2005 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Byzantines as the Others : the image of Byzantium in the contemporaries mind
| Project/Area Number |
15520446
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
History of Europe and America
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| Research Institution | Kanazawa University |
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Principal Investigator |
NEZU Yukio Kanazawa University, Faculty of Letters, associate professor, 文学部, 助教授 (50202247)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2003 – 2005
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| Keywords | Byzantium / Constantinople / Medieval France |
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| Research Abstract |
In this study, I tried to illuminate the process of deformation of the image of the Byzantium in the mind of Western European people through analyzing the vision of Byzantium in literary works. In this case, following 2 works were picked up for my research. Firstly, as to Chretien de Troyes's Cliges, I would like to state the following conclusion. The hero, Cliges, was friendly drawn as long as he accepted the sense of value of Western Europe, and admitted the precedence of Western Europe. And it was the empress came from Western Europe that took the real leadership. We can confirm the view of Western Europe that the West excelling in reason would guide and leads in a correct direction the inferior East in morality. Secondly, I took up Gautier d'Arras's Eracle as the next analysis object and tried to extract the view of the Medieval French people on Byzantium. This is the roman adapting Herakleios, the Byzantine emperor in 7^<th> Century, as a model and took inspiration from his deed, the Persian expedition and the recover of the True Cross but the content of the story was considerably deviated from the historical fact. The author drew out one hero's life by collecting stories and legends, most of them issued from Orient, and then skillfully joining them like the patchwork. As the result of a series of creation, the author created the story that the emperor from the West would save the empire of the East. This story seems so convenient for Western people. At this point, egocentric naivety of people in Western Europe at that time was confirmed also. They did never doubt their justice and obediently believed that the expansion of their rule would save the world.
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