The king's power was thus endangered; a proud and encroaching spirit was fostered, and the clergy became dissolute in their lives.

In the words of Piers Plowman: I found these freres, | For profit of hem selve; All the four orders, | Closed the gospel, Preaching the people | As hem good liked.
And again: Ac now is Religion | And a loud buyer, A rider, a roamer about, | A pricker on a palfrey, A leader of love days | From manor to manor.
PIERS PLOWMAN'S CREED .-- The name of Piers Plowman and the conceit of his Vision became at once very popular.

He stood as a representative of the peasant class rising in importance and in assertion of religious rights.
An unknown follower of Wiclif wrote a poem called "Piers Plowman's Creed," which conveys religious truth in a formula of belief.

The language and the alliterative feature are similar to those of the Vision; and the invective is against the clergy, and especially against the monks and friars.
FROISSART .-- Sire Jean Froissart was born about 1337.

He is placed here for the observance of chronological order: he was not an English writer, but must receive special mention because his "Chronicles," although written in French, treat of the English wars in France, and present splendid pictures of English chivalry and heroism.