Lines of the kingdom: bloodshed and the establishment of the Frankish Christian identity in Chanson de Roland
This essay investigates the importance of death in Chanson de Roland for the purposes of enacting and changing borders of cultural identity. It argues that Roland responds to contemporary concerns over Christian superiority vis-à-vis the Islamic world. The representation of communities in Roland is...
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
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2022
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/161408 |
| _version_ | 1811676544259588096 |
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| author | Adam, Steven |
| author2 | School of Humanities |
| author_facet | School of Humanities Adam, Steven |
| author_sort | Adam, Steven |
| collection | NTU |
| description | This essay investigates the importance of death in Chanson de Roland for the purposes of enacting and changing borders of cultural identity. It argues that Roland responds to contemporary concerns over Christian superiority vis-à-vis the Islamic world. The representation of communities in Roland is dynamic and changing over the course of the poem: Christian and Saracen communities are initially behaviourally different but with superficial qualities of resemblance that threaten to efface the perceived moral and chivalric superiority of Christendom. Roland’s slaying of a specific group of Saracen knights effects a potent clarification and reformulation of communal boundaries between Christians and Saracens, removing any ambiguity or illusion of moral parity between the two camps. Meanwhile, his own death allows for a consolidation of a uniform Frankish Christian identity and a transformation in social and political structures. Finally, the execution of Ganelon functions to qualm unsettling fears over lingering heresy and affirms the non-ethnic basis for Christian identity. |
| first_indexed | 2024-10-01T02:23:09Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | ntu-10356/161408 |
| institution | Nanyang Technological University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-10-01T02:23:09Z |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ntu-10356/1614082022-08-31T02:10:43Z Lines of the kingdom: bloodshed and the establishment of the Frankish Christian identity in Chanson de Roland Adam, Steven School of Humanities Humanities::Language Identities Christian–Muslim Relations This essay investigates the importance of death in Chanson de Roland for the purposes of enacting and changing borders of cultural identity. It argues that Roland responds to contemporary concerns over Christian superiority vis-à-vis the Islamic world. The representation of communities in Roland is dynamic and changing over the course of the poem: Christian and Saracen communities are initially behaviourally different but with superficial qualities of resemblance that threaten to efface the perceived moral and chivalric superiority of Christendom. Roland’s slaying of a specific group of Saracen knights effects a potent clarification and reformulation of communal boundaries between Christians and Saracens, removing any ambiguity or illusion of moral parity between the two camps. Meanwhile, his own death allows for a consolidation of a uniform Frankish Christian identity and a transformation in social and political structures. Finally, the execution of Ganelon functions to qualm unsettling fears over lingering heresy and affirms the non-ethnic basis for Christian identity. 2022-08-31T02:10:43Z 2022-08-31T02:10:43Z 2021 Journal Article Adam, S. (2021). Lines of the kingdom: bloodshed and the establishment of the Frankish Christian identity in Chanson de Roland. Neophilologus, 105(4), 491-506. https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11061-021-09693-7 0028-2677 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/161408 10.1007/s11061-021-09693-7 2-s2.0-85113611522 4 105 491 506 en Neophilologus © 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. All rights reserved. |
| spellingShingle | Humanities::Language Identities Christian–Muslim Relations Adam, Steven Lines of the kingdom: bloodshed and the establishment of the Frankish Christian identity in Chanson de Roland |
| title | Lines of the kingdom: bloodshed and the establishment of the Frankish Christian identity in Chanson de Roland |
| title_full | Lines of the kingdom: bloodshed and the establishment of the Frankish Christian identity in Chanson de Roland |
| title_fullStr | Lines of the kingdom: bloodshed and the establishment of the Frankish Christian identity in Chanson de Roland |
| title_full_unstemmed | Lines of the kingdom: bloodshed and the establishment of the Frankish Christian identity in Chanson de Roland |
| title_short | Lines of the kingdom: bloodshed and the establishment of the Frankish Christian identity in Chanson de Roland |
| title_sort | lines of the kingdom bloodshed and the establishment of the frankish christian identity in chanson de roland |
| topic | Humanities::Language Identities Christian–Muslim Relations |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/161408 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT adamsteven linesofthekingdombloodshedandtheestablishmentofthefrankishchristianidentityinchansonderoland |