Abstract
This article explores the theme and language play around witchcraft and sorcery in Piers Plowman. Langland's place in the late medieval English discourse on magic deserves to be recognized beyond Dame Studie's denunciation of sorcery at B.10.209–17. Though belief in magic was widespread throughout the medieval period, Langland is a skeptic who rejects any possibility of humans wielding real magic, even in collusion with demons. Witches and sorcerers like Mahomet, Sire Penetrans, and Favel are simple frauds and charlatans who rely upon props and manipulative skill over gullible marks. Langland also recognizes a type of sorcery that exists without magical power but is a label for esoteric and advanced intellectual study. Most intriguing, however, is Langland's manipulation of the false accusation of witchcraft against one's opponent. Jesus, the only genuine sorcerer in the text, is named as a witch as actual proof of his divine nature and omnipotence.
