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 Kjaer 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.

Explores how classical ideals of generosity influenced the writing and practice of gift giving in medieval Europe.

About the Author
Lars Kjaer is Senior Lecturer in Medieval History at the New College of the Humanities. His previous publications include, as co-editor, a special volume of the Journal of Medieval History entitled 'Feasts and Gifts of Food in Medieval Europe: Ritualised Constructions of Hierarchy, Identity and Community' (2011).


Book Information
ISBN 9781108439329
Author Lars Kjaer
Format Paperback
Page Count 235
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 360g
Dimensions(mm) 150mm * 230mm * 20mm