The image of Muhammad in Latin chronography of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries

Author:Luchitskaja, S

Article Title:The image of Muhammad in Latin chronography of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries

Abstract:
The foundations of the western image of Islam were laid in the early middle ages, when the Prophet was presented as an instrument of apostates, at whose instigation he created a religion which was the very antithesis of Christianity. However, twelfth- and thirteenth-century writers embellished this picture with tales of an exotic world, drawing upon both motifs from folklore and contemporary fantasies of a Muslim Paradise of sensual delights. The increase in direct contact with Islam seems to have done little to modify either the traditional stereotypes or the newer exotica.

Keywords: perception of the other; image of Muhammad; Medieval biography; Muslim-Christian contacts

DOI: 10.1016/S0304-4181(99)00018-4

Source:JOURNAL OF MEDIEVAL HISTORY

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