Durendal, translated: Islamic object genealogies in the chansons de geste
@article{Khanmohamadi2017DurendalTI, title={Durendal, translated: Islamic object genealogies in the chansons de geste}, author={Shirin A. Khanmohamadi}, journal={postmedieval: a journal of medieval cultural studies}, year={2017}, volume={8}, pages={321-333} }
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…
3 Citations
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