The complete works of John Gower, volume 4

In Short

This volume presents the Latin works of the fourteenth-century poet John Gower, edited by G. C. Macaulay. The collection is anchored by the Vox Clamantis, an extensive elegiac poem sparked by the trauma of the 1831 Peasants' Revolt, and the Cronica Tripertita, a bitter political narrative chronicling the misrule and eventual deposition of King Richard II. Gower surveys every stratum of his society—from the corruption of the clergy and the greed of lawyers to the laziness of agricultural laborers—and weighs them against an uncompromising Christian moral standard. The volume survives as a monument to medieval political anxiety, preserving a deeply personal, terrifyingly immediate record of an era consumed by civil unrest and systemic institutional failure.

The Story

The arc of the volume is defined by John Gower’s evolving disillusionment with the governance of England, moving from early hope to apocalyptic horror, and finally to a grim relief at the accession of a new dynasty.

The narrative sweep begins with the trauma of the Peasants' Revolt. The poet frames this violent uprising not merely as a localized political crisis, but as a nightmarish, cosmic inversion of the natural order. In vivid allegorical visions, common laborers transform into wild, unbridled beasts—pigs, dogs, and wolves—that trample the nobility and turn fields of grain into choked patches of weeds and thorns. Seeking refuge from the chaos, the speaker flees aboard a ship tossed upon a dark, tempestuous sea, framing his personal terror as an ordeal of biblical proportions.

From this scene of earthly madness, the text broadens into a sweeping indictment of the entire social hierarchy, evaluating each estate by its fidelity to its God-given duties. Gower turns his gaze first upon the church, uncovering systemic decay at every level. Bishops and high prelates abandon their spiritual callings to chase secular wealth, territorial holdings, and worldly honors. Instead of tending their flocks with humility, they wage legal and military battles to protect their material possessions. Lower down the hierarchy, parish priests and scholars grow ignorant, slothful, and corrupt, while mendicant friars manipulate popes and laypeople alike, using spiritual offices to line their own pockets with gold.

The legal system offers no remedy for this decay. Sheriffs, bailiffs, and jurors are routinely bribed by the wealthy, leaving the poor without justice or defense. Lawyers act like wolves, stripping the poor of their land and livelihoods while turning the sacred courtrooms into marketplaces where justice is bought and sold like ordinary merchandise. Meanwhile, the agricultural laborers, having survived the revolt, demand higher wages, display an unyielding arrogance, and shirk the hard physical labor ordained by God since the fall of Adam.

The political trajectory reaches its climax in Gower’s portrait of King Richard II. Initially, the poet looks upon the youthful monarch with optimism, offering gentle, affectionate counsel on how to govern with mercy, justice, and personal restraint. But as the king matures, he succumbs to toxic advisors and yields to tyranny, betrayal, and lawlessness. He turns against his own nobility, sending loyal lords into exile or executing them under the guise of false reconciliations.

The final sections record the inevitable ruin brought on by such misrule. Deprived of moral legitimacy and divine grace, Richard’s royal authority collapses entirely. Duke Henry of Lancaster arrives as a predestined savior, sweeping away the fallen regime and accepting the crown. Gower concludes his grand chronicle by reflecting on the dead king’s tragic end, offering a solemn warning to future rulers: a monarch who governs through vice and pride will inevitably be stripped of his power, reduced to a disgraced footnote in history.

How It Unfolds

The terror of the mob The poem opens with a nightmare of class rebellion, where ordinary peasants lose their human reason and morph into aggressive beasts. The leader, a jay named Wat, drives the maddened crowd to tear down the traditional structures of authority and nobility.

Seeking safety in the storm Fleeing the burning countryside and urban violence, the poet boards a vessel that is immediately tossed by violent winds and dark waters. The terrifying sea journey serves as a metaphor for the fragile state of those who attempt to shelter in the Tower of London while the kingdom burns outside.

The corruption of the altar Gower systematically examines the priesthood, lamenting that those meant to be the light of the world have chosen darkness. Bishops pursue lands, castles, and legal disputes rather than the path of Christ, while young scholars seek holy orders merely to escape hard labor and indulge in luxury.

Justice sold in the market The focus shifts to the courtrooms, where sheriffs, bailiffs, and jurors are bought with gold to suppress the righteous claims of the poor. The law, which ought to be an instrument of divine equity, becomes a predatory trade where the rich purchase impunity and the innocent are left destitute.

