oa Fortune and Injustice in the Leuven Chansonnier

In addition to containing a statistically high percentage of chansons referencing Fortune, the Leuven Chansonnier (LC) includes a cluster of four such chansons that are further thematically linked by references to injustice. Taking the cluster as a point of departure, this article considers the significance of Fortune in the LC, placing the book in the broader context of fifteenth-century attitudes to providence and chance. The article argues that the LC’s readers would have understood the theme of Fortune on multiple levels and in contradictory ways. Further, it suggests that the chansonnier may have been an object of moral, even spiritual, value.