Writer: John Gower, c 1330-1408

Books were a highly prized luxury item in Medieval times, due to the amount of work that went into writing, printing, illuminating and binding them.  Medieval libraries included poetry, ballads and stories, histories, religious works, many of them written in French and Latin.  Reading books was a privilege of the upper classes.  Becoming a published author was also expensive and available only to the select few.  One had to have education and connections to secure the patronage of a royal or noble person whose support was necessary to allow time to compose and write, and to print and circulate the work after it was done.

John Gower was one of a group of poets and writers called the Ricardian Poets, since most of them flourished during the reign of Richard II, 1377-1400.  The leading light of this group was Geoffrey Chaucer, who enjoyed the patronage of both Richard II and John of Gaunt as well as Henry IV and whose most famous work was the Canterbury Tales.  Another poet, known probably only to scholars and English literature majors, was John Gower.  Gower was born most likely in Kent or Suffolk.  Little is known of his early life except that his family was well-to-do enough to provide him an education where he could learn Latin and French and have access to the classic works he quoted in his own writing.  At some point, Gower may have become a lawyer in London.  He became acquainted with Geoffrey Chaucer, as well as fellow poet William Langland.   In 1385, he happened to meet Richard II while the King was sailing on his barge on the Thames River.  Richard was impressed enough that he commissioned Gower to write a work that later became a poetic Christian treatise, Confessio Amantis.  Since London lawyers weren't typically invited onto the King's barge and just randomly given commissions, most likely there was some know-who and backstory to this meeting which is lost to us now.  Was Chaucer involved?  We'll never know, although the two men were close, Chaucer naming Gower as an executor of his will. 

Gower is known for a range of works, mostly utilizing allegory and complicated rhyming schemes, as well as writing in French and Latin with heavy quotations from the classics.  It would be dull and boring today but was just the stuff well-heeled audiences of the time favored.  On of his works, Vox Clamantis, was an allegorical commentary on the Peasants' Revolt of 1381, which was one of the highlights of Richard II's reign.  Confessio Amantis and Mirror of Man were both contemplative Christian treatises in verse.  Later, when Richard II was overthrown, Gower achieved the patronage of Henry IV and wrote works for him, including In Praise of Peace, which extolls Henry IV as the savior of England.  Gower also wrote ballads and other propaganda pieces for Henry. 

Patronage could bring many fringe benefits, including personal wealth.  Gower died in 1408 and was buried in a elaborate tomb in Southwark Cathedral.  He obviously died a wealthy man, most likely from royal patronage.  Writers weren't paid royalties as they are today.

Literature: The Ricardian Poets

Richard II, who reigned 1377-1399, had the misfortune of being sandwiched between two of the more spectacular Plantagenet kings, his grandfather Edward III and his cousin, Henry of Bolingbroke, later Henry IV.  Like his great-grandfather Edward II, Richard's reign was one distance after another, plague, revolt, political unrest and the like.  However, to his credit, Richard appreciated literature and several of his courtiers or court officials were unusually blessed with ability as poets.  Masterpieces such as The Canterbury Tales, Gawaine and the Green Knight, and Piers Plowman give the lie to the Middle Ages as being all dark and dreary musings on religion and death.  The four towering Ricardian Poets are:

Geoffrey Chaucer (c 1343-1400), was born in London to a wealthy mercantile family.  His father's connections eventually enabled Geoffrey to become a page in the home of a wealthy noblewoman, and he eventually worked his way into the royal service, functioning in various administrative as well as diplomatic capacities.  Geoffrey was a Renaissance man before there was such a notion in England.  In addition to his work as an author, he was also a noted astronomer, philosopher and astronomer.  In addition to The Canterbury Tales, he wrote The Book of the Duchess, The House of Fame, The Legend of Good Women, and Troilus and Criseyde, as well as a textbook on astronomy for his own young son.  He was the first poet to be buried in Westminster Abbey.

John Gower (C 1330-1408) was born into a landed family, had access to and the leisure time to read books such as the Bible Ovid, John of Salisbury and Roman classics.  He once met Richard II and was invited to spend some time aboard the royal barge.  Then, as now, one doesn't just run into royalty and then spend time with them, which suggests some connections.  In his early life, John was loyal to Richard, though he later switched loyalty to and dedicated works to Henry of Bolingbroke, who became Henry IV.  He was most likely a lawyer or had some dealings in real estate.  Later in life, Henry IV gave him a pension.  Gower is mostly noted for three poems that are in Latin, French and English, again suggesting a person of some learning.  The Mirror of Man, Vox Clamantis and Confessio Amantis are three of his works that have survived today.  He is buried in Southwark Cathedral.

William Langland (c 1332- c 1386) is the author of one known work, Piers Plowman.  A manuscript held at Trinity College, Dublin ascribes the work to William of Langland, son of Stacy of Rockayle, who died in Shipton-under-Wychwood, a tenant of the Lord Spencer in the county of Oxfordshire.  Unlike Chaucer, who left his tracks in official records, little is known of Langland's life.  The dialect of his poem suggests that he grew up and lived in the Midlands.  A note in another manuscript stated that Langland died soon after writing his magnum opus. 

The Pearl Poet or the Gawain Poet, who is called after two of his most famous works because no one knows his/her name or anything else about him/her.  The works are Sir Gawaine and the Green Knight, Patience, Cleanness, and maybe, St. Erkenwalde.  The language and subject matter of the Poet's works suggests he/she comes from this time period, and was from a wealthy or leisured background.  Sources have debated over his/her identity, proposing John Dunne, John Prat, a member of the wealthy Massey family or someone else, possibly even a female.  Sadly, we will never know for sure.