Food, Peacemaking, and Maintenance in Twelfth- and Thirteenth-Century England

Kjær, Lars (2019) Food, Peacemaking, and Maintenance in Twelfth- and Thirteenth-Century England. In: Peacemaking and the Restraint of Violence in High Medieval Europe, ed. Simon Lebouteiller and Louisa Taylor. Routledge, London, pp. 244-267. ISBN 9780429030918

Abstract

This chapter explores the role of gifts of food and hospitality in the maintenance and creation of peace and allegiance in medieval Europe. It discusses the methodological challenges involved in understanding the everyday experience of ritualised exchanges, such as gift giving, in the Middle Ages. The chapter focuses on evidence from twelfth- and thirteenth-century England and draws on normative texts, such as didactive poems and courtesy texts, narratives from romances, saints’ lives, and chronicles, looking in detail at the History of William Marshal. It contrasts the image of gift exchange found in narratives with that provided by household records and discusses the different possibilities and challenges various categories of sources present.

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