Family, Friends and Followers: Political and Social Bonds in Early Medieval Europe (Cambridge Medieval Textbooks (Paperback))

Gerd Althoff's Family, Friends and Followers: Political and Social Bonds in Early Medieval Europe is a worthwhile, if at times meandering, read on the different types of bonds and allegiances that existed and evolved during the early medieval period. The chapter headings will give you an idea of the general topics covered:1. Introduction2. Kin-groups3. Co-operative groups4. Lords and their men5. Rituals6. ConclusionOne of the more interesting things I learned from this book was the role of monasteries in the establishing of an individual's (or rather a family's) claim to lordship:"The house monastery and the 'family castle' play a fundamental and informative role in the development of family seats by aristocratic houses. It is not an exaggeration to say that the founding of a house monastery was an essential step in the creation of an aristocratic lineage. So-called house monateries are not just the first geographically fixed location of an aristocratic kin-group, their foundation actually only takes place at a certain distinct stage in the creation of a lordship."Another interesting function of the monasteries were to record the patron house's lineage and family history, a process that generally involved a considerable amount of embellishment, not to mention outright fabrication, to establish the family's claims to being a long and distinguished line worthy of lordship. In addition though, the monasteries would often work in details designed to suit their own self-interests:"An author's creativity may be witnessed even more clearly in the Chronicle of Ebersberg. Abbot Williram of Ebersberg set down the entire history of the counts of Ebersberg in this work, together with his own stories, interprestations and judgements, all of which had a specific function: to show that the foundation and continued existence of the monastery of Ebersberg was willed by God and that God punished all those who did wrong to the monastery. The characteristic features of the history of the counts of Ebersberg are a result of this, including the many metaphorical animal stories. The portents contained within these stories always had to be explained to the counts of Ebersberg by members of the clergy, and it was not until the counts followed the advice of these clerics that their luck changed for the better. This gives us an indication of the real intentions behind this history."The concept of family bonds is easy enough to understand, but the medieval concept of friendship bonds was something else altogether:"In the middle ages, friendship was not the expression of a subjective feeling or emotion, but rather a type of contract carrying with it an obligation of mutual help and support. It was intended as something permanent, and was even passed on as an inheritance. When people entered into a bond of friendship, they performed certain rituals, like the swearing of an oath, and the sources often employed formulae like 'and they became friends' (facti sunt amici) to denote when a friendship alliance had been concluded. Such alliances had significant value for the parties involved: they established not only the mutual nature of obligations and rights, but also the equality and equal entitlements of the parties.... To begin with, the sworn friendship basically had the character of a treaty; in orther words, it was concerned first and foremost with specific negotiated positions and their obligations. The obligations carried by friendship could be quite basic and general: for example, that a person could not maintain a relationship with his friend's enemy.... A friend could also be approached for military aid, and this could be refused, but only with good reason. Friends also met in person or through envoys in order to give or receive advice. Friends and their envoys were also always treated honorably."Althoff also goes on to show how the different bonds could at times cause problems as events caused them to come into conflict, and that the priorities were not always clear. What we are familiar with as being the highest medieval bond, the feudal bond of lord and vassal, did not start out that way. Only over time, with the establishment of a stable noble class with inherited titles and of a king with primacy over all, did the lord-vassal bond come to supercede all others, causing restrictions and limitations to be put on other types of bonds, most notably the co-operative bonds that were the basis of merchant and trade guilds.The chapter on rituals was also quite interesting, showing how formal bonds were all sealed with rituals involving feasts, oaths and ceremony. And how rituals were used in interactions to establish the nature of relationships:"Medieval life was full of unwritten rules and rituals, and relationships where no exception. Ceremonies, rituals and gestures were used not just to strengthen relationships; they were also used to establish the position and status of strangers so that they might be treated in an appropriate manner.... The existence and function of these customs or consuetudines may be explained by the hostile nature of medieval socity: in a society where even a simple act like approaching a stranger could be an extremely dangerous business, there needed to be a means of expressing status and intention other than words alone.""A typical example of the power of non-verbal, demonstrative actions is provided by the celebration of mass: the mass included gestures like genuflection and the kiss of peace; and people entered the church in a certain order and sat in a certain order. All of these actions communicated a great deal more than was possible with words alone.... The non-verbal actions performed by kinds on their first meeting could be equally demonstrative. For example, in the case of the Bonn treaty in 921, the only thing that happened on fthe first day of the meeting was that each kind came out onto his own bank of the Rhine and showed himself to the other. Then, on a later day, they each took a boat into the middle of the stream, embarked onto a third boat, and there entered into a friendship treaty. The kings' initial act of showing themselves to one another at the start was clearly a ritual designed to prove the peaceful intentions of both parties."There is much more to this book than I am able to convey in a limited review. Suffice it to say that I found it a very worthwhile read on the subject. My only quibbles with it are that Althoff tends to meander about in some places and I sometimes wish he had gone into more detail in others, but all in all I learned quite a bit from this book. Recommended to anyone with an interest in the subject.

nice book as advertised