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B. Rib?mont, Arras, Wine, Taverns, and "Capitalism." Secular Drama in the Thirteenth Century and the Question of Money. Taverns have pride of place in the literature of the "merchant class" in Picardy during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries: Fabliaux, and more especially secular drama, dominate this field, providing authors and playwrights with a whole range of possibilities, especially of a satirical and moral nature, since taverns were usually symbols of vice and delusion. They can figure as some sort of paradise or Land of Cocagne to the naive (courtly) traveler because they are clothed in the seductive veil of unrestrained consumption ( Jeu de saint Nicolas): Wine and money circulate freely. This paper intends to examine how often moralizing playwrights in thirteenth century Arras viewed a society in economic boom heading toward becoming a "capitalist" economy.