The famous Round Table of knightly lore was first attributed to King Arthur in 12th- and early 13th-century Norman-French romances, but the motif's origin remains unknown. This discussion focuses on the rich cycle of romances (including tales that found their way into the Thousand and One Nights) that developed in Islamic civilization around the Arab conquest of Spain in AD 711, featuring the magic table of King Solomon's world rule supposedly found by the Muslim conquerors in the palace of the Visigothic kings of Toledo.
From the ultimate Germanic, Byzantine and Rabbinical origins of the Spanish-Islamic mythic cycle, to its attested impact on 11th- and 12th-century Latin and Romance literatures, reasons become clear why, to quote Sir Thomas Malory's celebrated 15th-century English summary of the Old French Queste del Saint-Graal: "Also Merlin made the Round Table in tokening of the roundness of the world, for by the Round Table is the world signified by right, for all the world, Christian and paynim, repair unto the Round Table ("apres cele table fu la Table Reonde par le conseil Merlin, qui ne fu pas establie sanz grant senefiance. Car en ce qu'ele est appelee Table Reonde est entendue la reondece del monde et la circonstance des planetes et des elemenz el firmament; et es circonstances dou firmament voit len les estoiles et mainte autre chose; dont len puet dire en la Table Reonde est li monde senefiez a droit. Car vos poez veoir que de toutes terres ou chevaleries repere, soit de crestienté ou paiennie, viennent à la Table Reonde li chevalier").
Showing posts with label abstracts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label abstracts. Show all posts
Erica Dodd: ABSTRACT: "The Virgo Lactans: From Jerusalem to Michelangelo"
The figure of the Nursing Madonna was adored in thirteenth century Italy and her popularity rapidly spread throughout medieval Europe.
Her history stretches back to the Near East, to Coptic Egypt and, indeed, as far back as the Pharaonic representation of Isis and Horus.
Much ink has been spilled on the historical development and the iconographical implications of the Nursing Madonna. There is a question of the appearance of this motif in Early Christian and Byzantine art, and its liturgical implications for the Byzantine rite. There is also the possibility that the motif originated spontaneously in Italy on impulse to return to nature. This talk will trace the history of this much beloved image from its first appearance in Egypt, through Coptic art into Syria and Palestine, and its importation into Italy from Palestine during the Crusades.
Her history stretches back to the Near East, to Coptic Egypt and, indeed, as far back as the Pharaonic representation of Isis and Horus.
Much ink has been spilled on the historical development and the iconographical implications of the Nursing Madonna. There is a question of the appearance of this motif in Early Christian and Byzantine art, and its liturgical implications for the Byzantine rite. There is also the possibility that the motif originated spontaneously in Italy on impulse to return to nature. This talk will trace the history of this much beloved image from its first appearance in Egypt, through Coptic art into Syria and Palestine, and its importation into Italy from Palestine during the Crusades.
Azadeh Yamini-Hamedani: ABSTRACT: "The quest of words unread: Islamic inscriptions in Christian art"
By defining myth as a stage in the development of language (Mueller) where the etymological root of words are most alive and present in the minds of its speakers, the presentation begins by exploring the etymology of the words “quest” and “conquest” in the English/Latin and Persian/Arabic context to arrive at the nuances of each. Asking to what extent the meaning of words reflect and create the reality that surround them, the paper goes on to uncover the spiritual philosophy behind Islamic inscriptions and turns to a definition of myth as second-order semiological system (Barthes) to contemplate the semiotic process behind the emergence of Islamic inscriptions in Medieval Europe:
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The Johanneskapelle in Puergg, Austria completed in 1160/65: Christ on the cross under an arch bearing the name Allah nine times over. |
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On the walls of a small church in San Giovanello, dating to 1422, the halo around Mary contains the Muslim profession of faith. |
Amie Kraus: ABSTRACT: “Themes of Conquest and Social Allegory in Medieval Europe: The Game of Chess in Les gius partiz des eschez (Anglo-norman, 14th century)”
The game of chess has a long and varied history. The precursor of our modern game appeared in 5th or 6th century India, passed into Persia in the 6th century, was adopted by the Arabs and subsequently carried into Europe by the Arabs’ conquests in Spain and Portugal at the end of the 10th century.
