L’Ost des Sarrasins: les Musulmans dans l’iconographie médiévale (France–Flandre XIIIe–XVe siècle) by Fanny Caroff

Abstract

Reviewed by: L’Ost des Sarrasins: les Musulmans dans l’iconographie médiévale (France–Flandre XIIIe–XVe siècle) by Fanny Caroff Darren M. Smith Caroff, Fanny, L’Ost des Sarrasins: les Musulmans dans l’iconographie médiévale (France–Flandre XIIIe–XVe siècle), Paris, Le Léopard d’Or, 2016; hardback; pp. 327; 70 colour illustrations; R.R.P. €115.00; ISBN 9782863772546. Enriched with a catalogue of seventy illuminations, this study of the ‘Saracen’ in medieval Christian illuminations makes a valuable contribution to scholarship on alterity and race in medieval Europe. Caroff works with manuscripts from northern France and Flanders stretching from the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries, with most manuscripts devoted specifically to the crusades and others belonging to broader chronicle works (such as the Grandes Chroniques de France). Importantly, Caroff explores this iconography in its own right, not just as an adjunct to literary texts, examining the visual vocabulary used by illuminators to represent Muslims. The work is divided into five parts. First, she looks at how military scenes (landings, battles, duels, sieges) comprise the main mise en scène for representations of Muslims. If military conflict constituted the preponderant setting, then weaponry (such as the scimitar) becomes an important motif. Constituting more than mere instruments of war, they are deployed as markers of identity, whether identifying social distinctions (knights, nobles, foot soldiers) or cultural distinctions (Christians and Muslims). The author also considers the role of the Saracen in iconographic representation—winner or loser, superior or inferior. Heraldry is the focus of the second part, and we can well imagine its important function in identifying actors in an illuminated scene of war. This section includes a useful discussion on the crescent (a converse to the Christian cross). Caroff then proceeds to examine the representation of Muslim bodies, with a fascinating exploration of skin colour. Beards were also important motifs, and for many illuminators in the fifteenth century the hirsute face became the sole corporeal sign designating Muslim identity. Clothing, the focus of the fourth part, was a crucial iconographic marker of alterity, particularly the turban. Carloff traces the turban’s gradual development and iconographic shifts in illuminations across the period. In the final chapter, the author asks whether we can speak of ‘la mode orientale’, an oriental exoticism, born in this period? She argues that the ‘Saracen’ as represented in the sources is less ‘luxurious’, ‘oriental’, and ‘exotic’ than other personages of the medieval West’s repertoire of oriental personages. Ultimately, the illuminations present us with an adversary—the ‘ost des Sarrasins’ of the title, unsurprising given the crusade focus of the sources. A study of sources from Iberian or Italian contexts might present different findings, which makes the need for similar studies to Carloff’s all the more vital. At the end of the monograph is a wonderful catalogue of seventy illuminations with comprehensive commentary for each, very useful to readers, since Carloff frequently refers to specific illuminations in the body of her work. [End Page 262] Carloff’s work constitutes a much-needed contribution to scholarship on representations of alterity and race in medieval Christendom, standing alongside studies by medievalists such as John Tolan, Geraldine Heng, and Debra Higgs Strickland. Darren M. Smith The University of Sydney Copyright © 2020 Darren M. Smith