"This book deals with kinship in the early Middle Ages. Most scholars agree in theory that kinship is not a biological fact but a universally deployable system for structuring social relations. In empirical practice, however, research on kinship has focused almost exclusively on descent and alliance. This book addresses kinship beyond these concepts. It is a study of godparenthood and adoption in Frankish society at the time when Roman adoption was disappearing and godparenthood was being invented as a social tool."--BOOK JACKET.

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