While reading our secondary text for this week, I found myself wondering if it would have mattered to the medieval European Christians if they had truly understood the faith of their Muslim enemies. In the eyes of a Crusader, does it truly make a difference if the opposing forces are pagan or monotheistic?
In a society that sees itself as the rightful descendants of martyrs and apostles preparing for the end of the world and the world-wide reign of Christianity, their enemies will automatically and necessarily be defined not what they are, but what they are not. Since they are not Christians, regardless of the particulars of their religious practice, they are, to Roland and his comrades, the evil Other and to be treated as such. This is not an epic that allows for a range of acceptable belief systems, but rather a story that traffics purely in good/bad, us/them, light/dark, Christian/Saracen binaries. While it is interesting and illuminating to see how the categories of Muslim and pagan were repeatedly blended, I wonder if the author of The Song of Roland wouldn't consider it besides the points.
(Obviously, it is a given that the Muslims of this time period - as well as our own- would probably prefer not to be conflated with pagans, sorcerers and the Antichrist, but they are not given much of a choice in this text.)
I think you're right, Rose, in asserting that the medieval Christians depicted in "The Song of Roland" cared little for the actual beliefs of their Saracen enemies and were more interested in asserting their difference from them, even if these differences were imagined or exaggerated. But, as our critical reading for this week suggests, it seems it was more national difference that was at stake than religious difference. They are Franks and Christians, which would explain their waging war on Christians in the East and why they are less interested in converting the Saracens as they are in annihilating them.
ReplyDeleteYeah, pluralism doesn't seem to be an option and I wonder if it's because, on some level, they realize how unstable and insecure they feel in their "Christian" identity which is not all that different from the people they are attacking.