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Durendal, translated: Islamic object genealogies in the chansons de geste
- Author(s):
- Shirin A. Khanmohamadi (see profile)
- Date:
- 2017
- Group(s):
- CLCS Medieval, CLCS Mediterranean, MS Visual Culture, TC Postcolonial Studies, TC Translation Studies
- Subject(s):
- French literature, Literature, Medieval, Performing arts, Art objects, Material culture, Translating and interpreting, Middle Ages
- Item Type:
- Article
- Tag(s):
- Saracens, translatio, swords, chansons de gestes, Medieval French literature, Performing objects, Translation studies, Medieval translation
- Permanent URL:
- http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/M6VQ2S95V
- Abstract:
- The transfer of Saracen arms into Frankish ownership is a leitmotif of many chansons de geste, but one whose significance for translatio imperii has yet to be elucidated. In this essay, I focus on the Chanson d’Aspremont, a twelfth-century epic set in Calabria that narrates the pre-history of Durendal, Roland’s sword of Song of Roland fame, as an object inherited by Roland from its former royal Muslim owner. Drawing on cultural history and a number of object-translation models derived from material and spolia studies, I read the sword’s symbolic transfer as evidence of Norman desire for and appropriation of former Fatimid imperium in Sicily.
- Metadata:
- xml
- Published as:
- Journal article
- Status:
- Published
- Last Updated:
- 5 years ago
- License:
- All Rights Reserved
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durendal-translated.pdf