Sheds new light on how masculinity was understood, lived, performed and viewed during a period of huge change.Premodern masculinity was multivalent and dynamic, a series of intersecting, conflicting, and mutating identities that nevertheless were distinct and recognizable to people and their societies. The articles collected here examine a variety of means by which masculinity was constructed, deconstructed, and transformed across time, geographies, and cultures. Articles range across the twelfth to seventeenth century, from western Europe to the Volga-Ural region, from the Christian west to the Muslim east, from Ottomans to Mongols and Persians, from Baudri of Bourgueil to Blaise de Monluc; while topics include the chivalric hero, the effeminate man, beards, and spurs, represented variously in literature, historical documents, and art. Finally, in that period of great transformation that is the sixteenth century, they show how masculinity moved away from the traditional and recognizable to become something different and distinct from its premodern expressions.

List of Illustrations List of Contributors Acknowledgements List of AbbreviationsIntroductionJacqueline Murray Shifting Masculinities1. Work, Writing, and Elite Masculinity in the Lyrics of Baudri of BourgeuilJonathan M. Newman 2. Masculinity as CompetenceThomas V. Cohen 3. The Many Faces of Qahraman: A Medieval Persianate Romance as a Window on Mongol and Muslim Masculinities in the Volga-Ural Region (1400s-1700s)Danielle Ross Fluid Masculinities4. Marked Differences: Beards in Renaissance EuropePatricia Simons 5. Spurs and Negotiations of Masculinity in Early Modern EnglandHilary Doda 6. Mars Asleep: Discarded Swords in Seventeenth-Century Dutch ArtMartha Hollander Transforming Masculinities7. Military Masculinities in La Chanson de Bertrand du GuesclinSarah Wilk 8. From the Knightly Bayard to Captain Monluc: Representations of Masculinity in Sixteenth-Century French Military LiteratureBenjamin Lukas 9. The Effeminate Man and the Rhetoric of Anxious Masculinity: Anton Francesco Doni and Scipione AmmiratoGerry Milligan Index