Piersplowman

Saturn holds two different connotations within the poem Piers Plowman. The first is Saturn as a pagan god. In this case, he sends a message to mortals on earth. In Passus VI , on line 326, William Langland makes a reference to Saturn.

"Through flood and foul weather fruits shall fail, And so Saturn says and has sent to warn you: When you see the moon amiss and two monk's heads, And a maid have the mastery, and multiply by eight, Then shall Death withdraw and Dearth be justice, And Daw the diker die for hunger, Unless God of his goodness grants us a truce." (Langland, 6.325-331)

Saturn, the pagan god, is correlated with both time (Chronos or Kronos), and also associated with the time for Harvest. Harvest ends when winter comes, and it is the "end of time" for the plowing of crops.

Yet this pagan god, in turn, sparks the sin of sloth into those who harvest their crops. For a whole winter, plowmen are not able to work, and thus produces laziness in the workers. As a result, society lacks enough food to be eaten all winter.

The second connotation that Saturn corresponds with is the planet itself, and its role within both astrology and astronomy. In the Middle Ages, both astronomy and astrology were interchangeable. According to P.J. Heather, author of The Seven Planets, "Mars and Saturn are evil in their power; therefore men shun starting any work on Saturday and Tuesdays." (338) Since men in the Middle Ages tried to avoid starting work on a Saturday, the day of Saturn, this also led to sloth.

Although this idea of Saturn follows the beliefs of pagans, astronomy was one of the seven liberal arts that were taught during the Middle Ages. The seven arts consisted of a trivium and a quadrivum. While the trivium consisted of grammar, rhetoric and logic, the quadrivum consisted of arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. Both the trivium and quadrivum make up the study of Theology in the Middle Ages. Each of the seven arts was taught as perceived from Scripture, and members of Clergy are generally the only members of society who learn the seven arts.

However, plowmen and sailors both use astronomy in their line of work. "Shipmen and shepherds who set out to earn their wages Saw by the sky what would befall; About weather and wind they [astronomers] warned people often." (Langland 15.361-363)

The friars in Piers Plowman are absolutely atrocious, just as they were in the Middle Ages. Friars, who are distinguished by Langland from other clergy such as the Saints Augustine, Gregory, Jerome and Ambrose, were known as "limiters." They traveled around and begged for money to support them. The friars believed they led the life Jesus had, by traveling only by foot and begging. However, they were not as noble as believed. As William Langland relates, "...And how friars followed after folk that were rich, And people that were poor they prized but little." (Langland 13.7-8) Also, Langland displays the true friars that the friars hope to conceal. "As well friars as other folk foolishly spend On housing, on habiliments, on showing off high learning More for pomp than for pure charity, the people know the truth." (Langland 15.76-79)

According to E. Talbot Donaldson, friars and parish priests did not see eye to eye. In fact one of the dilemmas that existed between the two was that friars offered Matins for commoners that were too lazy to wake up for the early Mass. Friars actually encouraged sloth, one of the seven sins, by offering the later service. In truth, Langland's character Sloth, attended the later masses given by the friars.

The friar's negative existence in the Middle Ages cannot be more exemplified than the personification of Wrath as a friar. Wrath tells the Dreamer, " 'I am Ire,' said he. 'I have been a friar...'" (Langland 5.137) Not only has Wrath been a friar, he is also alongside friars as they preach. " '... when friars preach to the people in places all about, I, Wrath, run alongside them and read them my books.'" (Langland 5.148)

Both Conscience and Will do not trust in the friars. During one of Will's dreams, he searches for Do-Well. First, Will asked Franciscan friars where he could find Do-Well. The friars responded that Do-Well dwells with them, and he need not look any further. Yet, Will's response to the friars was, "And if someone sins, I say, it seems certain to me That Do-Well and Do-Evil cannot dwell together. Ergo he is not always at home among you friars." (Langland 8.21-24) So even Will, a vagabond, sees a vision of friars that is less than desirable. Also, Conscience would not accept a friar to help Contrition because Conscience believed that friars did "know their craft well." (Langland 20.231) Consequently, friars were not quite rulebook Christians, as even a vagabond and Conscience did not trust friars.

Basically, friars believed that they were true Christians, and they knew the Truth, but both the public and parish priests thought otherwise.

Piers Plowman contains more Pagan references rather than just the pagan