Transformation and reconstruction of European perceptions of Eurasia in medieval encyclopaedias.

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K01062
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 03040:History of Europe and America-related
• Research Institution: Toyo University
• Principal Investigator: SUZUKI MICHIYA 東洋大学, 文学部, 教授 (50292636)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 歴史叙述 / 百科全書 / フランス王権 / アレクサンドロス大王 / イスラーム認識

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study attempts to clarify when and how people in the European region formed their perceptions of the outside world and of ‘Europe’. The focus is not on the period after the so-called Age of Discovery, when Europe began to actively expand abroad, but before that, and the object of analysis is a special type of work, the ‘encyclopaedias’.
There is a kind of cognitive distortion in medieval Europeans' perception of Eurasia due to their Christian worldview. However, through their contacts with Islam and Mongolia, they have soberly analysed the cultural and economic position of the communities to which they belonged, especially in the Middle Ages from the 13th century onwards. It has become clear that Europeans in the late Middle Ages were willing to promote ‘diplomacy’ rather than forcible conversion or military oppression, even if the other party was an alien race.

Free Research Field

ヨーロッパ中世史

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究は、13世紀から14世紀にかけてラテン・キリスト教世界で制作、編集された百科全書的作品群を分析の対象とし、中世後期におけるラテン・キリスト教世界の人びとが、古代世界からの伝統的な知識と異文化圏からの新たな情報をどのように整理・統合したのか分析するものである。この作業は、近世以降に展開されるヨーロッパ諸勢力の対外進出を支えた知的文化的背景の一端を明らかにすること、つまり現在にいたるヨーロッパ人の自他認識の歴史的解明につながっていくのではないかと思われる。