This book casts new light on the life and work of Francois Villon, one of the most famous but least understood poets of the later Middle Ages. Traditionally Villon has been viewed by scholars as an alienated outsider in his own time, whose work was in many respects derivative and commonplace. Jane Taylor instead points to the flair and originality of Villon's poetry, and the urgency and brilliance of his poetic dialogue with his predecessors and contemporaries. Taylor describes Villon's literary milieu as marked by an enjoyment of debate and competition, and shows the prominent place that he occupied in that poetic landscape. She argues that Villon's contemporaries were accustomed to reading in depth and in detail: they would have recognized and appreciated the flamboyance with which Villon challenged commonplace or ideological preconception.