Freshly Printed - allow 7 days lead
Couldn't load pickup availability
If I Lose Mine Honour, I Lose Myself
Honour Among the Early Modern English Elite
Courtney Thomas (Author)
9781487501228
Hardback, published 31 July 2017
320 pages, 8 b&w illustrations
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.5 cm, 0.64 kg
‘Highly Recommended. All levels/Libraries.’ "[If I Lose Mine Honour I Lose Myself] illuminates not just the flexibility and inconsistency of early modern notions of honor and the ways in which these ideals were constantly being deployed and redefined in daily practice, but equally the ubiquity and character of interpersonal strife among the dynastic families of the late sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century English elite." "In studying honour not just as a representational strategy but also as a point of entry into a range of other subjects, the book offers much of interest to a wide variety of scholars, not just those who focus expressly on honour and the self-presentations of the elite."
Moving beyond the preoccupation of honour and its associations with violence and sexual reputation, Courtney Thomas offers an intriguing investigation of honour’s social meanings amongst early modern elites in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England. If I Lose Mine Honour I Lose Myself reveals honour’s complex role as a representational strategy amongst the aristocracy. Thomas’ erudite and detailed investigation of multi-generational family papers as well as legal records and prescriptive sources develops a fuller picture of how the concept of honour was employed, often in contradictory ways in daily life. Whether considering economic matters, marriage arrangements, supervision of servants, household management, mediation, or political engagement, Thomas argues that while honour was invoked as a structuring principle of social life its meanings were diffuse and varied. Paradoxically, it is the malleability of honour that made it such an enduring social value with very real meaning for early modern men and women.
Acknowledgments Abbreviations Brief Notes Introduction – Approaching Honor Chapter One – Men and Honor Chapter Two – Women and Honor Chapter Three – Honor, Local Reputation, and the Household Chapter Four – Honor and the Family Conclusion – The Importance of Honor Bibliography