Exchequers and Balances: Anxieties of Exchange in The Tale of Beryn

Author / Editor
Adams, Jenny.

Title
Exchequers and Balances: Anxieties of Exchange in The Tale of Beryn

Published
Studies in the Age of Chaucer 26 (2004): 267-97.

Description
Adams argues that the "discourse of gaming" underlies "Beryn" and its Prologue (a.k.a. "The Canterbury Interlude"), which offer "centralized regulation as a solution to the inequalities inherent in exchange and commerce."
Less optimistic about mercantile trust and goodwill than is Chaucer in CT (especially ShT), the "Beryn" author is nevertheless a good deal less distrustful of commerce than is Langland in "Piers Plowman."

Chaucer Subjects
Chaucerian Apocrypha.
Canterbury Tales--General.
Shipman and His Tale.