The game quickly gained popularity in Europe after its arrival, and it was soon incorporated into medieval European literature. Various systems of symbolism were imposed on the game; and its rules and pieces, which had been evolving over the centuries, continued to change. In spite of these changes and in spite of the efforts of some medieval institutions and authors to downplay the object of winning at the game, chess continued to be associated with the themes of conquest and battle which characterized the game at its very beginning.
This paper examines the ever-present theme of conquest in an Anglo-Norman chess treatise of the early 14th century, a period when medieval European society often viewed the chess board as an allegory of the ideal society. Every chess piece, therefore, exemplified the individual’s role and obligations towards that society, and the treatise contains lessons which warn against vices such as greed and acting only for one’s own good. Ironically, these lessons are given in problem sets which aim ultimately to teach players how to win at a game of chess, i.e. how to check (or kill) their opponent’s king.
The game quickly gained popularity in Europe after its arrival, and it was soon incorporated into medieval European literature. Various systems of symbolism were imposed on the game; and its rules and pieces, which had been evolving over the centuries, continued to change. In spite of these changes and in spite of the efforts of some medieval institutions and authors to downplay the object of winning at the game, chess continued to be associated with the themes of conquest and battle which characterized the game at its very beginning.
This paper examines the ever-present theme of conquest in an Anglo-Norman chess treatise of the early 14th century, a period when medieval European society often viewed the chess board as an allegory of the ideal society. Every chess piece, therefore, exemplified the individual’s role and obligations towards that society, and the treatise contains lessons which warn against vices such as greed and acting only for one’s own good. Ironically, these lessons are given in problem sets which aim ultimately to teach players how to win at a game of chess, i.e. how to check (or kill) their opponent’s king.
Valerio Cappozzo: ABSTRACT: "Islamic Intersections: the Conquest of Dream Sciences in Medieval Italian Miscellanies"
This paper analyzes the connections existing between the Islamic divinatory sciences, Italian Medieval dream-books and early Italian vision poetry. More specifically, it will focus on the conquest of Islamic symbols related to dreams, their integration into Christian culture and the erasure of their origins on the part of catholic censorship. My aim then will be to track the Islamic roots of these buried symbols in six Italian miscellanies of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth century.
The medieval Dream Interpretation is a popular and widely circulated manual, which guided the interpretation of dreams. It has its origins in early fourth-century Greek manuscripts, and thrived in the High Middle Ages primarily in Arabic, Latin, and the European vernaculars. The material aspects of the unstudied Italian tradition of this dream-book, reveal important factors about the influence of Islamic divinatory sciences in the use of vision or dream motifs by Italian poets. However, the catholic censorship constituted the major opposition to Islamic culture, and led to the oblivion of these dream-books as well as their connection to early Italian poetic production linked to dreams and visions. Therefore, the miscellanies bearing such dream manuals provide essential information about the ways in which popular culture, which is often so hard to describe specifically because it is often untraceable to written witnesses, influenced what we have traditionally identified as the ‘high culture’ of early literary Italy.
This research will focus on the specific ways in which the dream manual was materially bound with and utilized by early Italian visionary literature. To prove this point, I will examine six miscellany manuscripts conserved in Florence, such as the ms. Martelli 12, a codex which bears the earliest known attestation of this kind of dream-book and Dante’s Vita Nova, in which associations with ‘high’ and ‘low’ culture claim special significance.
The Islamic divinatory sciences were integrated in the catholic world, and even if their use remained controversial, their application into poetry confirm how these techniques were of common knowledge.
The medieval Dream Interpretation is a popular and widely circulated manual, which guided the interpretation of dreams. It has its origins in early fourth-century Greek manuscripts, and thrived in the High Middle Ages primarily in Arabic, Latin, and the European vernaculars. The material aspects of the unstudied Italian tradition of this dream-book, reveal important factors about the influence of Islamic divinatory sciences in the use of vision or dream motifs by Italian poets. However, the catholic censorship constituted the major opposition to Islamic culture, and led to the oblivion of these dream-books as well as their connection to early Italian poetic production linked to dreams and visions. Therefore, the miscellanies bearing such dream manuals provide essential information about the ways in which popular culture, which is often so hard to describe specifically because it is often untraceable to written witnesses, influenced what we have traditionally identified as the ‘high culture’ of early literary Italy.
This research will focus on the specific ways in which the dream manual was materially bound with and utilized by early Italian visionary literature. To prove this point, I will examine six miscellany manuscripts conserved in Florence, such as the ms. Martelli 12, a codex which bears the earliest known attestation of this kind of dream-book and Dante’s Vita Nova, in which associations with ‘high’ and ‘low’ culture claim special significance.
