[In the following review, Leonard finds The Gift in Sixteenth-Century France a valuable resource for students and professional historians.]

Natalie Zemon Davis, a professor of history emerita at Princeton University and an adjunct professor at the Center for Comparative Literature at the University of Toronto, has written a fine study of the relational “gift mode” that continued to thrive in early modern France in conjunction with an expanding market society [The Gift in Sixteenth-Century France]. Davis examines a culture where gift giving encompassed the familial, political, economic, and religious spectrum, and in its most positive incarnation could ease and sustain all types of social connections. Conversely, the coercive influence of certain gift relationships often resulted in conflict and animosity, thereby placing undue pressure on the entire gift system and threatening its effectiveness.

Sixteenth-century French society relied on a number of parameters governing the presentation and reciprocation of gifts. The basic Christian theory stipulated that the giver must never expect anything in return, and the recipient must always express gratitude and then be “impelled to give in turn” (71). Eventually, notions of Christian charity, noble liberality, the favors of friendship, and neighborly generosity provided further scenarios deemed appropriate for offering gifts. All gift connections, whether occurring between members of the same social group or between a peasant and his lord, were tempered by “setting, phrases and gestures that allowed giver and recipient to understand that a gift relation had been established” (14).

Davis describes the recurrent and seasonal gift relationships that occurred during such periods as Lent, Easter, and the popular New Year's feasts. One such New Year's gift was the “collection” prevalent among peasant and artisanal circles and designed to help the needy within one's community. Gift practices were also determined by the events and rituals surrounding the human and family life cycle (birth, marriage, and death). For instance, after the birth of a child, the godparents and the community at large would celebrate the newest addition to their group by offering gifts to the baby and the new parents.

Davis also explores circumstances where gifts became the source of contention, as when family dynamics were disrupted by a disputed inheritance, or within the judicial realm where even the smallest of tokens were frowned on lest they cloud a judge's fairness and impartiality. Another interesting category that Davis considers is the process of gift exchange between the French and the indigenous populations of the New World, a process that was clouded by mutual fear and distrust and by Europeans' sense of superiority.

Davis examines a variety of primary sources including letters, archival materials, and iconography to provide fascinating insight into the social and cultural life of sixteenth-century France. The book is a valuable work for professional historians, graduate students, and undergraduates alike.