Disorienting Orientalism: Finding Saracens in Strange Places in Late Medieval Manuscripts

Author / Editor
Cawsey, Kathy.

Title
Disorienting Orientalism: Finding Saracens in Strange Places in Late Medieval Manuscripts

Published
Exemplaria 21 (2009): 380-97.

Description
Late medieval manuscript illuminations show Danes and other northern pagans with costumes and weapons that are emblematic of the Near East. Like MLT and Gower's Tale of Constance, these images indicate that the term Saracen included various non-Christian groups, evidence of a perspective that sees pagan threats on three fronts: pagan Norse, eastern Muslims, and the Moors and Arabs of Spain.

Chaucer Subjects
Man of Law and His Tale.