Liquid assets, dangerous gifts: presents and politics at the end of Middle Ages
Editorial UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
Espanya peninsular
- Editorial UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
- ISBN13 9780812236507
- ISBN10 0812236505
- Tipus LLIBRE
- Pàgines 248
- Any Edició 2002
- Idioma Anglès
- Encuadernació Tela
Matèries
Història Medieval UniversalLiquid assets, dangerous gifts: presents and politics at the end of Middle Ages
Editorial UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
Espanya peninsular
Detalls del llibre
Liquid Assets, Dangerous Gifts addresses the notions and practices of gift giving in late medieval and early modern Europe between 1400 and 1550. Focusing on the prosperous cities of the Upper Rhine, it explores the uses of gifts in political ritual and the different functions of those donations. Contemporaries spoke of these gifts - sometimes wine, sometimes coins or other precious metals - as liquid; indeed, the same German word was used for giving a present and for pouring a fluid. These gifts were integral parts of an economy of information, marking complex differences and dependencies in the social hierarchy. The gifts were meticulously recorded and governed by strict codes, yet the terminology and traditions of gift exchange in this period betray deep-seated ambivalence and anxieties about the practice.