The Islamic divinatory sciences were integrated in the catholic world, and even if their use remained controversial, their application into poetry confirm how these techniques were of common knowledge.
Livia Stoenescu: ABSTRACT: Re-Interpreting the Myth of Trojan Descent
In the early sixteenth century when German humanists overturned many assumptions on the birth of ethnic entities, the attack on the Trojan myth found adherents among those who began to repudiate the notion of Trojan descent as pretentious and outmoded, and sought their roots in the nobility of all Germany. Imperial dedication to the Trojan legend had become an object of derision, and so artists and monarchs were prepared to recast the splendors of the Greco-Roman past in new materials and within new works of art. Late sixteenth-century painting negotiates this novel direction in evocative instances of re-construction and deconstruction of the myth of Trojan descent. My paper seeks to shed light on the efforts to depart from the alluring legacy of classical antiquity, visible in Federico Barocci’s rendition of the flight of Aeneas from Troy and El Greco’s own invented narrative of Laocoon and his sons.
Marina Lushchenko: ABSTRACT: "Searching for the Origins of the Turks in the Medieval West: William of Tyre, Hayton of Corycus and the genre of origo gentis"
Myths about the origins of a medieval gens functioned as an important force in political, social and cultural matters throughout the European Middle Ages, national identities having been crafted on the basis of descent of a national group from some great people, family or hero. The case of the Turks, the only Oriental nation said to have the honour of sharing with Europeans a common ancestor, the Trojans, is of particular interest, all the more so because medieval ethnogenetic narrative has also attributed evil, demonic origins to the Turks, alongside some other Asian peoples. While medieval constructions of a diabolical ancestry for the Turks are readily explicable by the long-standing political and religious confrontation between the Latins and the Turks, political and religious approaches fail, however, to explain the existence of myths of common Turco-Latin origins and their coexistence with myths of the Turks’ demonic nature.
This paper will approach these issues from a cultural perspective, by applying the methodologies of cultural history (or history of mentalities) to medieval ethnogenetic texts of William of Tyre and Hayton of Corycus. It is argued that attention should first focus on the social background of the authors which implies the perception of the Turks according to a specific reference model based either on religious or feudal/knightly values (i.e. prowess in war). It is further suggested that, considering the feudal military mentality of that period, the Turks deserved to figure among the great nations, as exemplified by the tradition of ascribing them Trojan descent and structuring the story of their origins on the rules of the widespread medieval historico-literary genre, the origo gentis.
Primary Sources
Corycos, Hayton of. La Flor d’Estoires d’Orient. Recueil des historiens des croisades, Historiens arméniens. Vol. II. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1906.
Tyre, William of. L'Estoire d'Eracles empereur et la conqueste de la terre d'Outremer. Recueil des historiens des croisades, Historiens occidentaux. Vol. I. Paris: Imprimerie Royale, 1844.
This paper will approach these issues from a cultural perspective, by applying the methodologies of cultural history (or history of mentalities) to medieval ethnogenetic texts of William of Tyre and Hayton of Corycus. It is argued that attention should first focus on the social background of the authors which implies the perception of the Turks according to a specific reference model based either on religious or feudal/knightly values (i.e. prowess in war). It is further suggested that, considering the feudal military mentality of that period, the Turks deserved to figure among the great nations, as exemplified by the tradition of ascribing them Trojan descent and structuring the story of their origins on the rules of the widespread medieval historico-literary genre, the origo gentis.
Primary Sources
Corycos, Hayton of. La Flor d’Estoires d’Orient. Recueil des historiens des croisades, Historiens arméniens. Vol. II. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1906.
Tyre, William of. L'Estoire d'Eracles empereur et la conqueste de la terre d'Outremer. Recueil des historiens des croisades, Historiens occidentaux. Vol. I. Paris: Imprimerie Royale, 1844.
