This book gathers the most recent scholarship on the historicization of masculinity by the most original and widely respected thinkers in this relatively new field. By using the analytical tools of queer theory these international, interdisciplinary scholars have reconfigured the history of sexuality in radically altering how we think about sexuality and how we write history. This book is a timely benchmark in answering and raising questions about male love, sex, friendship, and intimacy in the early modern era. It is a revaluation that takes into account how widely this matter has been debated over the last ten years and is an invaluable contribution to Gay, Lesbian and Queer Studies; sexual, social and cultural history and Early Modern and Enlightenment Studies more generally.