LOVE, FRIENDSHIP AND FAITH IN EUROPE, 1300-1800; ED. BY LAURA GOWING

Notes on Contributors vii viii Notes on Contributors of Dresden and the École Pratique des Hautes Études at Paris. Since 2002 he has been teaching Medieval History at the University of Bern (Switzerland). Publications include articles on the 'Idea and Concept of Europe in the High and Late Middle Ages' and the 'Paradoxical Attitude of Chivalry towards Death'; his thesis on 'Friendship and Proximity in Late Medieval Burgundy' is forthcoming. Love, Friendship and Faith in Europe 1300-1800 offers exciting new studies of the meanings and forms of friendship in early modern Europe. While family and community have been extensively explored in recent decades, the more elusive experience of friendship is treated historically by this volume. Friendship is situated in several specific social frames - seventeenth-century German townsfolk, beggars in eighteenth century London, women in the households of Stuart England. Readers will encounter reciprocity and amity, intimacy and trust embedded in the idioms and materials contexts of early modern Europe: bedroom and tavern, philosophical salon and kitchen. The contributors not only make imaginative use of materials ranging from trial records to biblical translations, but also connect friendship to several current historiographical interests: in sexuality, identity, gender, association and the forging of bonds of trust. The papers have been prompted by the intellectual challenge of Alan Bray's notable book The Friend (Chicago, 2003). Friendship is a subject whose time has come. The volume engages with contemporary interests in the making of identity, and demonstrates the workings of religious idioms of amity, charity and love in the making of friendship among early modern people. This volume will, therefore, be of absorbing interest to all those interested in history and literature, opening up the private as well as public lives of early modern people Friendship Is A Subject Whose Time Has Come. This Book Engages With Contemporary Interests In The Making Of Identity, And Demonstrates The Workings Of Religious Idioms Of Amity, Charity And Love In The Making Of Friendship Among Early Modern People. It Will Be Of Interest To All Those Involved In History And Literature Opening Up The Private As Well As Public Lives Of Early Modern People.--jacket. Friendship's Loss : Alan Bray's Making Of History / Valerie Traub -- Sacred Or Profane? Reflections On Love And Friendship In The Middle Ages / Klaus Oschema -- Friendship In Catholic Reformation Eichstätt / Jonathan Durrant -- A Society Of Sodomites : Religion And Homosexuality In Renaissance England / Alan Stewart -- 'swil-bols And Tos-pots' : Drink Culture And Male Bonding In England, C.1560-1640 / Alexandra Shepard -- The Politics Of Women's Friendship In Early Modern England / Laura Gowing -- Friends And Neighbours In Early Modern England : Biblical Translations And Social Norms / Naomi Tadmor -- Tricksters, Lords And Servants : Begging, Friendship And Masculinity In Eighteenth-century England / Tim Hitchcock -- Spinoza And Friends : Religion, Philosophy And Friendship In The Berlin Enlightenment / Adam Sutcliffe. Edited By Laura Gowing, Michael Hunter And Miri Rubin. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Cover 1 Contents 6 Notes on Contributors 8 Introduction 12 1 Friendship’s Loss: Alan Bray’s Making of History 26 2 Sacred or Profane? Reflections on Love and Friendship in the Middle Ages 54 3 Friendship in Catholic Reformation Eichstätt 77 4 A Society of Sodomites: Religion and Homosexuality in Renaissance England 99 5 ‘Swil-bols and Tos-pots’: Drink Culture and Male Bonding in England, c.1560–1640 121 6 The Politics of Women’s Friendship in Early Modern England 142 7 Friends and Neighbours in Early Modern England: Biblical Translations and Social Norms 161 8 Tricksters, Lords and Servants: Begging, Friendship and Masculinity in Eighteenth-Century England 188 9 Spinoza and Friends: Religion, Philosophy and Friendship in the Berlin Enlightenment 208 Index 232 A 232 B 232 C 233 D 234 E 234 F 235 G 235 H 235 I 236 J 236 K 236 L 237 M 237 N 238 O 238 P 238 Q 239 R 239 S 239 T 240 U 240 V 240 W 240 Y 241 This ground-breaking volume explores the terrain of friendship against the historical backdrop of early modern Europe. In these thought-provoking essays the terms of friendship are explored - from the most intimate and erotically charged to the reciprocities of village life. This is a rich offering in social and cultural history that is attuned to the pervasive language of religion. A hidden history is revealed - of friendships that we have lost, and of friendships starkly, and movingly, familiar.