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From: Tom Cadmus
T1: Cadmust
Date: 4/8/98
Time: 11:35:21 AM
Remote Name: 130.68.92.27
In Book III of Piers the Lady Fee is representative of the new money economy in which payments can influence many things. The Holy Church says of Lady Fee, "I ought to take precedence over her, for I came of better stock." That statement is reflective of the beginning changes in the hierarchy. The age's new money economy saw monetary wealth begin to rival land wealth in influence. Holy Church also links Lady Fee, and thus money, with Fraud, and, therefore corruption. Present at the wedding of Fraud and Lady Fee is the people who are in positions of influence and that could be swayed by payments. Specifically present are those associated with law. Further associated with Lady Fee and her penchant for payment are "The county of covetousness", "the earldom of wrath and envy", "the towns of usury and avarice", "Borough of theft", "lordship of lechery", and "hagglings and traffickings". All these associations serve to portray the conflict between the old guard values of wealth (land entitlements, and noble blood) and the new money society of the increasingly wealthy and powerful merchants.