Persen with a Pater-Noster Paradys Oþer Hevene’: Piers Plowman C. 11.296-98a.

The revision of B. 10.450-62 (cf. A.11.311-13) in C is explained with reference to the authoritative doctrine of the Beatific Vision as formulated by Benedict XII, which reversed the extreme position of John XXII that denied the possibility of the vision to anyone before judgment Day. The A and B versions are equally extreme in asserting an immediate enjoyment of the vision without mention of the purification of the soul in purgatory. The apparent tautology of WL’s revision to paradys oþerhevene effectively tones down a direct reference to the site of the vision; the addition of the preposition in passen thorgh purgatorie removes the ambiguity of B (to ‘pass through’ or to ‘bypass’); and the removal of the temporal marker of immediacy at hir hennes partyng seeks to avoid even the suggestion that the vision could be achieved without the purgative process.