THE MORAL INSTRUCTION OF A PRINCE is the first part of Vincent of BeauvaisÕs thirteenth century didactic work, Opus universale de statu principis. Written to advise Louis IX on the moral aspects of wise kingship, it was intended to contain four treatises. This and the fourth section, THE EDUCATION OF NOBLE CHILDREN, are the only parts of the work extant. Indeed it is not known that the other sections were ever completed.
THE TWELVE ABUSES OF THE WORLD is the 7th century treatise on social and political morality of an anonymous Irish monk. It has been wrongly ascribed
to Cyprian and Augustine and Patrick. The 12 abuses are: a wise man without works, an old man without religion, a young man without obedience, a rich man without charity, a woman without modesty, a nobleman without virtue, an argumentative Christian, a proud pauper, an unjust king, a neglectful bishop, a populace without discipline, a people without law.