Love, Friendship and Faith in Europe, 1300–1800

MIRI RUBIN is Professor of Early Modern History at Queen Mary, University of London, UK. She studies social relations in the religious cultures of Europe between 1100-1600: charitable activity in Charity and Community in Medieval Cambridge (1987), sacramental religion in Corpus Christi: The Eucharist in Late Medieval Culture (1991), anti-Jewish narratives in Gentile Tales: The Narrative Assault on Late Medieval Jews (1999). Her most recent book, The Hollow Crown: A History of Britain in the Late Middle Ages, appeared in January 2005 and she is working on a cultural

This ground-breaking volume explores the terrain of friendship against the historical backdrop of early modern Europe. A hidden history is revealed - of friendships that we have lost, and of friendships starkly, and movingly, familiar.This ground-breaking volume explores the terrain of friendship against the historical backdrop of early modern Europe. In these thought-provoking essays the terms of friendship are explored - from the most intimate and erotically charged to the reciprocities of village life. This is a rich offering in social and cultural history that is attuned to the pervasive language of religion. A hidden history is revealed - of friendships that we have lost, and of friendships starkly, and movingly, familiar.