If I Lose Mine Honour, I Lose Myself
Honour among the Early Modern English Elite
- Publisher
- University of Toronto Press
- Initial publish date
- Jul 2017
- Category
- 16th Century, Renaissance, Gender Studies
-
Hardback
- ISBN
- 9781487501228
- Publish Date
- Jul 2017
- List Price
- $89.00
-
eBook
- ISBN
- 9781487512743
- Publish Date
- Sep 2017
- List Price
- $77.00
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Description
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.
About the author
Courtney Erin Thomas received her PhD in history and renaissance studies from Yale University. She has previously taught at both Yale University and MacEwan University.
Editorial Reviews
"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."
The English Historical Review, vol 134 no 568
‘Highly Recommended. All levels/Libraries.’
Choice Magazine vol 55:07:2018
"[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."
American Historical Review, June 2019