Title Background

`Tikes’ at <i>Piers Plowman</i> B.XIX.37: Welsh Taeog `Serf Bondman., Bondman.

`Tikes’ at Piers Plowman B.XIX.37: Welsh Taeog `Serf Bondman., Bondman.

WL’s description of the Jews, living as “tikes” since they rejected Christ, derives from the Welsh term of abuse, noted at early date and in common use in Powys on the border of the West Midlands. The word refers to one in servile status. From the time of the English conquest of Wales, it takes on added meaning to refer to a foreign class paying dues to alien lords.