adopted by academics to refer to the resurgence of poetry using the alliterative verse form - the traditional versification of Old English poetry - in Middle English during the period c. 1350 - c. 1500...
", when the alliterative style re-emerged in Middle English. The sophistication and confidence of the poet's style, however, seems to indicate that poetry in the alliterative "long line" was already well established in Middle English by the time Wynnere and Wastoure was written.
Theme
The poem begins with a brief reference to the legend, derived from Geoffrey of MonmouthGeoffrey of Monmouth
Geoffrey of Monmouth was a cleric and one of the major figures in the development of British historiography and the popularity of tales of King Arthur...
's Historia Regum Britanniae
Historia Regum Britanniae
The Historia Regum Britanniae is a pseudohistorical account of British history, written c. 1136 by Geoffrey of Monmouth. It chronicles the lives of the kings of the Britons in a chronological narrative spanning a time of two thousand years, beginning with the Trojans founding the British nation...
, of the founding of Britain by Brutus, the great-grandson of Aeneas
Aeneas
Aeneas , in Greco-Roman mythology, was a Trojan hero, the son of the prince Anchises and the goddess Aphrodite. His father was the second cousin of King Priam of Troy, making Aeneas Priam's second cousin, once removed. The journey of Aeneas from Troy , which led to the founding a hamlet south of...
. The poet then goes on to speak of the marvels and disorder currently seen in the land, commenting that Doomsday must surely be approaching (4-16).
Tournament (medieval)
A tournament, or tourney is the name popularly given to chivalrous competitions or mock fights of the Middle Ages and Renaissance . It is one of various types of hastiludes....
). Inside the pavilion is a richly-dressed, brown-bearded king, who has been firmly identified as Edward III of England
Edward III of England
Edward III was King of England from 1327 until his death and is noted for his military success. Restoring royal authority after the disastrous reign of his father, Edward II, Edward III went on to transform the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe...
. One army is led by Wynnere, a figure representing monetary gain and financial prudence; the other by Wastoure, a figure representing prodigality and excess. The king, after sending his herald to intervene between the two armies (105), agrees to listen to Wynnere and Wastoure's complaints against each other and to give his judgement on them.
There follows a lengthy debate between Wynnere and Wastoure, each giving complex arguments against the other and about the effects on society of the principles they represent. At the end, the King gives his judgement, though the poem breaks off, at line 503, before this has been completed. He appears to endorse elements of both Wynnere's sparing and Wastoure's spending, though ultimately the poem seems to condemn both viewpoints as unbalanced, selfish, and leading to inequality and social abuses. It seems likely that the poem forms a sophisticated comment on the pressures facing the king and on the principles of good governance, with additional satire directed against the rising merchant class in the person of Wynnere. Though his subject is the feudal economy, the poet's themes are essentially moralistic.
The poem is clearly within both the strong mediaeval tradition of the poetic debate
Medieval debate poetry
Medieval debate poetry refers to a genre of poems popular in England and France during the late medieval period . Essentially, a debate poem depicts a dialogue between two natural opposites...
, in which two opposing positions are argued, and within the tradition of the "dream vision
Dream vision
A dream vision is a literary device in which a dream is recounted for a specific purpose. While dreams occur frequently throughout the history of literature, the dream vision emerged as a poetic genre in its own right, and was particularly popular in the Middle Ages. This genre typically follows a...
", in which the narrator falls asleep and witnesses an event often with an allegorical character (such as in several of Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer , known as the Father of English literature, is widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages and was the first poet to have been buried in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey...
's poems, or in Piers Plowman
Piers Plowman
Piers Plowman or Visio Willelmi de Petro Plowman is the title of a Middle English allegorical narrative poem by William Langland. It is written in unrhymed alliterative verse divided into sections called "passus"...
). It also has something in common with the genre of the chanson d'aventure
Chanson d'aventure
The chanson d'aventure is a genre of medieval poetry originating in France, but which had a substantial influence on poetry in Middle English.-Structure:...
, in which the solitary, wandering poet overhears a complaint or debate. Wynnere and Wastoure also has some form of relationship to the Piers Plowman tradition
Piers Plowman tradition
The Piers Plowman tradition is made up of about 14 different poetic and prose works from about the time of John Ball and the Peasants Revolt of 1381 through the reign of Elizabeth I and beyond. All the works feature one or more characters, typically Piers, from William Langland's poem Piers Plowman...
. Some critics, such as John Burrow, have argued that Langland
William Langland
William Langland is the conjectured author of the 14th-century English dream-vision Piers Plowman.- Life :The attribution of Piers to Langland rests principally on the evidence of a manuscript held at Trinity College, Dublin...
was probably influenced by Wynnere and Wastoure, but that he perhaps deliberately diluted its style to make it more accessible to southern readers.
The poet
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
(the poem may make reference to a rebellion that occurred in Chester
Chester
Chester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...
, so a north-western provenance is likely). The presence of some East Midland forms - those of the contemporary dialect of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
- has led to the suggestion that the poet may have been part of the household of a lord whose seat was in the north-west, but who had connections with London and the court. The academic Thorlac Turville-Petre has proposed that the king's herald in the poem can be identified as Sir John Wingfield
John de Wingfield
Sir John de Wingfield was chief administrator to Edward the Black Prince. He and both his brothers fought at Crecy in 1346. He fought in the Normandy campaign from 1347-48. He was appointed 'governor of the prince's business' to Edward the Black Prince round about 1351...
, steward of the Black Prince's lands around Chester in 1351. In this interpretation, the poet could have travelled with Wingfield and Chief Justice Shareshull to Chester for a judicial enquiry, or eyre
Eyre (legal term)
An Eyre or Iter was the name of a circuit traveled by an itinerant justice in medieval England, or the circuit court he presided over , or the right of the king to visit and inspect the holdings of any vassal...
, recorded in 1353; the poem would have been a suitable entertainment for the banquet held by the Prince at Chester Castle
Chester Castle
Chester Castle is in the city of Chester, Cheshire, England. It is sited at the southwest extremity of the area bounded by the city walls . The castle stands on an eminence overlooking the River Dee. In the castle complex are the remaining parts of the medieval castle together with the...
for local administrators.
The author laments at the start of Wynnere and Wastoure that poetic standards and appreciation have degenerated alongside society; where once lords gave a place to skilled "makers of myrthes" (21), the serious poets have been supplanted by beardless youths who "japes telle" (26), having "neuer wroghte thurgh witt three wordes togidere" (25). This complaint could indicate a certain conservatism on the poet's part, though it could also be merely conventional, as similar passages are quite common.
It has been argued (following the poem's first editor, Israel Gollancz
Israel Gollancz
Sir Israel Gollancz was a scholar of early English literature and of Shakespeare. He was Professor of English Language and Literature at King's College, London, from 1903 to 1930....
) that the similar alliterative work The Parlement of the Thre Ages, which shares the same dialect and which Thornton also copied into BL Add. MS. 31042, is by the same author, although there is no conclusive evidence.
Further reading
- Annotated online text, Medieval Institute Publications