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"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"--
Gifts --- Ideals (Philosophy) --- Generosity --- Civilization --- Gifts. --- Manners and customs. --- Cadeaux --- Générosité --- Idéal (philosophie) --- Civilisation --- Moeurs et coutumes --- History --- Social aspects --- Classical influences. --- Aspect social --- To 1500. --- England --- England. --- Social life and customs --- Classical influences --- Gifts - England - History - To 1500 --- Ideals (Philosophy) - Social aspects - England - History - To 1500 --- Generosity - Social aspects - England - History - To 1500 --- England - Social life and customs - 1066-1485 --- England - Civilization - Classical influences
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This interdisciplinary study explores how classical ideals of generosity influenced the writing and practice of gift giving in medieval Europe. In assuming that medieval gift giving was shaped by oral 'folk models', historians have traditionally followed in the footsteps of social anthropologists and sociologists such as Marcel Mauss and Pierre Bourdieu. This first in-depth investigation into the influence of the classical ideals of generosity and gift giving in medieval Europe reveals to the contrary how historians have underestimated the impact of classical literature and philosophy on medieval culture and ritual. Focusing on the idea of the gift expounded in the classical texts read most widely in the Middle Ages, including Seneca the Younger's De beneficiis and Cicero's De officiis, Lars Kjær investigates how these ideas were received, adapted and utilised by medieval writers across a range of genres, and how they influenced the practice of generosity.
Gifts --- Ideals (Philosophy) --- Generosity --- Giving --- Magnanimity --- Philosophy --- Donations --- Presents --- Manners and customs --- Free material --- History --- Social aspects --- England --- Social life and customs --- Civilization --- Classical influences.
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"Gift-giving played an important role in political, social and religious life in medieval and early modern Europe. This volume explores an under-examined and often-overlooked aspect of this phenomenon: the material nature of the gift. Drawing on examples from both medieval and early modern Europe, the authors from the UK and across Europe explore the craftsmanship involved in the production of gifts and the use of exotic objects and animals, from elephant bones to polar bears and 'living' holy objects, to communicate power, class and allegiance. Gifts were publicly given, displayed and worn and so the book explores the ways in which, as tangible objects, gifts could help to construct religious and social worlds. But the beauty and material richness of the gift could also provoke anxieties. Classical and Christian authorities agreed that, in gift-giving, it was supposed to be the thought that counted and consequently wealth and grandeur raised worries about greed and corruption: was a valuable ring payment for sexual services or a token of love and a promise of marriage? Over three centuries, Gift-Giving and Materiality in Europe, 1300-1600: Gifts as Objects reflects on the possibilities, practicalities and concerns raised by the material character of gifts."
History of civilization --- anno 1300-1399 --- anno 1400-1499 --- anno 1500-1599 --- anno 1600-1699 --- Europe --- Gifts --- Material culture --- Cadeaux --- Culture matérielle --- History --- Histoire --- To 1699
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"Gift-giving played an important role in political, social and religious life in medieval and early modern Europe. This volume explores an under-examined and often-overlooked aspect of this phenomenon: the material nature of the gift. Drawing on examples from both medieval and early modern Europe, the authors from the UK and across Europe explore the craftsmanship involved in the production of gifts and the use of exotic objects and animals, from elephant bones to polar bears and 'living' holy objects, to communicate power, class and allegiance. Gifts were publicly given, displayed and worn and so the book explores the ways in which, as tangible objects, gifts could help to construct religious and social worlds. But the beauty and material richness of the gift could also provoke anxieties. Classical and Christian authorities agreed that, in gift-giving, it was supposed to be the thought that counted and consequently wealth and grandeur raised worries about greed and corruption: was a valuable ring payment for sexual services or a token of love and a promise of marriage? Over three centuries, Gift-Giving and Materiality in Europe, 1300-1600: Gifts as Objects reflects on the possibilities, practicalities and concerns raised by the material character of gifts."--
Gifts --- Material culture --- History.
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Church history --- Law --- Eglise --- Droit --- History --- Histoire --- Denmark --- Scandinavia --- Europe --- Danemark --- Scandinavie --- Civilization --- Civilisation
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Medieval Denmark and Scandinavia have often been seen as cultural backwaters that passively and belatedly received cultural and political impulses from Western Europe. However, Professor Michael H. Gelting and scholars inspired by him have shown that the intellectual, religious and political elite of Denmark actively participated in the renaissance and reformation of the medieval period. This anthology brings the latest research in Danish medieval history to a wider audience and integrates it with contemporary international discussions of the making of the European Middle Ages.
Church history --- Law --- Christianity --- History. --- Middle Ages, 600-1500 --- Denmark --- Europe --- Scandinavia --- History --- Civilization.
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