Hazell, an independent scholar of medieval literature, examines the attitudes toward poverty in late medieval England through the literature of the time. Her sources vary from well-known
authors such as Hoccleve, Gower and Chaucer to anonymous poets, creators of town plays, and saint's lives. The book is divided by types of poverty. Hazell begins, surprisingly, with the poverty
of the aristocracy. This is viewed by different authors as caused by a refusal to participate in corruption in government but also the corruption of standards of chivalry. The book then turns
to a comparison of urban and rural poverty, often not sympathetically treated. The archetype of the shiftless hayseed peasant was well-established. The section on apostolic poverty tends to
demonstrate the rich literature detailing the abuses of the clergy. It is only in hagiography that Hazell finds poverty in imitation of Christ. Her conclusion, listing solutions that were
attempted or suggested sounds all too familiar. Distributed in North America by ISBS. Annotation 穢2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
