Research Catalog

Title

Saint Francis and the sultan : the curious history of a Christian-Muslim encounter / John Tolan.

Author

Tolan, John Victor, 1959-

Publication

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2009.

Supplementary Content

• Contributor biographical information
• Publisher description

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xvi, 382 pages : illustrations; 25 cm

Summary

"In September, 1219, as the armies of the Fifth Crusade besieged the Egyptian city of Damietta, Francis of Assisi went to Egypt to preach to Sultan al-Malik al-Kamil. Although we in fact know very little about this event, this has not prevented artists and writers from the thirteenth century to the twentieth, unencumbered by mere facts, from portraying Francis alternatively as a new apostle preaching to the infidels, a scholastic theologian proving the truth of Christianity, a champion of the crusading ideal, a naive and quixotic wanderer, a crazed religious fanatic, or a medieval Gandhi preaching peace, love, and understanding. Al-Kamil, on the other hand, is variously presented as an enlightened pagan monarch hungry for evangelical teaching, a cruel oriental despot, or a worldly libertine." "Saint Francis and the Sultan takes a detailed look at these richly varied artistic responses to this brief but highly symbolic meeting. Throwing into relief the changing fears and hopes that Muslim-Christian encounters have inspired in European artists and writers in the centuries since, it gives a uniquely broad but precise vision of the evolution of Western attitudes towards Islam and the Arab world over the last eight hundred years."--Jacket.

Alternative Title

History of a Christian-Muslim encounter

Subjects

• Christian hagiography
• Francis, of Assisi, Saint, 1182-1226 > Art
• Christian art and symbolism
• Missions to Muslims > Egypt > Historiography
• Malik al-Kāmil Muḥammad, Sultan of Egypt and Syria, 1180?-1238

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 329-372) and index.

Awards (note)

• Académie Française, Prix Diane Potier-Boès, 2008.

Contents

Part I. Thirteenth to fourteenth centuries. 1. Francis, model for the spiritual renewal of the church: Jacques de Vitry (1220 and 1223-1225) -- 2. Al-Kamil, worthy adversary of the crusaders: anonymous Chronicle of the Crusade (1227-1229) -- 3. Great thirst for martyrdom: Thomas of Celano, Vita prima (1228) -- 4. Epic hero and eminent professor: Henry of Avranches (1229-1230) -- 5. Bearer of the precepts of life: the Bardi Dossal (1240s) -- 6. Burning with a perfect love: Bonaventure, Legenda maior (1263) -- 7. Trial by fire: the Assisi fresco (late thirteenth century) -- 8. Father of the spirituals: Angelo Clareno (1326) -- 9. The sultan converted: the Deeds of Blessed Francis and his Companions (1327-1337) -- Part II. Fourteenth to twenty-first centuries. 10. Trial by fire in painting and sculpture -- 11. The Saint of Assisi confronts barbarous infidelity: sixteenth and seventeenth centuries -- 12. Saint and sultan seen by Philosophes and traditionalists: eighteenth century -- 13. Francis in Jerusalem -- 14. Francis, apostle of peace.

Call Number

JFE 16-534

ISBN

• 9780199239726
• 019923972X

LCCN

2008053082

OCLC

291453897

Author

Tolan, John Victor, 1959-

Title

Saint Francis and the sultan : the curious history of a Christian-Muslim encounter / John Tolan.

Imprint

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2009.

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 329-372) and index.

Awards

Académie Française, Prix Diane Potier-Boès, 2008.

Connect to:

Table of contents

Table of contents

Contributor biographical information

Publisher description

Other Form:

Online version: Tolan, John Victor, 1959- Saint Francis and the sultan. Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2009 (OCoLC)607887984

Online version: Tolan, John Victor, 1959- Saint Francis and the sultan. Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2009 (OCoLC)610393827

Research Call Number

JFE 16-534