The tragic decay of the crown The narrative follows the downfall of King Richard II, who transforms from a promising youth into a tyrannical ruler. He breaks solemn oaths, executes his truest advisors, and drives the nation into political ruin, ignoring all warnings until his reign shatters completely.

The fall and the new dawn Richard’s tyranny meets its end with the arrival of Henry of Lancaster, who deposes the fallen monarch and restores order to the realm. The volume closes with a stark moral reminder that worldly glory is fleeting and that bad kings are inevitably destroyed by their own misdeeds.

The People

• The Poet / Speaker

A deeply religious, conservative observer who views the social upheavals of his era with acute terror and moral despair. He desires a world governed by order, piety, and traditional feudal duties, and he sees it as his sacred obligation to rebuke bad rulers, corrupt priests, and rebellious peasants alike.

• Watte (Wat Tyler)

The symbolic leader of the Peasants' Revolt, depicted not as a human reformer but as an arrogant, noisy jay (Graculus). He commands the mob, inciting the lower classes to abandon their proper station and plunge the realm into anarchy.

• The Corrupt Prelate

A composite figure representing the high clergy who have abandoned their spiritual stewardship in pursuit of worldly wealth. Desiring earthly honors rather than heavenly grace, he wages wars, hoards property, and leaves the lay population to wander blindly in the dark.

• King Richard II

A tragic monarch whose reign begins with immense promise but devolves into ruin. Surrounded by bad counselors, he yields to lust, pride, and cruelty, ultimately losing both his crown and his life as a consequence of his lawlessness.

• Henry of Lancaster (King Henry IV)

The noble cousin of Richard II, depicted as a courageous, honest knight who steps forward to save England from destruction. He accepts the crown to restore justice, trade, and traditional law to a fractured kingdom.

In Its Own Voice

"Hec erat illa dies, qua libertate dolente, / Gaudet rusticitas rusticitate sua:" This was the day on which, while liberty grieved, the peasantry rejoiced in its own crude baseness.

"Vtque bouem, precio qui stat conductus aratro, / Sic tibi iuratos munere ferre vales:" Just as an ox is hired for a price at the plough, so by your gifts can you bend jurors to your will.

"Vendere iusticiam quid id est nisi vendere Cristum, / Quem Iudas cupido vendidit ipse dolo?" What is the selling of justice but the selling of Christ, whom Judas sold in his greedy deceit?

What It's Really About

At its core, the book is a passionate defense of the medieval doctrine of social order and divine providence. Gower argues that human society functions like a delicate body: when every estate—clergy, nobility, and peasantry—fulfills its appointed duties under God, the kingdom prospers. When any single group yields to greed, pride, or rebellion, the entire system collapses into chaos.

The work insists that human suffering is not the result of random chance or capricious fortune. Instead, national disasters, rebellions, and political crises are direct divine punishments for collective human sin. By systematically dissecting the faults of every social class, Gower seeks to call his contemporaries to personal repentance, warning that worldly power, unchecked wealth, and illegitimate authority will ultimately be weighed and destroyed by a righteous God.

Why Read It Today

Reading this collection offers an extraordinary, unfiltered window into the anxieties of the late Middle Ages. It is not a work of light entertainment or courtly romance; it is a serious, urgent monument to an era when the foundations of English society seemed to be crumbling. Gower writes with the fiery intensity of an Old Testament prophet, combining classical poetic forms with a deep, urgent moral passion.

The work presents real difficulties for the modern reader. The text is composed in medieval Latin, dense with legal vocabulary, historical allusions, and classical borrowings from authors like Ovid. Furthermore, Gower’s unyielding class prejudices—particularly his burning hostility toward the peasantry and his rigid belief in feudal hierarchy—can feel alienating to modern sensibilities.

Yet, for those willing to engage with its historical context, the collection remains immensely rewarding. It captures the raw fear of the 1831 uprising, the outrage over institutional hypocrisy, and the spectacle of a king’s public downfall with an immediacy that modern histories rarely achieve. Gower’s sharp critiques of institutional greed, corrupt legal systems, and failing political leadership feel strikingly familiar, proving that the struggle to align human authority with moral justice is an enduring human concern.