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When Langland first describes Lady Meed, in Passus II of Piers Plowman, he portrays her as a modern version of the Scarlet Woman, set in opposition to Holy Church, that other lady from the Book of Revelation. Clearly, no good is to be expected of her; but what particular evil does she represent? Critics have differed somewhat in their answers, proposing the sin of covetousness, or else bribery and corruption, or else 'the power of money'. This latest and most specific interpretation owes its currency largely to a book-length study published in 1963, The Lineage of Lady Meed by John A. Yunck. (1) Yunck saw in the Meed story' 'a vivid allegorical dramatization of the power ...