The De XII abusiuis saeculi attracted readers throughout the medieval period. Over four hundred manuscripts survive from between the eighth and sixteenth centuries containing either its complete text, excerpts, or simply a list of its numbering of twelve abuses of the age. Between the ninth and eleventh centuries, it circulated mostly under the name of Cyprian of Carthage (d. c. 251), while its attribution to Augustine of Hippo (d. c. 431) became more frequent between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries. In the late fifteenth century, DDAS was printed under both names. Its popularity across the medieval period makes its influence complicated to track. In 1909, Siegmund Hellmann relied mostly on ninth- or tenth-century manuscripts in which DDAS was attributed to Cyprian for his critical edition. In 1988, Aidan Breen argued that a better text was preserved in what he called ‘Class 1’ manuscripts, most from the twelfth century, in which it was often attributed to Augustine, than in those Class 2 and 3 MSS, in which it was assigned to Cyprian. What can we learn from the textual transmission of DDAS about both the original context of its composition and the varying ways in which its authority was asserted? Sketching out the various phases of interest in DDAS, studied in more detail in other chapters in this volume, enables us to map out larger questions about the evolving notions of ‘abuse’ and ‘injustice’ in the medieval period. A case can be made for relating phases of interest in the work to periods of crisis in political or religious life.