Very little is known of Langland himself. It seems that he was born in the West Midlands of England in circa 1331. The name itself is not entirely certain, for the given name Robert has substantial traditional support, and even the last name has not gone unchallenged.
The basic authorities for his name are two: a note, in Ms. Dublin D. 4, 1, that the writer was William of Langland, whose father was Stacy de Rockayle; and a note by John Bale, in Ms. Asburnham 130, that a Robert or William Langland "made pers ploughman. " So shadowy, indeed, is William Langland that scholars have ascribed Piers Plowman, extant in three versions, to five distinct, but unknown, authors. It is probable, however, that one author only is involved.
If his poem Piers Plowman is autobiographical, "Langland" spent his early years in the Malvern district and then came to London where he lived the life of an indigent cleric in minor orders. Such evidence is doubtful, and a good case can be made for the author as a monk. What is clear is that "Langland" was not only extremely gifted as a poet and thinker, but was highly educated as well, and deeply concerned with the basic political and ecclesiastical controversies of his time. The detailed and highly sophisticated religious knowledge displayed in the poem indicates that Langland had some connection to the clergy, but the nature of this relationship is uncertain.
