Croisade, tyrannie et conspirations antichrétiennes : l’ambiguïté des zones frontières chez quelques auteurs français de la fin du Moyen Âge

Abstract

This article focuses on the representation of the margins of Christianity across certain narrative sources of the late medieval period. The contact areas between Latin Christianity and other religions are perceived in very ambiguous terms, at once bastions of Christianity and potential sources of subversion. Taking the assassinations of Peter of Castile and Louis I of Orleans as a starting point, the focus is on the manner in which Castile, Cyprus, and Hungary, as well as Lombardy, are represented: assimilated into a "peripheral" nation out of necessity. Mixed in with the heroic and exotic imagery of the crusade are a number of negative stereotypes that are used to attack an illegitimate government, such as tyranny, heresy, apostasy, sorcery, and treason.