« Indiens, Éthiopiens et Nubiens » dans les récits de pèlerinage occidentaux : entre altérité constatée et altérité construite (XIIe-XIVe siècles)

Abstract

Indians, Ethiopians and Nubians in western pilgrimage narratives : mere observation or construction of otherness ? ; The rise of pilgrimages, which followed the first crusade and the foundation of the Crusader States and resumed after a short interruption after the fall of Acre (1291), led to contacts between Western Christians and Eastern Christians, among whom were those that the pilgrims called Ethiopians, Nubians and Indians, considered as one group. Discovering these people in flesh and blood in their own environment enabled western scholars to know them better, for until then their knowledge was mainly based on written sources, namely Latin and Greek authors and medieval encyclopaedias. Concrete, realistic elements that commanded pilgrims’ attention were added to elements taken from ancient or contemporary traditions, like the evangelization of India by Saint Thomas or the legend of Prester John, a mythical sovereign whose kingdom was sometimes thought to be in India, sometimes in Ethiopia. These different sources of knowledge led pilgrims to mix up Ethiopians, Nubians and Indians – such confusion reflected both the specific preoccupations of each author and the complexity of medieval knowledge, which relied on the appeal of mirabilia and a questioning and critical approach of what was new and different. The fact that these Eastern Christians were increasingly present in pilgrimage narratives is evidence of their growing integration into western culture in the course of the 14th century.