(ca. 1415)
The Crowned King is a MIDDLE ENGLISH poem of 144 lines of ALLITERATIVE VERSE. The poem survives in a single manuscript, Bodleian MS Douce 95. Like other late 14th- and early 15th-century alliterative poems, such as MUM AND THE SOTHSEGGER and RICHARD THE REDELES, The Crowned King is clearly influenced by William LANGLAND’s PIERS PLOWMAN, in particular recalling the prologue to that poem. Like Piers, The Crowned King is a DREAM VISION. Like the other aforementioned poems, The Crowned King is a topical poem concerned with particular contemporary events, in this case the English king Henry V’s preparations to invade France in 1415.
The poet begins by praising Christ, the Crowned King, for sending meaningful dreams, then goes on to describe how recently, on Corpus Christi Day, he had been celebrating in Southampton, when he fell asleep and had a dream. He describes how in his dream he was on a hill looking down into a deep dale, where he saw a crowned king asking an assembled multitude of his people for money to conduct a war. An unnamed clerk knelt before the king and asked permission to speak. When the king granted permission, the clerk ran through a long list of proverbial admonitions in the manner of many conventional poems that give “advice to princes.” In his catalogue of proverbs, the clerk recommended that the king devote himself to justice, and treasure the people that are true to him. He should value the labor of his subjects, and should beware of flatterers. He should be kind to the clergy and should comfort the poor. In particular he should avoid any appearance of greed.Ultimately he should emulate Christ, the Crowned King of Heaven, and give to his subjects prosperity and peace. In 1415, Corpus Christi Day fell on May 29. Henry V left London on June 8 for Southampton, from which he set sail for France in August. These facts probably explain the details in the beginning of the poem.Henry had secured from Parliament a very large grant for his war on the previous November 19. The poet’s attitude toward the resumption of hostilities with France is not completely clear, but he certainly is not writing a poem of unthinking propaganda in support of the invasion.
His advice to the king has nothing to do with King Henry’s rightful claim to the French throne, but rather focuses on the effects of new taxation on the English people. The good will of his subjects will profit Henry more than wealth, the poet asserts, and he appears to be admonishing the king that dealing with the welfare of his subjects at home is more important than seeking adventures abroad. The end of the poem, encouraging a comparison between the earthly king and Christ, the king of heaven, asserts unequivocally that the goodness of Christ’s kingship consists of the peace and prosperity he brings. Thus The Crowned King makes a pacifist statement in a time of war—and specifically at a time when Henry V himself was engaged in an effort to sway public opinion in favor of his French campaign (he had, for example, just commissioned John LYDGATE to write his TROY BOOK specifically for this purpose). This may explain the poet’s use of an unnamed figure of authority within a dream as his spokesman, rather than directly questioning the king’s choices.
Bibliography
■ Barr, Helen, ed. The Piers Plowman Tradition: A Critical Edition of Pierce the Ploughman’s Crede, Richard the Redeless,Mum and the Sothsegger, and The Crowned King. London: Dent, 1993.
■ Lawton, David, ed. Middle English Alliterative Poetry and Its Literary Background. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982.
Encyclopedia of medieval literature. 2013.