Contenu du sommaire

The portrayal of Islam in the “Historia Orientalis” by the historian Jacques de Vitry Jacques de Vitry (circa 1170-1240) was Bishop of Acre from 1216 to 1227 and in that capacity lived in the East. During this period he wrote the “Historia Orientalis” in which, among other things, he paints a picture of the people living in the area. Thus he devotes some time to Islam and to its founder in long passages that rely on highly polemical discourse – often completely misrepresentative and legendary – in the tradition of Byzantine theologians. Yet, from under these extremely virulent statements, an argument emerges that was fairly original for the beginning of the 13th Century. The Christian world's lack of success after the failure of the last crusades leads the author to ponder the reasons for this impotence. Accordingly, he does not follow systematically the doctrinal arguments of many of his predecessors, but rather attempts to assess the situation in the Near East in the 1220s from a human and religious point of view. Implicitly this leads him to sketch the outline of a Near-Eastern identity entirely resistant to models imported from the West.

The status of the rhetorical image and the painted image in the “Pèlerinage de vie humaine” by Guillaume de Deguilleville The success of two editions of the “Pèlerinage de vie humaine” (PH1, PH2) by Guillaume de Deguilleville in the 14th and 15th Centuries has to some extent been sustained by an abundant iconography. The author himself has in two areas explicitly programmed its illustration: the image of the square of Peace is in the tradition of Hugues Saint-Victor's diagrams and that of devotional monastic practice; the laide beste (ugly beast) Satan is an imago agens soliciting affects on behalf of an art of memory. In PH2, the author nevertheless expresses his distrust of a poetics of enargeia which overemphasizes the attraction of the image, whether rhetorical or painted, and makes the case for a virtuous, word-based “analysis” of the image. But the attractive strength of the image still operates, and thereby indicates the autonomy of the fiction, impervious to any edifying interpretation.

The political ideas of Francesc Eiximenis The Franciscan Francesc Eiximenis (1327?-1409) was above all a preacher intent on dealing with all the issues a Christian can encounter. His work, written in Catalan, is intended mainly for the urban elites of Valencia. He sought to produce the last great medieval summary, as well as several treatises, which are as much sermons to be read, as a confluence of Franciscan legacy, scholarly tradition and Iberian thought. He is only interested in society because it is the framework within which men can find salvation. Drawing on Aristotelian sources, he regards power as an office and follows his master's developments, but he shows his own originality in defining the legitimacy of power. He believes there is a pact between the sovereign and his subjects, who delegate their powers to him. As long as the sovereign respects this pact, his power is legitimate; should he not, he ceases to be legitimate and can or must be deposed. He also applies this vision to the town, whose role he rehabilitates and whose most indispensable individuals – the merchants – he exalts.

“Epic fear”. The emotion of fear as a literary subject in the French Chanson de Geste A literary system founded on the concentration and overestimation of values, such as the Chanson de Geste, can only be constructed with a set of contrasts. Therefore courage cannot really exist without fear: fear among other people, among those who must be identified as enemies to be destroyed or converted, fear among those who do not belong to the social group which almost exclusively owns courage. But also fear among the heroes themselves, who are also human beings, also creatures of God, of a God who observes them and whom they must fear. This hero's fear, beyond its religious and moral attributes, also has a number of literary functions; it can even become an “epic subject” as soon as it enters the system of epic writing, as soon as it becomes a motivational matrix. This is the literary “subject” to be studied here.

The actors involved in the traffic of relics at the end of the crusades This article, under a reticular and typological angle, deals with one of the most constant trades during the medieval period. The traffic of relics involved after the fourth crusade a considerable number of actors fulfilling the interchangeable functions of receivers, suppliers and buyers. If the role of clerics and princes is well known in the establishment of a large exchange network, the role of laymen and confraternities never received a genuine treatment. However, it appears that the whole European continent was wishful to acquire relics in the Late Middle Ages for religious, political and often financial reasons.

Does crusade literature exist? It is difficult to make any definition of “crusade literature” because of its tremendous heterogeneity, enhanced by its propensity to expansion: inclusion in this category has, in fact, relied for a long time on criteria that are inconsistent from a formal point of view, even if highly satisfactory imaginatively. Later, its academic consecration was established without any prior thinking about narrative forms and linguistic preconceptions. One is therefore entitled to be interested in the formal characteristics of this body of literature and consider setting up some elements of definition on a firmer basis.