6 - Honour and reputation

Summary

Some of the most powerful rewards for offering help in this period came in the form of status acknowledgement, whereby the obligation to offer help was cultivated in personal exchanges that conveyed and affirmed the power and social status of the giver. We have seen glimpses of these types of exchanges in previous chapters – in feasts that affirmed the privileged position of a local magnate; in funerary rites and parochial festivities that announced and extended the position of the donors or that of their trustees; in testamentary bequests that expressed a concern not only for the well-being of the community but also for consolidating one's status and wealth, and for controlling and affecting the life of future beneficiaries. In all these handouts and donations, the transfer of resources was premised on the inequalities that existed between those who gave and those who received, and on the inferior status and scarcity of the material resources of the receiver. Locked in an obligation to offer a return, the beneficiary was compelled to reciprocate by showing submission and deference, and an economy of honour in return for assistance and support was thereby sustained.

In this chapter we take a closer look at these types of exchanges by focusing on certain dimensions of giving that had special bearing on and implications for the honour of those engaged in offering support.