Dives and Pauper
Dives and Pauper is a 15th-century commentary on the Ten Commandments in dialogue form. Written in Middle English, it was most likely authored by a Franciscan friar. It is structured as a dialogue between a wealthy layman and a spiritual poor man with many similarities to a friar. The work is an example of orthodox Catholic theology, but it engages many questions relevant to Wycliffism, an English movement condemned as heretical by church authorities.
Like John Wycliffe's De mandatis divinis, Dives and Pauper discusses the Commandments in the context of Church law, as well as the "laws of civil society". Patricia Barnum describes it as a discussion about justice in the context of the "seemingly double standard" of the Old Testament concept of law and the New Testament charity. The question posed is whether God's laws may be harmonized with man's laws. Dives and Pauper starts the inquiry with the question of what the Christian scriptures teach about wealth.
