Title: Friendship, love, and brotherhood in medieval Northern Euope, c. 1000-1200 /
Authors: Hermanson, Lars, 1967-; Crozier, Alan, 1953-
Year: 2019
Subjects: Friendship Europe, Northern History; Social structure Europe, Northern History; Civilization, Medieval
Abstract: In this book, Lars Hermanson discusses how religious beliefs and norms steered attitudes to friendship and love, and how these ways of thinking affected social identity and political behaviour. With examples taken from eleventh- and twelfth-century northern Europe, the author investigates why friendship was praised both by brotherhoods of aristocratic warriors and by brethren within monastery walls. Social and political functions rested on personal connections rather than a strong central state in the High Middle Ages. This meant that friendship was an important pragmatic instrument for establishing social order and achieving success in the game of politics.
Contents: 1. Ideas of friendship, love, and brotherhood in classical philosophy -- 2. Friendship and social formation in the High Middle Ages -- 3. Friendship in an oath-taking society : a ritual perspective -- 4. Friendship and lordship in twelfth-century Scandinavia.