Description
Book SynopsisSharpen your knowledge of swords with Kristen B. Neuschel as she takes you through a captivating 1,000 years of French and English history. Living by the Sword reveals that warrior culture, with the sword as its ultimate symbol, was deeply rooted in ritual long before the introduction of gunpowder weapons transformed the battlefield.
Neuschel argues that objects have agency and that decoding their meaning involves seeing them in motion: bought, sold, exchanged, refurbished, written about, displayed, and used in ceremony. Drawing on evidence about swords (from wills, inventories, records of armories, and treasuries) in the possession of nobles and royalty, she explores the meanings people attached to them from the contexts in which they appeared. These environments included other prestige goods such as tapestries, jewels, and tablewareall used to construct and display status.
Living by the Sword draws on an exciting diversity of sources from archaeology, mil
Trade Review
Living by the Sword cuts through a broad swath of history, and such a scope is necessary for a project that charts how swords were understood over time. Kristen Neuschel's Living by the Sword will interest a wide range of readers.
* Comitatus *
Table of ContentsIntroduction: What Do Swords Mean?
1. Swords and Oral Culture in the Early Middle Ages
2. Swords and Chivalric Culture in the High Middle Ages
3. Swords, Clothing, and Armor in the Late Middle Ages
4. Swords and Documents in the Sixteenth Century
Conclusion
