In this gem of a book, Natalie Zemon Davis explores the role of gifts in Renaissance France. From the King's bounty to the beggar's alms, from the lavish feasting and display of civic dignitaries to the humble tokens exchanged by peasant bride and groom, the giving and receiving of gifts - then, as now - held tremendous significance.

Full of vignettes which illuminate life and belief in the sixteenth century, The Gift examines how the giving of presents functioned at all levels of society. As they do today, people evaluated gifts all the time - their own gifts and those of others - deciding...