Roberta Morosini: ABSTRACT: “Alexander the traveler in Medieval and Renaissance Italian tradition : when a conquest is a quest”
In a systematic study for a Companion to the legends of Alexander for Brill publisher, I examined the legends of Alexander the Great in Medieval and Renaissance Italy, from Arci-Bishop Leo (X Century) to Manta’ castle in the region of Piemonte (1430) and Domenico Falugio’s Triompho magno in the XVI Century. According to the major specialists of Alexander legends, R. Stoneman and G. Cary, the general Medieval secular approach to Alexander was represented in Italy in the late Middle Ages only by dry Alexander-books as drier references to his conquest. However, my aim is to show that the Alexander-books in Medieval Italy were not dry and flat stories with dry references to his conquest, rather proposing a courtly Alexander, a hero in his quest. In the Italian tradition of Alexander-books, we find an Alexander who is curious for world, the other and the unknown, as proved by the approaches in the accounts of his legendary ‘trips’ to the heaven and in the abyss of the sea. The Italian tradition of Alexander-books is influenced by courtly tradition and tales of traveleres from Middle Eastern countries. Alexander is the hero of a quest, a search for himself and a better understanding of the world, among a spectacle of mirabilia where it is hard to distinguish an animal from a human being. This approach did not disappear, and, in the end, it continued throughout the Renaissance, inspiring the secular portrait of Alexander in a more nostalgic note. Here the quest of the courtly hero encounter the philosophical meditation of the humanist. Finally, at the end of XVI Century, we move from the nostalgic revival of Manta’s verses and images to the malicious and satirical smile of Falugio who in his Triompho magno celebrates himself and his art of writing, which was worth a prize from pope Leo X. While it is obvious that in the Triompho magno is all about Alexander’s triumph, this Alexander, however, has little curiosity for the unknown and no love for anybody like in the contemporary manuscript 1751 (BN Rome), proving a decline of the epic and the courtly tradition transmitted by the Italian Alexander-books thus making the reader almost nostalgic for the Alexander among lyophants, snakes wearing diamonds, deers, basilisks, underwater trips and celestial flights.
Marco Prina: ABSTRACT: “Political, aesthetic and symbolic meanings of the domed basilicas of Sicily during the comital Norman reign (1091-1130)”
The complexity of the political, aesthetic and symbolic significance of the sacred architecture introduced by Norman rulers in Sicily remains largely unresolved, although it is often considered an intriguing mélange of discordant parts assembled from Western medieval, Byzantine and Islamic architectural traditions.
This paper focuses on the relationships between political patronage and symbolic meanings of the architectural aesthetics introduced by the Norman conquerors, shedding light on their quest for a new and recognizable spiritual identity within the context of their military conquest of Sicily. This tension between quest and conquest may explain why Sicily’s new rulers were interested in inventing a visual tradition of the sacred buildings comprehensible to their subjects, both the traditionally established Muslims and Orthodox Christians, and the incoming Western Christians.
In particular, the analysis of the features of the so-called ‘domed basilicas’, or ‘basilian churches’, helps us understand the motivations, attitudes and aspirations of that new regime, whose efforts became particularly apparent within the Val Demòne, a rural area in North-Eastern Sicily previously held by the Arabs, in the period stretching from 1091 to 1130 during the comital reigns of Roger I de Hauteville and his son Roger II. I discuss the significance of visual evidence gleaned from field work conducted on the site of five surviving churches within that area: S. Filippo di Fragalà at Frazzanò, S. Maria at Mili San Pietro, SS. Pietro e Paolo at Itàla, S. Alfio at San Fratello, and SS. Pietro e Paolo d’Agrò near Casalvecchio Siculo.
When Roger II became King of Sicily in 1130, he supported the construction of more magnificent sacred buildings such as the Cefalù cathedral (1131) and the Cappella Palatina in Palermo (1132), whose political and symbolic value may be better appreciated in the wake of the tension between quest for identity and military conquest, as is apparent from an examination of the earlier and humbler ‘domed basilicas’.
This paper focuses on the relationships between political patronage and symbolic meanings of the architectural aesthetics introduced by the Norman conquerors, shedding light on their quest for a new and recognizable spiritual identity within the context of their military conquest of Sicily. This tension between quest and conquest may explain why Sicily’s new rulers were interested in inventing a visual tradition of the sacred buildings comprehensible to their subjects, both the traditionally established Muslims and Orthodox Christians, and the incoming Western Christians.
In particular, the analysis of the features of the so-called ‘domed basilicas’, or ‘basilian churches’, helps us understand the motivations, attitudes and aspirations of that new regime, whose efforts became particularly apparent within the Val Demòne, a rural area in North-Eastern Sicily previously held by the Arabs, in the period stretching from 1091 to 1130 during the comital reigns of Roger I de Hauteville and his son Roger II. I discuss the significance of visual evidence gleaned from field work conducted on the site of five surviving churches within that area: S. Filippo di Fragalà at Frazzanò, S. Maria at Mili San Pietro, SS. Pietro e Paolo at Itàla, S. Alfio at San Fratello, and SS. Pietro e Paolo d’Agrò near Casalvecchio Siculo.
