Description
Book SynopsisTrade Review"
In the Manner of the Franks is both a history of hunting in the early Middle Ages—who did it, how it was done, what was hunted—and an exploration of the cultural meanings given to hunting...There is a wealth of fascinating information in this book,which includes regular comparisons between the Franks and neighboring peoples and the broader contexts of human history. Throughout, Goldberg seeks to understand the fullest meaning of the expression Einhard used to describe Charlemagne’s hunting practices:
more Francorum, 'in the manner of the Franks.'" * Speculum *
"Eric Goldberg’s study offers a thoughtful and thorough argument that hunting mattered in the early Middle Ages, above all to male, lay aristocrats, as an integral component of their masculine identity and socio-political hegemony...In Goldberg’s discussions, hunting emerges as a dynamic, multivalent activity central to the performance of gender, political communication, and human interactions with the natural world. Goldberg has finally given early medieval hunting the hearing it deserves." * Early Medieval Europe *
"
In the Manner of the Franks is an insightful and thorough assessment of early medieval European hunting that begins in the late Roman empire and moves through the Merovingian and Carolingian periods, concluding with the death of Louis V 'in a hunting accident—in 987'...[A] valuable contribution to studies of human-environmental
relationships to which readers will doubtless return both as a work of reference and as an important point of embarkation for future investigations of hunting, masculinities, and rituals of power and performance.
" * Journal of British Studies *
"[T]his monograph presents a convincing mosaic of the centrality of hunting in the social and cultural worlds of Carolingian elites..
.In the Manner of the Franks is without doubt the most sustained treatment in the English language of the intersection between political ideology and hunting practices in Carolingian Europe." * Mediaevistik *
"
In the Manner of the Franks is an excellent and insightful book that will serve as the standard reference work on the hunt for many years, not only for historians of late Antique and early medieval studies but also for anyone interested in the cultural history of hunting in the Christian West." * Helmut Reimitz, Princeton University *
"This is a genuinely original contribution to the study of early medieval political culture in its broadest sense, grounded in a well-researched study of the practicalities of hunting methods and quarries." * Rachel Stone, King's College London *
Table of ContentsIntroduction
Chapter 1. Emperors and Elites
Chapter 2. Merovingians and Magnates
Chapter 3. Charlemagne and the Chase
Chapter 4. Louis the Pious and His Legacy
Chapter 5. Hounds and Hawks
Chapter 6. Peasants and Poachers
Chapter 7. Bishops and Boars
Chapter 8. Danger and Death
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments
