The medieval gift and the classical tradition : ideals and the performance of generosity in medieval England, 1100-1300 / Lars Kjaer, New College of the Humanities.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kjaer, Lars, author.

Series:

Cambridge studies in medieval life and thought ; 4th ser., 114.

Cambridge studies in medieval life and thought ; 4th ser., 114

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Gifts--England--History--To 1500.

Gifts.

Ideals (Philosophy)--Social aspects--England--History--To 1500.

Ideals (Philosophy).

Generosity--Social aspects--England--History--To 1500.

Generosity.

Social aspects.

History.

England--Social life and customs--1066-1485.

England.

Manners and customs.

England--Civilization--Classical influences.

Civilization.

Civilization--Classical influences.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

ix, 225 pages ; 24 cm.

Other Title:

Ideals and the performance of generosity in medieval England, 1100-1300

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2019.

Summary:

"Introduction: Since the 1960s historians studying gift giving have significantly deepened and nuanced our understanding of social, political and religious relations in medieval Europe. From the outset, historians have tended to see gift giving in terms of 'folk models.' In this they have been following in the footsteps of the social anthropologists from whom we have inherited the analytical apparatus of 'gift giving.' The founding father of gift-studies, Marcel Mauss, in his Essai sur le don, presented reciprocal gift exchange as a characteristic feature of archaic societies, found in its clearest form in 'primitive' cultures like that of ancient Germania. Pioneers in the field of medieval gift giving, such as Aaron Gurevich and George Duby, inherited the assumption that gift exchange and the rules of reciprocity that governed it were part of the cultural heritage passed down from the medieval elite's Germanic ancestors. More recently, as we shall see below, historians have been more cautious about explaining medieval gift giving through its supposed archaic roots. The assumption that gift exchange was based on folk traditions of reciprocity deployed in a difficult encounter with Biblical injunctions to charity, has, however, remained widely influential. In this book I suggest that this analytical tradition has led us to overlook or underestimate the influence exercised on medieval gift giving by a very different tradition: classical literature and philosophy"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

The gift in classical literature

De beneficiis in medieval contexts

Writing generosity

Sanctifying generosity

Romancing generosity

Performing generosity.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Electronic version: Kjr̆, Lars. Medieval gift and the classical tradition.

ISBN:

9781108424028

1108424023

OCLC:

1097453493