When Roger II became King of Sicily in 1130, he supported the construction of more magnificent sacred buildings such as the Cefalù cathedral (1131) and the Cappella Palatina in Palermo (1132), whose political and symbolic value may be better appreciated in the wake of the tension between quest for identity and military conquest, as is apparent from an examination of the earlier and humbler ‘domed basilicas’.
Gregory Stone: ABSTRACT: "Dante's Crusade, World Peace, and the Conquest of Islam"
Dante is frequently represented — most notably by Edward Said in the "Introduction" to Orientalism, but also in the contemporary popular imagination — as a detractor if not an enemy of Islam and Muslims. This paper will explore counterpoints to this portrait of Dante as exemplary of a typically agressive and imperialist Western mentality.
Beginning with a close analysis of the central cantos of Paradiso — where Dante is given his military marching orders, his world-historical mission, by one who was famous as a crusader against Muslim peoples (Dante's great-great-grandfather Cacciaguida), I will show how Dante revises the ordinary logic of crusade. Similar to the Brethren of Purity's notion of jihad as an internally-directed non-violent struggle with the self, Dante's crusade involves an internal and discursive rather than an external and physical violence. After treating the question of crusade in Paradiso, I will show how Dante's re-thinking his mission as a crusader is the logical correlary of his political vision for global peace. The paper will close by considering other instances, both in Dante and in some of his contemporaries (the political philosopher Marsilius of Padua and certain of the radical Spiritual Franciscans) of a late medieval movement toward a new model of governance--a model according to which one's religious identity would be irrelevant to one's full inclusion in the political community.
Beginning with a close analysis of the central cantos of Paradiso — where Dante is given his military marching orders, his world-historical mission, by one who was famous as a crusader against Muslim peoples (Dante's great-great-grandfather Cacciaguida), I will show how Dante revises the ordinary logic of crusade. Similar to the Brethren of Purity's notion of jihad as an internally-directed non-violent struggle with the self, Dante's crusade involves an internal and discursive rather than an external and physical violence. After treating the question of crusade in Paradiso, I will show how Dante's re-thinking his mission as a crusader is the logical correlary of his political vision for global peace. The paper will close by considering other instances, both in Dante and in some of his contemporaries (the political philosopher Marsilius of Padua and certain of the radical Spiritual Franciscans) of a late medieval movement toward a new model of governance--a model according to which one's religious identity would be irrelevant to one's full inclusion in the political community.
Jean-Luc Nardone: ABSTRACT: Quest and Conquest of the Self: The Pretext of the Crusades from the 'Fioretti' (XXIV) to the 'Decameron' (X, 9)"
The successive episodes of the Christian crusades, aiming at taking both Jerusalem and the Holy Land back from the Muslims, offer an infinite variety of military narratives where the enemy embodies Evil. Thanks to narratives devoid of wars and fights, the 14th century sees the advent of an eastern typology focused on the figure of the prince or of the sultan, which intends to act as a mirror to Western society. The Muslim is seen as the Other who can turn either into a Christian (Fioretti, XXIV) or into a friend (Decameron, X, 9). However, it remained necessary to give this esoteric reversal a supernatural dimension. The texts I have chosen show that these narratives were retained by their authors because they staged magic and the beyond.
Although they both deal with episodes that are perfectly comparable from several perspectives these two texts have never been compared to one another before. By focusing on the inner dynamics of these two narratives I intend to re-read the pretext of the military conquest as a quest of the self.
Si les épisodes successifs des croisades chrétiennes pour reprendre aux musulmans Jérusalem et la Terre sainte offrent une infinité de récits militaires où l’ennemi incarne le Mal, le XIVe siècle instaure, avec des récits détachés des batailles et des combats, une typologie orientale — centrée sur la figure du sultan ou du prince — en miroir de la société occidentale. Le musulman devient cet autre dont il est possible de faire un ami (Decameron, X, 9) ou un chrétien (Fioretti, XXIV). Mais, comme s’il fallait néanmoins donner à ce renversement exotérique une dimension surnaturelle, les textes retenus le sont aussi parce qu’ils mettent en scène magie et au-delà.
