Word as Bond in English Literature from the Middle Ages to the Restoration.

Pp. 249-60: Explores the themes of word-wrenching and the misuse of language (considered as the abuse of word-as-bond) as satiric topics in the description of the “fair feeld ful of folk,” the confession of the Seven Deadly Sins, the characterizations of Haukyn and Meed, and the coming of Antichrist. Suggests the concept of “lele wordes” and “leaute” (considered mainly as loyalty), as the proper response in both the secular and spiritual realm.