Guests, Strangers, Aliens, Enemies
Many of our oldest and best-loved stories are about killing guests and betraying hosts. Hospitality is celebrated, in medieval texts and in medieval studies, as a way of binding individuals together and strengthening social cohesion, but both the practice and narration of hospitality was shot throug...
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| Format: | Online |
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| Language: | English |
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Brepols
2026
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| Online Access: | https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/172013 |
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| description | Many of our oldest and best-loved stories are about killing guests and betraying hosts. Hospitality is celebrated, in medieval texts and in medieval studies, as a way of binding individuals together and strengthening social cohesion, but both the practice and narration of hospitality was shot through with ambiguity and ambivalence. This volume shifts the scholarly gaze from the high table — where kings, queens, and honoured guests are graciously served by skilled servants — to the shadowy corners of the hall, the places where gossip and complaint are exchanged, where outlaws hide under the guise of hospitality, where hostages and troublesome strangers are benched, where the light from the hall-fire reflects on drawn blades: prompting difficult reflections on the processes of extraction and predation that provided the material foundations for the feast. The chapters in Guests, Strangers, Aliens, Enemies range from Silk Road caravanserais in Armenia and crusader relations in the Latin East, through ambassadorial and papal receptions in the Mediterranean, treatment of merchants and the poor in Scandinavia, elite feasts in Latin Europe, to hosting of outlaws and hostages in Eurasia. The authors explore ambiguities of hospitality in the Middle Ages through a wide range of sources and methodological approaches. |
| format | Online |
| id | doab-20.500.12854ir-172013 |
| institution | Directory of Open Access Books |
| language | eng |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| publishDateRange | 2026 |
| publishDateSort | 2026 |
| publisher | Brepols |
| publisherStr | Brepols |
| record_format | ojs |
| spelling | doab-20.500.12854ir-1720132026-02-13T13:25:02Z Guests, Strangers, Aliens, Enemies Jezierski, Wojtek Kjaer, Lars Cultural & intellectual history (c. 500-1500) Travel Literature Political & institutional history (c. 500-1500) Historiography (c. 500-1500) High Middle Ages (c.1000 -1300) thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHD European history::NHDJ European history: medieval period, middle ages Many of our oldest and best-loved stories are about killing guests and betraying hosts. Hospitality is celebrated, in medieval texts and in medieval studies, as a way of binding individuals together and strengthening social cohesion, but both the practice and narration of hospitality was shot through with ambiguity and ambivalence. This volume shifts the scholarly gaze from the high table — where kings, queens, and honoured guests are graciously served by skilled servants — to the shadowy corners of the hall, the places where gossip and complaint are exchanged, where outlaws hide under the guise of hospitality, where hostages and troublesome strangers are benched, where the light from the hall-fire reflects on drawn blades: prompting difficult reflections on the processes of extraction and predation that provided the material foundations for the feast. The chapters in Guests, Strangers, Aliens, Enemies range from Silk Road caravanserais in Armenia and crusader relations in the Latin East, through ambassadorial and papal receptions in the Mediterranean, treatment of merchants and the poor in Scandinavia, elite feasts in Latin Europe, to hosting of outlaws and hostages in Eurasia. The authors explore ambiguities of hospitality in the Middle Ages through a wide range of sources and methodological approaches. 2026-02-13T13:24:58Z 2026-02-13T13:24:58Z 2025 book 9782503610924 9782503610931 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/172013 eng Cursor Mundi application/octet-stream Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International https://www.brepols.net/products/IS-9782503610924-1 https://doi.org/10.1484/M.CURSOR-EB.5.136858 Brepols 10.1484/M.CURSOR-EB.5.136858 10.1484/M.CURSOR-EB.5.136858 337417f5-5e42-49d3-8b32-3867e1572190 9782503610924 9782503610931 45 312 Turnhout open access |
| spellingShingle | Cultural & intellectual history (c. 500-1500) Travel Literature Political & institutional history (c. 500-1500) Historiography (c. 500-1500) High Middle Ages (c.1000 -1300) thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHD European history::NHDJ European history: medieval period, middle ages Guests, Strangers, Aliens, Enemies |
| title | Guests, Strangers, Aliens, Enemies |
| title_full | Guests, Strangers, Aliens, Enemies |
| title_fullStr | Guests, Strangers, Aliens, Enemies |
| title_full_unstemmed | Guests, Strangers, Aliens, Enemies |
| title_short | Guests, Strangers, Aliens, Enemies |
| title_sort | guests strangers aliens enemies |
| topic | Cultural & intellectual history (c. 500-1500) Travel Literature Political & institutional history (c. 500-1500) Historiography (c. 500-1500) High Middle Ages (c.1000 -1300) thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHD European history::NHDJ European history: medieval period, middle ages |
| topic_facet | Cultural & intellectual history (c. 500-1500) Travel Literature Political & institutional history (c. 500-1500) Historiography (c. 500-1500) High Middle Ages (c.1000 -1300) thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHD European history::NHDJ European history: medieval period, middle ages |
| url | https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/172013 |