The Male Body and Social Masculinity in Premodern Europe

Jacqueline Murray

H. Peter Johnsson

Alison More

Sara Berkowitz

Yvonne Petry and Kiegan Lloyd

Centre for Renaissance and Reformation Studies

<p>Masculinities are at once heterogeneous and multivalent, manifested according to cultural milieu and social status. In the premodern world, hegemonic masculinity served to reinforce patriarchal social structure and men’s domination of women and subordinate men. It also led to competition and violence among men as they strived to attain and retain their individual position within a dynamic masculine hierarchy. Masculinity’s social meaning relies on men recognizing masculinity in other men, which in turn leads to honour, as the ethical foundation of masculinity. In the premodern world, patriarchy, honour, and violence were inextricable from masculinity. The essays in this volume interweave varied historical sources, social contexts, interpretative frames, and scholarly interpretations to provide a series of overlapping, reinforcing, and occasionally contradictory perspectives on premodern men and their quest for masculine identity and honour. They explore how in premodern Europe masculinity was demonstrated and contested by men across different social, political, geographic, and religious contexts, revealing how the shared but contentious values of patriarchy and honour were often reinforced or demonstrated through violence. In doing so, they provide a rich foundation for understanding the complexities of premodern masculinities. Jacqueline Murray is Professor of History at the University of Guelph. She has published widely on masculinity and male sexuality in the premodern world, most recently the volume The Male Body and Social Masculinity in Premodern Europe (2022). She is currently completing a monograph examining the ideological and social contexts of male embodiment in the Middle Ages.</p>

Patriarchy, Honour, and Violence: Masculinities in Premodern Europe

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