Voyages outremer, à nuls autres pareils ? Mers et fleuves d’Orient dans le programme iconographique du manuscrit Royal 19 D I (1333-1340)
illumination, manuscript Royal 19 D I, crusades, Sea, river, Orient
The insertion of Crusades-related texts into an otherwise secular collection of fabulous Eastern travels focusing primarily on the Roman d’Alexandre marks it as a potentially didactic work. Yet at the same time the harmonious balance between the selected texts and the iconographic program tends to weaken the religious and ideological agenda suggested by the Crusades. The result is a more diffuse emphasis upon the defamiliarization associated with exotic travel. Among other things, the images magnify the sea and the rivers, symbolizing a frontier with ’otherness’ and a passage to the wonders of the East.
French literature - Italian literature - Spanish literature - Portuguese literature, Literature (General)