CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2018
| Author | Taylor, Rebecca Anne |
|---|---|
| Title | 'Es tu de paenisme u de crestiente ?': Representations of Religious Difference between Muslims and Christians in the Earliest Chansons de geste |
| Summary | This thesis analyzes the literary representations of religious difference between Christians and Muslims in the earliest twelfth-century Old French chansons de geste: La Chanson de Roland, La Chanson de Guillaume, and Gormont et Isembart. Scholarship has tended to focus on a single chanson or on the evolution of the representations, either in the genre at large or comparatively. Novel approaches favor postcolonial readings, tracing the medieval roots of racism, violence, and intolerance. This study maintains that the primary form of difference in these texts is religion. Accordingly, the first chapter considers alternative forms of difference (racial/physical and ethnic/cultural), ultimately showing that alterity is principally imagined and reinforced through religion. The second chapter turns to how the representations both correspond to and deviate from medieval Christian perceptions of Islam and Muslims. The final chapter examines how religious difference is intensified and legitimized through violence, holy war, conversion, and martyrdom. Though foremost an analysis of the representations of religious difference in the three earliest chansons de geste, the thesis situates these texts within the broader medieval dialogue between Christians and Muslims and against the backdrop of Crusader ideology. |
| Supervisor | Sághy, Marianne |
| Department | Medieval Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2018/taylor_rebecca.pdf |
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