William Langland

William (or Robert) Langland is the name most often given in early sources to the mysterious author of the fourteenth-century classic Piers Plowman. Very little about him is certain. The work's narrator describes himself s living in London with his wife Kit, and says that his name is "Will"--but as he converses with characters named "Wisdom," "Wit," "Reason," "Conscience," etc., this might possibly be a reference to the human will rather than (or as well as) an abbreviation of "William."