Counting Sheep in the C Text of Piers Plowman

This essay connects a puzzling description of ‘falsely washed sheep’ in Piers Plowman C.9.270 to contemporary practices of sheep husbandry, then tracks Langland’s larger engagement in the C text of the poem with the ideal of stewardship promulgated by contemporary estates management literature and Thomas Wimbledon’s ‘Redde Rationem’ sermon. Manorial accounting and auditing practices provide an irresistible model for salvation for Langland; yet manorial stewardship also presents many opportunities for deception and theft. The poet negotiates this tension through sharpened engagement with the parable of the unjust steward (Luke 16:1-9) in the C text.