Table Of ContentMichelina Di Cesare
The Pseudo-Historical Image of the Prophet Muhøammad
Studien zur Geschichte und Kultur
des islamischen Orients
Beihefte zur Zeitschrift „Der Islam“
Herausgegeben von
Lawrence I. Conrad
und Benjamin Jokisch
Neue Folge
Band 26
De Gruyter
Michelina Di Cesare
The Pseudo-Historical Image
ø
of the Prophet Muhammad
in Medieval Latin Literature:
A Repertory
De Gruyter
ISBN 978-3-11-026382-4
e-ISBN 978-3-11-026383-1
ISSN 1862-1295
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
DiCesare,Michelina.
Thepseudo-historicalimageoftheProphetMuhammadinmedieval
Latinliterature:arepertory/MichelinaDiCesare.
p. cm. (cid:2) (Studien zur Geschichte und Kultur des islamischen
Orients)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-3-11-026382-4(hardcover:alk.paper)
1. Muhammad, Prophet, d. 632 (cid:2) Biography (cid:2) History and
criticism. 2.Latinliterature,Medievalandmodern(cid:2)Historyand
criticism. 3.Latinliterature,Medievalandmodern(cid:2)Bibliography.
4.Muhammad,Prophet,d.632(cid:2)Inliterature. I.Title.
BP75.3.D5 2011
870.810351(cid:2)dc23
2011034957
BibliographicinformationpublishedbytheDeutscheNationalbibliothek
TheDeutscheNationalbibliothekliststhispublicationintheDeutsche
Nationalbibliografie;detailedbibliographicdataareavailableintheInternet
athttp://dnb.d-nb.de.
©2012WalterdeGruyterGmbH&Co.KG,Berlin/Boston
Printingandbinding:Hubert&Co.GmbH&Co.KG,Göttingen
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Alla mia famiglia
Foreword
Any previous moment in the stream of time is in fact a vanished mem-
ory, a segment of reality that escapes our remembrance of actions, ex-
periences,desires,andevenknowledge.Thetaskof anyhistorianmain-
ly involves the process of retrieving the past. This scientific exploit
could easily be compared to any rescue operation; the historian there-
forerescuesthepastthatisthefocusof hisorherstudy.Heorshemain-
ly works with written sources, and, complicated and deceitful as they
may be, they are the main tool for gaining access to the lost domain
of our collective memory. However, any written historical source can-
not be mistaken for the past, nor its replacement. Moreover, a literary
source cannot function as the ultimate and final point in history or
the last remnant of any specific moment in history. It rather acts like
the threshold, or even barrier, from which begins the journey into
the past. The historian tries to surpass this threshold, to penetrate this
barrier of words, in order to reach the realm in which a huge sum of
missing information regarding humanity is suspended.
The task undertaken by the author of this book is very ambitious.
MichelinaDiCesarepresentsuswithavastquantityofmedievalwritten
sourcesconcerningthemakingof theimageof theProphetMuhammad
˙
intheMiddleAgesinEurope.Thisbookillustrates theEuropean desire
to retrieve Muhammad from the past, and the wish to create for Mu-
˙
hammad a visible, almost tangible image which has both a face and a
˙
body, and the effort to endow him with a coherent, albeit alleged, bi-
ography.TheseEuropeanpreoccupationscanallbetracedintheassem-
blage of the numerous edited and critically annotated fragments which
form the core of this study.
The sources chosen here could be compared to the varied and nu-
merous sketches that any artist or architect draws in order to capture in
visibleformanidea,afantasy,oradream.Yet,theimageof theProphet
sketched in these written sources from throughout the Latin West was
totally imagined, illustrative of the specific Zeitgeist or even complex
psyche of Europe at a specific juncture in time rather than a “true” his-
torical image of Muhammad. In fact, the European images of Muham-
˙ ˙
mad bear witness to the multifarious and complicated relationship that
VIII Foreword
Christendom had, and still has, with Islam. Each European literary
image of Muhammad exemplifieshow the Prophet’s image wasmanip-
˙
ulated and maneuvered in order to operate within particular ideological
systemsoperativeintheLatinWest.Moreover,theuseandreuseoffor-
mersourcesontheimageof Muhammadandtheirintegrationintonew
˙
ideologies is extremely fascinating. These intertextual connections call
thereader’sattentiontothelessvisible,andevenunconscious,processes
through which Europe built and formed its great “Other.”
This book is the result of the research project entitled “Crossing
Boundaries, Creating Images: In Search of the Prophet Muhammad
in Literary and Visual Traditions,” which is based at the Kunsthistor-
isches Institut in Florenz (Max Planck Institute) and aims to explore
themultiplewaysinwhichtheProphetMuhammadhasbeendescribed
˙
and depicted in European traditions from the medieval era to the early
modern period. The task of collecting, assessing, and analyzing Latin
translations of the Qur’a¯n and vitae of the Prophet in Latin and Ro-
mance languages was undertaken by the philologist Michelina Di Ce-
sare. Other topics of study supported by this project include illustrated
European historical and belletristic manuscripts, graphic works, printed
books, sculptures, and frescoes, which will be the subject of subsequent
publications.
Idohopethatthisbookwillcreateasoundinfrastructurefordiscus-
sing matters related to the making of the image of the Prophet and of
Islam in the West, and will promote further investigation of this rich
material.
Avinoam Shalem, Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz, May 2011
Acknowledgments
Before leaving the reader to her/his immersion in these extraordinary
texts, I want to express my deep gratitude to the Max-Planck-Gesell-
shaftforsponsoringmyresearchasapostdoctoralfellowattheKunsthis-
torischesInstitutinFlorenz-Max-Planck-Institut;thedirectorof theIn-
stitute, Gerhard Wolf; andAvinoam Shalem, thedirector of the project
“Crossing Boundaries, Creating Images: In Search of the Prophet Mu-
hammadinLiteraryandVisualTraditions,”undertheauspicesof which
my work has been realized; and the members of the research group:
Heather Coffey, Christiane Gruber, and Alberto Saviello.
IwouldalsoliketothanktheIstitutoItalianopergliStudiStoriciin
Naples for supporting the final stage of this work, the publisher De-
Gruyterfor welcoming thisbookin itsSeries of Studien zurGeschichte
und Kultur des islamischen Orients.
I am also deeply grateful to Jonathan Fox, who assisted me patiently
in formulating my ideas in clear English and in giving a harmonious
shape to this volume.
MycolleaguesandfriendsinFlorenceandNaples,mymentorMaria
Vittoria Fontana, my teacher Marina Passalacqua, Father Emilio Panella
O.P., Gian Luca Potestà, all the scholars I met during the conference
held in Florence in July 2009 and in Barcelona in September 2009,
the many kind librarians who assisted me, my family: I thank all of
them for the encouragement, suggestions, help, and joy they gave me
during the preparation of this work.
