Languages Of Love And Hate: Conflict, Communication, And Identity In The Medieval Mediterranean (international Medieval Research)

This book probes the nature of the clash of cultures as a process of identification and classification of the unknown. ‘There is no world of thought that is not a world of language and one sees of the world only what is provided for by language’ (Walter Benjamin, 1936). In the medieval Mediterranean, cultural groups were frequently labelled, fixed, and identified by language, and these linguistic groupings were consistently in states of conflict and/or exchange. This collection explores various expressions of cultural clash and exchange, and examines some of the ways in which language was used to express difference, to mark out cultural difference, and to further label those cultures – often as alien and inferior, but sometimes as different and worthy of respect. This theme unites papers coming from a range of perspectives and engaging with a whole series of cultural interchanges and conflicts. It brings together work on a wide range of peoples – Latins, Byzantines, Muslims, and Jews – commenting on and writing about each other, as well as a wide variety of different genres, from theology to farce. This volume seeks to offer a broad and wide-ranging approach to understanding the world at the time of the crusades through the words of participants and observers. Front Matter ("Title Page", "Editorial Board", "Copyright Page", "Contents", "Illustrations", "Preface", "Abbreviations", "Contributors"), p. i Free Access Introduction, p. xix Sarah Lambert, Helen J. Nicholson https://doi.org/10.1484/M.IMR-EB.1.101125 Tolerated Otherness: The ‘Unconverted’ Saracen in the Chansons de geste, p. 3 Marianne Ailes https://doi.org/10.1484/M.IMR-EB.1.101126 Love in a Hot Climate: Gender Relations in Florent et Octavien, p. 21 Helen J. Nicholson https://doi.org/10.1484/M.IMR-EB.1.101127 ‘Pagans’ and ‘Others’ in the Chanson de Jérusalem, p. 37 Susan B. Edgington https://doi.org/10.1484/M.IMR-EB.1.101128 Crusaders in a Hall of Mirrors: The Portrayal of Saracens in Robert the Monk’s Historia Iherosolimitana, p. 49 Carol Sweetenham https://doi.org/10.1484/M.IMR-EB.1.101129 Translation, Citation, and Ridicule: Renart the Fox and Crusading in the Vernacular, p. 65 Sarah Lambert https://doi.org/10.1484/M.IMR-EB.1.101130 Eyeing up Eunuchs: Western Perceptions of Byzantine Cultural Difference, p. 87 Shaun Tougher https://doi.org/10.1484/M.IMR-EB.1.101131 Collusion with the Infidel as a Pretext for Western Military Action Against Byzantium (1180–1204), p. 99 Jonathan Harris https://doi.org/10.1484/M.IMR-EB.1.101132 Greeks and Latins at the Time of the Fourth Crusade: Patriarch John X Kamateros and a Troubadour Tenso, p. 119 Linda Paterson https://doi.org/10.1484/M.IMR-EB.1.101133 Greeks and Franks After the Fourth Crusade: Identity in the Chronicle of Morea, p. 141 Teresa Shawcross https://doi.org/10.1484/M.IMR-EB.1.101134 ‘Catholics’ in the Byzantine Political Elite: The Case of Demetrius Kydones, p. 159 Judith R. Ryder https://doi.org/10.1484/M.IMR-EB.1.101135 Mamluks and Crusaders: Architectural Appropriation and Cultural Encounter in Mamluk Monuments, p. 177 Karen Rose Mathews https://doi.org/10.1484/M.IMR-EB.1.101136 Modes of Literary Behaviour in Christian-Islamic Encounters in the Iberian Peninsula: Pseudo-Turpin versus Peter the Venerable, p. 201 Matthias M. Tischler https://doi.org/10.1484/M.IMR-EB.1.101137 Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada and his Historia Arabum: An Extraordinary Example of Inter-cultural Tolerance?, p. 223 Matthias Maser https://doi.org/10.1484/M.IMR-EB.1.101138 Integration or Exclusion of Judaism in the Later Middle Ages? The Apologetic Strategies of Ramón Llull, p. 239 Wolfram Drews https://doi.org/10.1484/M.IMR-EB.1.101139 Back Matter ("Select Bibliography", "Index", "International Medieval Research: Titles in Series"), p. 255 This book probes the nature of the clash of cultures as a process of identification and classification of the unknown. 'There is no world of thought that is not a world of language and one sees of the world only what is provided for by language' (Walter Benjamin, 1936). In the medieval Mediterranean, cultural groups were frequently labelled, fixed, and identified by language, and these linguistic groupings were consistently in states of conflict and/or exchange. This collection explores various expressions of cultural clash and exchange, and examines some of the ways in which language was used to express difference, to mark out cultural difference, and to further label those cultures - often as alien and inferior, but sometimes as different and worthy of respect. This theme unites scholars coming from a range of perspectives and engaging with a whole series of cultural interchanges and conflicts. It brings together work on a wide range of peoples - Latins, Byzantines, Muslims, and Jews - commenting on and writing about each other, as well as a wide variety of different genres, from theology to farce. This volume seeks to offer a broad and wide-ranging approach to understanding the world at the time of the crusades through the words of participants and observers.