Les deux textes, jamais mis en perspective alors qu’ils relatent, l’un et l’autre, des épisodes par de multiples aspects tout à fait comparables, nous permettront de relire le prétexte de la conquête militaire comme quête de soi.
Although they both deal with episodes that are perfectly comparable from several perspectives these two texts have never been compared to one another before. By focusing on the inner dynamics of these two narratives I intend to re-read the pretext of the military conquest as a quest of the self.
Quête et conquête de soi : Le prétexte des croisades des Fioretti (XXIV) au Decameron (X, 9)
Si les épisodes successifs des croisades chrétiennes pour reprendre aux musulmans Jérusalem et la Terre sainte offrent une infinité de récits militaires où l’ennemi incarne le Mal, le XIVe siècle instaure, avec des récits détachés des batailles et des combats, une typologie orientale — centrée sur la figure du sultan ou du prince — en miroir de la société occidentale. Le musulman devient cet autre dont il est possible de faire un ami (Decameron, X, 9) ou un chrétien (Fioretti, XXIV). Mais, comme s’il fallait néanmoins donner à ce renversement exotérique une dimension surnaturelle, les textes retenus le sont aussi parce qu’ils mettent en scène magie et au-delà.
Les deux textes, jamais mis en perspective alors qu’ils relatent, l’un et l’autre, des épisodes par de multiples aspects tout à fait comparables, nous permettront de relire le prétexte de la conquête militaire comme quête de soi.
Kirsten Rusko: ABSTRACT: “Jus Ad Bellum: Slaughter as an act of penitence in 'Sir Gowther' ”
Sir Gowther presents the reader with a unique and troubling situation: what do you do when God tells you to break the 6th Commandment? The eccentric fifteenth-century romance follows the penitence of Gowther-son of the Devil, egregious sinner, and general menace to society. In this paper I will examine one of the most troubling elements of the romance: slaughtering Saracens as an act of penitence. The text seems to equate good knightly behaviour with good Christian behaviour. I will explore the ways in which the text conflates the social and religious imperatives into a hybrid morality that allows for intense aggression within a seemingly pacifist religion. In particular I will examine the socio-religious climate that gave birth to this bizarre form of repentance, as well as the effect of divine sanctioned violence on the text itself.
Dorothy-June Fraser: ABSTRACT: “Seeing the Divine Light- Cultural Parallels and Optical Theory in Medieval Glass Mosaic- A Preliminary Study”
The author aims to explore the connection between Arabic Islamic and Byzantine cultures during the High Middle Ages as well as the optical theory and practice which made mosaic so spectacular to its medieval viewers. Through examples of mosaic that culminate in the glass works constructed at Cordoba and Orvieto that employed both Byzantine and Islamic workers, we can see the cultural and scientific inheritance of the Hellenic age. Using existing optical theory, the author will elucidate the spiritual and secular reasons behind optically dazzling glass mosaics that appear during the years of cultural interchange between expanding empires. Mosaic work of the medieval world possessed an ability to convey the Divine and was highly prized for its optical complexities.
The trade and even competition between these two large, looming cultures' fostered an environment in the Mediterranean that was highly charged with energy and innovation. By examining methods, production and optical theory we can see the parallel development of mosaic art approaching its medieval zenith. This parallel evolution of cultural, philosophical and scientific research led to an active combination of efforts in the making of great glass religious works in the High Middle Ages.
The trade and even competition between these two large, looming cultures' fostered an environment in the Mediterranean that was highly charged with energy and innovation. By examining methods, production and optical theory we can see the parallel development of mosaic art approaching its medieval zenith. This parallel evolution of cultural, philosophical and scientific research led to an active combination of efforts in the making of great glass religious works in the High Middle Ages.
Michael Barry: ABSTRACT: "The Moor of Venice: Averroes and the Representations of Islamic Philosophy in Medieval and Renaissance European Art"
The great 12th-century Cordovan thinker Ibn Rushd, Latinized as "Averroes", became emblematic of "Islamic Philosophy" itself in Late Medieval and Renaissance Christian European perceptions; this rich slideshow retraces the powerful image of Averroes in 14th- and 15th-century Western art that culminated in 1504 in the masterful Venetian painter Giorgione's enigmatic "Three Philosophers": with the Moor as its central figure, and why.
