Friendship, Love, and Brotherhood in Medieval Northern Europe, c. 1000-1200: (85 The Northern World)

In this book, Lars Hermanson discusses how religious beliefs and norms steered attitudes to friendship and love, and how these ways of thinking affected social identity and political behaviour. With examples taken from eleventh- and twelfth-century northern Europe, the author investigates why friendship was praised both by brotherhoods of aristocratic warriors and by brethren within monastery walls. Social and political functions rested on personal connections rather than a strong central state in the High Middle Ages. This meant that friendship was an important pragmatic instrument for establishing social order and achieving success in the game of politics.

Table of Contents:
List of Figures Acknowledgements Introduction  1 Friendship and Self-Interest  2 Friendship as a Research Topic  3 Thesis  4 The Outline of the Book 1 Ideas of Friendship, Love, and Brotherhood in Classical Philosophy  1 Friendship in Theory  2 The Terminology of Friendship  3 Friendship in Greek Philosophy  4  Amicitia in Roman Philosophy  5 Friendship in the Apocalyptic Era  6 From Classical Philosophy to the Christian Theology of Late Antiquity  7 Summing Up 2 Friendship and Social Formation in the High Middle Ages  1 Centuries of Upheaval  2 Different Friendship Discourses?  3 The Ecclesiastical Elite   3.1 Collective Identity   3.2 Friendship as a Spiritual and Intellectual Concept   3.3 Spiritalis Amicitia   3.4 The Intellectual Field and the Language of Friendship   3.5 Abbot William’s Collection of Letters   3.6 The Terminology of Friendship   3.7 Living Friendship  4 The Secular Elite   4.1 The Position of the Aristocracy in Society   4.2 The Strategies of the Secular Elite to Legitimize Its Authority   4.3 The Ideal Aristocrat   4.4 The Social Environment   4.5 The Court as a Political Arena  5 Friendship and the Legitimation of Power in Saxo Grammaticus’ Gesta Danorum   5.1 Saxo’s Classical View of History   5.2 The Audience of Gesta Danorum   5.3 The Spiritual Friendship between Bishop William and Svend Estridsen   5.4 The Friendship Between Bishop Absalon and Valdemar I  6 Collective Pragmatic Friendship: Alliance Systems and Politics  7 The Practical Benefit of Friendship   7.1 Friends and Royal Kinsmen  8 Friendship and the Legitimation of Power  9 Summing Up 3 Friendship in an Oath-Taking Society – A Ritual Perspective  1 The Oath-Taking Society   1.1 Oaths and Friendship   1.2 The Language of Rituals   1.3 Ritual Friendship in a Broader Chronological and Geographical Perspective   1.4 Ritual Friendship – Text and Practice  2 Summing Up 4 Friendship and Lordship in Twelfth-Century Scandinavia  1 Different Forms of Government  2 Friendship as a Form of Lordship – The Power Structure of Traditional Society   2.1 Power Built Up from Below – The Power Basis of Icelandic Chieftains   2.2 The Debate about Political Development in Norway in the Civil War Era   2.3 Protective Relationships and Military Development   2.4 Undermining Lordship – The Struggle for the Throne in Norway   2.5 Friendship and the Political Structure   2.6 The Fruits of Vertical Friendship   2.7 Friendship – A Free Choice?   2.8 Friendship and Mistrust   2.9 Power, Reputation, Violence, and Friendship   2.10 Friendship – A Two-Edged Sword   2.11 The Popular Prince in Heimskringla and Gesta Danorum  3 Friendship and the Christian Ideology of Lordship   3.1 Royal Diplomas and the Sacred Order   3.2 The Intellectual Debate on the Origin of Power   3.3 God’s Friends and Satan’s Henchmen – The Dualistic Conflict Perspective  4 Group Culture and Collective Friendship   4.1 The Ideals, Structure, and Function of the Guilds   4.2 Brotherhood and Continuity  5 Friendship, Brotherhood, and Power Systems in Valdemarian Denmark   5.1 King Valdemar’s Letter to the Gotland Travellers   5.2 The Brotherhood List and Medieval Group Culture   5.3 The Ideology and Function of European Brotherhoods   5.4 Lord and Friend – Lord and Brother?   5.5 The Redirection of Gift Exchange   5.6 Oaths, Brotherhood, and Lordship  6 Summing Up  Epilogue  1 Why Friendship?   1.1 Friendship and Society   1.2 Friendship and Legitimation   1.3 Friendship and Structural Changes   1.4 Friendship as Ideology and Culture Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Lars Hermanson is Professor of History at Gothenburg University. He has published many works on medieval political culture and has co-edited several anthologies on the subject, including Disputing Strategies in Medieval Scandinavia (Brill, 2013).