The Irony of the Word Vengeful

During this time period, Valleins were unanimously illiterate. Our modern idea of villainy is more often linked to abuses of wealth and power than to the arbitrary circumstances of a low class birth. If Valleins had commissioned the Lutrell Salter instead of Geoffrey Lutrell himself, my guess is that the upper class would have been portrayed as greedy jerks. To our modern sensibilities, it's the exploitative feudal landowners who seem villainous, not the Valleins.