✧ See also: printable publicity poster/flyer
Farid Laroussi: ABSTRACT: "Struggling with Jihad"
To exert oneself with a praiseworthy aim, this is what the word jihad firstly means in Arabic, according to the Qur'an and the tradition [sunnah] of the Prophet. Stemming from such a holistic and personalized construct, it seems that the concept of jihad has travelled down several stages of development. From the classical age (9th-12th centuries) with jurists like Shamseddin al-Sarakhsi to more politicized figures such as Sayyid Qutb in the 20th century, the interpretations of jihad have been problematized into an evolutionary theory which appears entangled in temporal issues rather than to embrace spiritual dispositions.
What we will examine in this presentaton is the religious and moral doctrine of jihad, the one carried with "the pen" or with "the tongue", as the Prophet put it, as opposed to the one "with arms." Textual evidence point towards jihad constructed as the struggle against passions and desires (animal nature of man), yet this "greater jihad", as it is expounded over and over again in the hadiths tended to be overshadowed by the "lesser jihad", that of warfare. The contention is a run-off on how the enemy is defined, or more specifically how to switch from a political to a moralist standpoint. No wonder that the soul [nafs] of the believer, deemed the genuine battlefield, became the spot of accomplishment and fulfilment of Islamic mysticism.
However, mysticism comes with normative expectations, or at least some legal qualifications (theological knowledge, spiritual training, and so forth). Is it accurate to suggest that the true jihad, set against one's own ego, stands for Muslim monasticism? To what extent does transcendence turn the believer into a witness [shahid] of God's mercy? Is jihad possible at all without trust and surrender? Lastly, what are the practical exigencies of jihad (for al Ghazali, the [nafs] was the human being in reality), beyond the spiritual take on the Qur'an? These are a few questions that will have a bearing of what "fighting" means and encompasses.
What we will examine in this presentaton is the religious and moral doctrine of jihad, the one carried with "the pen" or with "the tongue", as the Prophet put it, as opposed to the one "with arms." Textual evidence point towards jihad constructed as the struggle against passions and desires (animal nature of man), yet this "greater jihad", as it is expounded over and over again in the hadiths tended to be overshadowed by the "lesser jihad", that of warfare. The contention is a run-off on how the enemy is defined, or more specifically how to switch from a political to a moralist standpoint. No wonder that the soul [nafs] of the believer, deemed the genuine battlefield, became the spot of accomplishment and fulfilment of Islamic mysticism.
However, mysticism comes with normative expectations, or at least some legal qualifications (theological knowledge, spiritual training, and so forth). Is it accurate to suggest that the true jihad, set against one's own ego, stands for Muslim monasticism? To what extent does transcendence turn the believer into a witness [shahid] of God's mercy? Is jihad possible at all without trust and surrender? Lastly, what are the practical exigencies of jihad (for al Ghazali, the [nafs] was the human being in reality), beyond the spiritual take on the Qur'an? These are a few questions that will have a bearing of what "fighting" means and encompasses.
Niall Christie: ABSTRACT: "Fighting on Earth to Gain Heaven: The 'Vision of Paradise' Motif in the Kitab al-Jihad of ‘Ali ibn Tahir al-Sulami (d. 1106)"
Over the course of the year 1105, six years after the fall of Jerusalem to the forces of the First Crusade, a Damascene jurisprudent called ‘Ali ibn Tahir al-Sulami publicly composed an extended call to the jihad against the crusaders. In his work he summoned his Muslim brethren both to return to moral rectitude and good conduct, and to march out to fight against the invaders from the west. As a number of scholars have shown, al-Sulami’s work is of vital importance for gaining a full understanding of the initial Muslim response to the First Crusade, containing as it does one of the earliest records of a contemporary Muslim reaction to the events of the time.
Al-Sulami employs a number of strategies in his efforts to motivate his listeners, including promising each of them a place in heaven if they are killed while fighting. To support his point he provides a number of stories drawn from Muslim tradition in which fighters in the holy war receive a vision of Paradise before they die. In the process al-Sulami links marching out to fight in an earthly battle with a spiritual conquest, a winning of heavenly delights resulting from devotion to the jihad.
In this paper we will look more closely at the use of these stories in al-Sulami’s work, noting their common features and examining how they serve his wider agenda, encouraging his listeners to participate in the holy war against the crusaders.
