Published in Pleasure in the Middle Ages

Keywords: Keywords: Cultural Perspective, Cultural Turn, Humour, Lewis Chessmen, Odd one out.

The cultural turn of the twentieth century’s last quarter gradually led to a new approach to the classical objects of historical research. Historians nowadays are required to take on a ‘cultural perspective’ in the course of their studies. Using the example of a particular piece of the Lewis Chessmen this paper examines both the benefits and the limitations that come about with the cultural approach and cautions against a too rigid application.