The Power of Gifts : Gift Exchange in Early Modern England
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| Title: | The Power of Gifts : Gift Exchange in Early Modern England |
|---|---|
| Description: | Gifts are always with us: we use them positively to display affection and show gratitude for favours; we suspect that others give and accept them as douceurs and bribes. The gift also performed these roles in early modern English culture: and assumed a more significant role because networks of informal support and patronage were central to social and political behaviour. Favours, and their proper acknowledgement, were preoccupations of the age of Erasmus, Shakespeare, and Hobbes. As in modern society, giving and receiving was complex and full of the potential for social damage.'Almost nothing', men of the Renaissance learned from that great classical guide to morality, Lucius Annaeus Seneca,'is more disgraceful than the fact that we do not know how either to give or receive benefits'. The Power of Gifts is about those gifts and benefits - what they were, and how they were offered and received in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It shows that the mode of giving, as well as what was given, was crucial to social bonding and political success. The volume moves from a general consideration of the nature of the gift to an exploration of the politics of giving. In the latter chapters some of the well-known rituals of English court life - the New Year ceremony, royal progresses, diplomatic missions - are viewed through the prism of gift-exchange. Gifts to monarchs or their ministers could focus attention on the donor, those from the crown could offer some assurance of favour. These fundamentals remained the same throughout the century and a half before the Civil War, but the attitude of individual monarchs altered specific behaviour. Elizabeth expected to be wooed with gifts and dispensed benefits largely for service rendered, James I modelled giving as the largesse of the Renaissance prince, Charles I's gift-exchanges focused on the art collecting of his coterie. And always in both politics and the law courts there was the danger that gifts would be corroded, morphing from acceptable behaviour into bribes and corruption. The Power of Gifts explores prescriptive literature, pamphlets, correspondence, legal cases and financial records, to illuminate social attitudes and behaviour through a rich series of examples and case-studies. |
| Authors: | Felicity Heal |
| Resource Type: | eBook. |
| Subjects: | History, Gifts--History--16th century.--England, Gifts--History--17th century.--England, Ceremonial exchange--History--16th century. --, Ceremonial exchange--History--17th century. --, Ceremonial exchange, Gifts, Ga°vor--historia, Traditioner--historia, Hovliv--historia |
| Categories: | HISTORY / Social History |
| Database: | eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) |
| FullText | Links: – Type: ebook-pdf Text: Availability: 0 |
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| Header | DbId: nlebk DbLabel: eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) An: 909737 RelevancyScore: 1057 AccessLevel: 6 PubType: eBook PubTypeId: ebook PreciseRelevancyScore: 1057.36352539063 |
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| Items | – Name: Title Label: Title Group: Ti Data: The Power of Gifts : Gift Exchange in Early Modern England – Name: Abstract Label: Description Group: Ab Data: Gifts are always with us: we use them positively to display affection and show gratitude for favours; we suspect that others give and accept them as douceurs and bribes. The gift also performed these roles in early modern English culture: and assumed a more significant role because networks of informal support and patronage were central to social and political behaviour. Favours, and their proper acknowledgement, were preoccupations of the age of Erasmus, Shakespeare, and Hobbes. As in modern society, giving and receiving was complex and full of the potential for social damage.'Almost nothing', men of the Renaissance learned from that great classical guide to morality, Lucius Annaeus Seneca,'is more disgraceful than the fact that we do not know how either to give or receive benefits'. The Power of Gifts is about those gifts and benefits - what they were, and how they were offered and received in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It shows that the mode of giving, as well as what was given, was crucial to social bonding and political success. The volume moves from a general consideration of the nature of the gift to an exploration of the politics of giving. In the latter chapters some of the well-known rituals of English court life - the New Year ceremony, royal progresses, diplomatic missions - are viewed through the prism of gift-exchange. Gifts to monarchs or their ministers could focus attention on the donor, those from the crown could offer some assurance of favour. These fundamentals remained the same throughout the century and a half before the Civil War, but the attitude of individual monarchs altered specific behaviour. Elizabeth expected to be wooed with gifts and dispensed benefits largely for service rendered, James I modelled giving as the largesse of the Renaissance prince, Charles I's gift-exchanges focused on the art collecting of his coterie. And always in both politics and the law courts there was the danger that gifts would be corroded, morphing from acceptable behaviour into bribes and corruption. The Power of Gifts explores prescriptive literature, pamphlets, correspondence, legal cases and financial records, to illuminate social attitudes and behaviour through a rich series of examples and case-studies. – Name: Author Label: Authors Group: Au Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Felicity+Heal%22">Felicity Heal</searchLink> – Name: TypePub Label: Resource Type Group: TypPub Data: eBook. – Name: Subject Label: Subjects Group: Su Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22History%22">History</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Gifts--History--16th+century%2E--England%22">Gifts--History--16th century.--England</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Gifts--History--17th+century%2E--England%22">Gifts--History--17th century.--England</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Ceremonial+exchange--History--16th+century%2E+--%22">Ceremonial exchange--History--16th century. --</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Ceremonial+exchange--History--17th+century%2E+--%22">Ceremonial exchange--History--17th century. --</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Ceremonial+exchange%22">Ceremonial exchange</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Gifts%22">Gifts</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Ga°vor--historia%22">Ga°vor--historia</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Traditioner--historia%22">Traditioner--historia</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Hovliv--historia%22">Hovliv--historia</searchLink> – Name: SubjectBISAC Label: Categories Group: Su Data: <searchLink fieldCode="ZK" term="%22HISTORY+%2F+Social+History%22">HISTORY / Social History</searchLink> |
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| RecordInfo | BibRecord: BibEntity: Classifications: – Code: 394 Scheme: ddc Type: prePub Languages: – Code: eng Text: English Subjects: – SubjectFull: History Type: general – SubjectFull: Gifts--History--16th century.--England Type: general – SubjectFull: Gifts--History--17th century.--England Type: general – SubjectFull: Ceremonial exchange--History--16th century. -- Type: general – SubjectFull: Ceremonial exchange--History--17th century. -- Type: general – SubjectFull: Ceremonial exchange Type: general – SubjectFull: Gifts Type: general – SubjectFull: Ga°vor--historia Type: general – SubjectFull: Traditioner--historia Type: general – SubjectFull: Hovliv--historia Type: general Titles: – TitleFull: The Power of Gifts : Gift Exchange in Early Modern England Type: main BibRelationships: HasContributorRelationships: – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Felicity Heal – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Felicity Heal IsPartOfRelationships: – BibEntity: Dates: – D: 01 M: 01 Type: published Y: 2014 – D: 26 M: 11 Type: profile Y: 2014 Identifiers: – Type: isbn-print Value: 9780199542956 – Type: isbn-electronic Value: 9780191020131 Titles: – TitleFull: The Power of Gifts : Gift Exchange in Early Modern England Type: main |
| ResultId | 1 |
