Honour, Exchange and Violence in Beowulf Baker Hardback D. S. Brewer

Honour, Exchange and Violence in BeowulfAuthor(s): Peter Stuart Baker\nFormat: Hardback\nPublisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd, United Kingdom\nImprint: D.S. Brewer\nISBN-13: 9781843843467, 978-1843843467\nSynopsis\nArgues for a new reading of Beowulf in its contemporary context, where honour and violence are intimately linked.\n\nThis book examines violence in its social setting, and especially as an essential element in the heroic system of exchange (sometimes called the Economy of Honour). It situates Beowulf in a northern European culture where violence was not stigmatized as evidence of a breakdown in social order but rather was seen as a reasonable way to get things done; where kings and their retainers saw themselves above all as warriors whose chief occupation was thepursuit of honour; and where most successful kings were those perceived as most predatory. Though kings and their subjects yearned for peace, the political and religious institutions of the time did little to restr.