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Chivalry and conversion: The Chivalrous Saracen in the old French epics Fierabras and Otinel

Chivalry and conversion: The Chivalrous Saracen in the old French epics Fierabras and Otinel OAl-MasSq. 9 (1996-1997): 1-21 CHIVALRY AND CONVERSION: THE CHIVALROUS SARACEN IN THE OLD FRENCH EPICS FIERABRAS AND OTINEL Marianne Ailes Wadham College, Oxford Chivalry is described by Maurice Keen as "an ethos in which martial, aristocratic and Christian elements were fused together".1 By the time the chansons de geste Fierabras and Otinel were written, at the end of the twelfth century and in the early thirteenth the three strands were inextricably bound together. The concept of a chivalrous Saracen would then, seem to be something of an anomaly. Yet that is what we find in Fierabras, where the eponymous hero, a chivalrous Saracen, is converted to Christianity. Otinel, written shortly after Fierabras, offers in some ways a response to the character of Fierabras, drawing upon the earlier text and presenting a very different Saracen for conversion. Before focusing on these two texts it would be helpful to look at the broader picture, the depiction of Saracens in earlier or roughly contemporary texts.2 From the earliest accounts of the Crusades, there is western admiration for the opponents. In the eye-witness chronicle of the First Crusade, the Gesta Francorum, we read:3 Certe si in fide Christi et Christianitate sancta semper firmi http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Al-Masaq: Journal of the Medieval Mediterranean Taylor & Francis

Chivalry and conversion: The Chivalrous Saracen in the old French epics Fierabras and Otinel

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Chivalry and conversion: The Chivalrous Saracen in the old French epics Fierabras and Otinel

Abstract

OAl-MasSq. 9 (1996-1997): 1-21 CHIVALRY AND CONVERSION: THE CHIVALROUS SARACEN IN THE OLD FRENCH EPICS FIERABRAS AND OTINEL Marianne Ailes Wadham College, Oxford Chivalry is described by Maurice Keen as "an ethos in which martial, aristocratic and Christian elements were fused together".1 By the time the chansons de geste Fierabras and Otinel were written, at the end of the twelfth century and in the early thirteenth the three strands were inextricably bound together. The concept of...
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Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Copyright
Copyright Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN
1473-348X
eISSN
0950-3110
DOI
10.1080/09503119608577025
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

OAl-MasSq. 9 (1996-1997): 1-21 CHIVALRY AND CONVERSION: THE CHIVALROUS SARACEN IN THE OLD FRENCH EPICS FIERABRAS AND OTINEL Marianne Ailes Wadham College, Oxford Chivalry is described by Maurice Keen as "an ethos in which martial, aristocratic and Christian elements were fused together".1 By the time the chansons de geste Fierabras and Otinel were written, at the end of the twelfth century and in the early thirteenth the three strands were inextricably bound together. The concept of a chivalrous Saracen would then, seem to be something of an anomaly. Yet that is what we find in Fierabras, where the eponymous hero, a chivalrous Saracen, is converted to Christianity. Otinel, written shortly after Fierabras, offers in some ways a response to the character of Fierabras, drawing upon the earlier text and presenting a very different Saracen for conversion. Before focusing on these two texts it would be helpful to look at the broader picture, the depiction of Saracens in earlier or roughly contemporary texts.2 From the earliest accounts of the Crusades, there is western admiration for the opponents. In the eye-witness chronicle of the First Crusade, the Gesta Francorum, we read:3 Certe si in fide Christi et Christianitate sancta semper firmi

Journal

Al-Masaq: Journal of the Medieval Mediterranean – Taylor & Francis

Published: Jan 1, 1996

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