{"product_id":"be-a-perfect-man-christian-masculinity-and-the-carolingian-aristocracy-hardback-9780812249248","title":"Be a Perfect Man; Christian Masculinity and the Carolingian Aristocracy (Hardback) 9780812249248","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eBe a Perfect Man\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eChristian Masculinity and the Carolingian Aristocracy\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eAndrew J. Romig (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9780812249248\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eHardback, published 26 September 2017\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e264 pages\u003cbr\u003e22.9 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm, 0.666 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\"[I]ntelligent, well written, and provocative . . . In the Carolingian era, Adam Romig argues in this stimulating new study, the discourse surrounding perfect masculinity was concerned less with a set of traits and behaviours than it was with 'a profound cultural valuation of love, emotional sensitivity, and care for others' . . . The conclusion artfully draws together the analytical strands of the study and suggests some of its implications for the rest of the Middle Ages and beyond.\" (\u003ci\u003eEarly Medieval Europe\u003c\/i\u003e) \"[T]his book is a tremendous contribution to how we think about early medieval Europe. It shows how words and ideas move history, how important it is to always remember that the periods we study were populated by real live human beings who cared about things, and how important it is to forsake scholarly pieties and return ad fontes in order to listen to what they really were trying to say to their own time.\" (\u003ci\u003eThe Medieval Review\u003c\/i\u003e) \"\u003ci\u003eBe a Perfect Man\u003c\/i\u003e is a bold and well-crafted book that engages with the history of emotions, the cognitive turn in the humanities, divinity studies, and Carolingian history. Andrew J. Romig confronts and overturns current readings of Carolingian lay masculinity in ways that will prompt controversy.\" (Lynda Coon, University of Arkansas) \"\u003ci\u003eBe a Perfect Man\u003c\/i\u003e is a pathbreaking book. It not only takes an innovative approach to the relationships among gender, authority, and agency but also deftly weaves these culturally contingent relationships together between the shifting poles of secularity and nonsecularity in the Carolingian era. It is a well-written, evocative, and engaging history that will inspire others to pursue the kind of broader, comparative, literary-critical, and philosophical questions that it poses.\" (Courtney M. Booker, University of British Columbia)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe life of an aristocratic Carolingian man involved an array of behaviors and duties associated with his gender and rank: an education in arms and letters; training in horsemanship, soldiery, and hunting; betrothal, marriage, and the virile production of heirs; and the masterful command of a prominent household. In \u003ci\u003eBe a Perfect Man\u003c\/i\u003e, Andrew J. Romig argues that Carolingian masculinity was constituted just as centrally by the performance of \u003ci\u003ecaritas\u003c\/i\u003e, defined by the early medieval scholar Alcuin of York as a complete and all-inclusive love for God and for fellow human beings, flowing from the whole heart, mind, and soul. The authority of the Carolingian man depended not only on his skills in warfare and landholding but also on his performances of empathy, devotion, and asceticism.\u003cbr\u003e Romig maps \u003ci\u003ecaritas\u003c\/i\u003e as a concept rooted in a vast body of inherited Judeo-Christian and pagan philosophies, shifting in meaning and association from the patristic era to the central Middle Ages. Carolingian discussions and representations of \u003ci\u003ecaritas\u003c\/i\u003e served as a discourse of power, a means by which early medieval writers made claims, both explicit and implicit, about the hierarchies of power that they believed ought to exist within their world. During the late eighth, ninth, and early tenth centuries, they creatively invoked \u003ci\u003ecaritas\u003c\/i\u003e to link aristocratic men with divine authority. Romig gathers conduct handbooks, theological tracts, poetry, classical philosophy, church legislation, and exegetical texts to outline an associative process of gender ideology in the Carolingian Middle Ages, one that framed masculinity, asceticism, and authority as intimately interdependent. The association of power and empathy remains with us to this day, Romig argues, as a justification for existing hierarchies of authority, privilege, and prestige.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eList of Abbreviations\u003cbr\u003e Introduction. Ideology, Gender, and Discourse in the Carolingian World\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 1. The Authority of the Ascetic Male\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 2. Manifestos of Carolingian Power\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 3. Louis the Pious and the Manliness of Forgiving\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 4. Questioning \u003ci\u003eCaritas\u003c\/i\u003e in the Time of Troubles\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 5. The Emergence of the Secular-Spiritual Hybrid\u003cbr\u003e Conclusion. Manliness and Empathy\u003cbr\u003e Notes\u003cbr\u003e Bibliography\u003cbr\u003e Index\u003cbr\u003e Acknowledgments\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"University of Pennsylvania Press","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52685680181528,"sku":"9780812249248","price":43.19,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/be-a-perfect-man-christian-masculinity-and-the-carolingian-aristocracy-hardback-9780812249248","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}