A fre liberal wille’: Charity in Piers Plowman

The plan of salvation in PPl follows Bernard of Clairvaux’s model: the existence of a free will, and the efficient condition of God conferring grace upon a consenting will. The two inner dreams clearly present these two stages. The first (B.11.5-404) deals with the discovery of the will’s freedom and the second (B.16.20-166) with the will’s reception of grace.