Of Kings and Giants

Abstract

This thesis is concerned with the literary image of the Saracen in the tradition of the Pseudo-Turpin Chronicle, both in Latin and in its vernacular translations and adaptations. The episodes about Saracen king Aigolandus and Saracen giant Ferracutus are discussed and compared in order to discover continuation and change throughout the entire tradition and an explanation is sought for all deviating individual texts. The texts are not discussed chronologically, but diachronically and thematically. The Latin episodes (ca. 1120-1500) reveal that there is an ontological difference between Aigolandus and Ferracutus and that these parts of the texts are careful literary constructions. The different translations throughout three centuries (ca. 1200-1500) create an interesting prespective on the world view of the audience, the attitude towards translating narrative and direct speech, and the epic subtrate of the Pseudo-Turpin Chronicle not exposed by any written text. Upon studying the vernacular and the Latin traditions, it becomes clear that with notable exceptions, the image of the individual Saracen, is surprisingly consistent in an age in which one would not expect it to be.