Perhaps they were prompted to the chronicler by an authoritative tradition, in particular literary. This tradition was part of medieval symbolic knowledge, the scholarship possessed by the authors and their readers.
It is well known that in old French literature — the heroic songs of the royal cycle, which reflected an earlier period of the struggle of Christians and Muslims (the campaigns of Charlemagne or the events of the Reconquista), a similar image of the Saracens already existed, and it was well known to the crusaders. Chanson de Gesture was given the model with which writers created their own vision of the Muslim world.
Readers, for their part, interpreted what was told by historians also in the spirit of literary and other authoritative traditions. All descriptions of chroniclers thus have, for the most part, figurative meaning, they turn out to be highly symbolic and correspond to medieval representations of the believable. In fact, the stories about the pride of the Saracens take on additional meaning when comparing them with similar chanson de gesture plots of an earlier period.
So, in the song “Firabras”, the Saracen king of Alexandria, like Kerboga in the chronicles of the First Crusade, shows such contempt for his Christian opponent that he does not deign to stand up when his troops draw near. Very often, the epic Saracens — like the historical characters of the chronicles — so despise their opponents that they reject as inaccurate any information about their military superiority.
In the Song of Aspremont, Emir Agolan accuses the Saracen rulers of lying when they inform him of the defeat of the Muslim army. Historians used the same methods of description as poets. Under the pen of chroniclers, Muslims turn into conditional characters, and their imaginary speeches are lifeless rhetorical figures.
The writers stylized their descriptions under the generally accepted patterns in this culture and ideas about the believable. In fictional monologues and dialogues of Muslims, one can find many judgments and statements that are very close to the corresponding passages from authoritative works well known to the medieval reader. Moreover, in the chronicles, the characters confront each other face to face — a technique that is absent in ancient historiography. This gives fictional dialogue a special drama.
Further, the story of the chroniclers unfolds according to an already given narrative scheme. Kerboga, being mistaken on her own account, again and again demonstrates her contempt for Christians. According to Tudebod, the Turks bring Atabek Mosul Kerbog “the simplest sword, covered with rust, the most disgusting wooden bow and a completely unsuitable spear” — all these Muslims, according to the chronicler, were once “taken from the poor pilgrims.”
Having shown all this to the emir, they joyfully report: “This is the weapon that the Franks took with them in preparation for the battle.” In the presentation of Guibert Nozhansky, the Muslims, presenting the atabek with three types of weapons — “a sword covered with rust, black as soot, a bow and an indefinable spear soaked in smoke” — tell him about the same thing: “This is a weapon with which the army of Franks will be on attack us. ”
Seeing the weapons brought by the Muslims, Karboga, according to Guillaume of Tire, contemptuously says:
“Here is a people who are going to shake other people's kingdoms ... that was a weapon with which they should scourge the freedom of the East, but they could hardly kill a sparrow.”
In the Baudry Dale Chronicle, Muslims speak of Christians even more scornfully: “Here are military weapons,” say warriors showing Kerbog a rusty sword, “which this locust brought from miserable Gaul as a great value.”
The details communicated by the chronicler undoubtedly had a symbolic meaning; they could be interpreted by the reader in an appropriate spirit. After all, a rusty sword is an image that in medieval literature had a social meaning. It is known that in heroic songs, writers often resort to this detail to designate villeana, an obscure simpleton.
So, for example, in Guillaume Cleric’s Roman, the son of a peasant equips himself on the road, stocking up with a helmet and rust-covered weapons. Most likely, this literary motif familiar to their audience influenced the image by the chroniclers of the Gentiles. Retelling this episode, writers attributed to Muslims and other representations typical of medieval cultural tradition. So, Kerboga in the passage said that Christians come from the western land, “Europe’s third world. ” In this statement of the Muslim emir, geographical representations inherent in the church cultural traditions of that era are reflected.
Medieval geographers believed that the enemies of God, Gentiles, due to their large numbers populated the entire human ecumenical world. They originally settled one third of the world — Asia, over time — another third — Africa, and in the third third of the world, Europe, they now oppress Christians. Kerboga almost literally repeats the words of one of the church authors, his story is a kind of hidden quote. In general, all descriptions by Muslim chroniclers are a mosaic composed of quotes and passages from the works of previous authorities. The writers were guided by some models and stereotypes known to the medieval reader, by common norms and values for them, in a word — by symbolic knowledge of the world.
The meaning of the story does not depend on the relevance of the theme they express, but on the principles of the image accepted in the culture. Reality, however, finds a very distant echo in these works of chroniclers.
To be continued.