Al-Sulami employs a number of strategies in his efforts to motivate his listeners, including promising each of them a place in heaven if they are killed while fighting. To support his point he provides a number of stories drawn from Muslim tradition in which fighters in the holy war receive a vision of Paradise before they die. In the process al-Sulami links marching out to fight in an earthly battle with a spiritual conquest, a winning of heavenly delights resulting from devotion to the jihad.
In this paper we will look more closely at the use of these stories in al-Sulami’s work, noting their common features and examining how they serve his wider agenda, encouraging his listeners to participate in the holy war against the crusaders.
Juliet O’Brien: ABSTRACT: "The Cansó de la Crozada and Literary Heresy"
The 13th c. Occitan Cansó de la Crozada — better know as the Chanson de la Croisade albigeoise — has tended to be read by historians and used as a historical resource, especially when read alongside the two other contemporary accounts of that crusade: Pierre des Vaux-de-Cernay’s Historia Albigensis and William of Puylaurens’s Chronica.
It is also a work of literary importance when read in its literary context.
This paper examines three aspects of the work as aspects of literary heresy:
—Firstly, the composition and manuscript transcription coincide with two periods of literary flourishing and experimentation: the time of composition, that is, the first quarter of the 13th c..; and the date of the manuscript, in the last quarter of the 13th c (around 1275).
Secondly, formally speaking, as the work is in two parts — a first that is pro-Crusade, the second, anti— it may productively be read as a member of a set of double, continued narratives (mainly) in French of that time: the Lancelot-Grail cycle; early 13th century epigonal romances such as the Roman de Fergus, Bel Inconnu, and Flamenca; and the Roman de la Rose.
Finally, the Cansó should be read in the light of its relationship to an intertextually interrelated group of Occitan dialogic poems (descort, tenso).
The paper shows how these three elements are connected and why they are unorthodox. So as to understand the Canso, and to do so on its own terms, it is essential to see how it is fundamentally a double text in a dialogic, dissenting, discursive mode of writing — and of thinking. It is by no means one of the finest literary works of its period, and that is not its purpose; rather, it engages with the surrounding literary culture in a most interesting way, inserting itself into a tradition for propaganda ends.
It is also a work of literary importance when read in its literary context.
This paper examines three aspects of the work as aspects of literary heresy:
—Firstly, the composition and manuscript transcription coincide with two periods of literary flourishing and experimentation: the time of composition, that is, the first quarter of the 13th c..; and the date of the manuscript, in the last quarter of the 13th c (around 1275).
Secondly, formally speaking, as the work is in two parts — a first that is pro-Crusade, the second, anti— it may productively be read as a member of a set of double, continued narratives (mainly) in French of that time: the Lancelot-Grail cycle; early 13th century epigonal romances such as the Roman de Fergus, Bel Inconnu, and Flamenca; and the Roman de la Rose.
Finally, the Cansó should be read in the light of its relationship to an intertextually interrelated group of Occitan dialogic poems (descort, tenso).
The paper shows how these three elements are connected and why they are unorthodox. So as to understand the Canso, and to do so on its own terms, it is essential to see how it is fundamentally a double text in a dialogic, dissenting, discursive mode of writing — and of thinking. It is by no means one of the finest literary works of its period, and that is not its purpose; rather, it engages with the surrounding literary culture in a most interesting way, inserting itself into a tradition for propaganda ends.
Filippo Andrei: ABSTRACT: "Albert of Aachen and the Chanson de Jérusalem"
The Chanson de Jérusalem represents the thematic core of the Old French crusade cycle, even if it is not the most ancient poem, and it is unanimously considered an example of an ancient chanson de geste later rewritten by an unknown poet to form part of a broader cycle. Besides the imaginary episodes that induced many early scholars to see the Jérusalem only as legendary work, the poem contains instead a narration that follows closely the historical sources of the First Crusade and provides a reliable account of the French expedition to the Holy City. In this paper compares the poem's account directly with those of all the Latin chronicles in order to identify, within the multiplicity of historical traditions regarding the first crusade, the source that the poet would have used in composing his chanson. The comparative analysis thus shows that the Jérusalem used a text that belonged to the Lotharingian tradition whose most important witness is Albert of Aachen's Historia Hierosolymitana. Moreover, several analogies between Albert's chronicle and the account of the poem, as well as metrical devices repeated in crucial moments of the narration, reveal the traces of an ancient historical poem on the First Crusade whose aim was the exaltation of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and which primarily concentrated on the figure of Godfrey of Bouillon represented as a sacred and thaumaturge king.
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