Attitudes to wealth in Old French didactic and courtly verse (1150-1300)

This thesis examines the attitudes to wealth as depicted in two contrasting literary genres: didactic verse sermons and courtly verse romances. A preliminary chapter briefly outlines the historical background, its relationship with contemporary literature and with the prominence of wealth as a literary theme. Part One, devoted to the didactic works, begins with an appraisal of the sources of the Old French attitudes to wealth, and of their mode of expression. Consideration follows of the treatment of avarice in medieval verse sermons. Thereafter the relationship between man and wealth is studied from two standpoints. Firstly man is viewed as a moral type, usually the evil rich man. Chapters Three and Four resume the opinions of the didactic poets on wealth and on man as a social type in all his different roles.