This study focuses on the peculiar success that a number of Middle English romances achieved in fourteenth-century England. The romances, Otuel a Knight, Otuel and Roland, Duke Rowland and Sir Otuell of Spayne, Sir Ferumbras, Firumbras, and The Sowdone of Babylone, are narratives about the Saracen knight Otuel or Ferumbras who convert to and fight for Christianity. Given the particular cultural preoccupation with the crusades in Europe and the common vilification of Islam throughout European literature, the popularity of a Saracen hero for the English is unexpected. In accounting for the popularity of these figures and their tales in medieval England, I analyse through a socio-historic approach the concepts of Islam and views of conversion in medieval Europe and England, the particular resonances between English concerns and these narratives, and the converts and conversions in these romances. I approach this subject with an eye to source material from historical documents, comparing the subject matter of the romances to the preoccupations of medieval Christians demonstrated in the historical material. Through this discussion, it becomes clear that the popularity of these romances was assured because of the unwavering promotion and idealizing of the project of Christian reclamation and unification exemplified through the tales. Differently from much scholarship on romances that extensively use Saracen characters, this study demonstrates that the Saracens in these romances become less of an Other and more of a misled aspect of Christianity that must be led back to the church for the complete unification of Christendom to take place.

The representations of the Saracen in medieval English romances have attracted a great deal of critical attention. Earlier interest concentrated on the (mis)perceptions of the nature of Islam and the behaviors of its adherents. For the last two decades, analysis of the imagery of the Saracens has been drawn in new directions. The Saracen is treated as ¡§the other,¡¨ which functions as everything opposed to Christian and the western world. Consequently, ¡§the other¡¨ is often linked to the formation of ¡§the self¡¨ in terms of race, culture, religion or nation. Previous studies implicitly or explicitly respond to the binary paradigm proclaimed by Roland in The Song of Roland that the ¡§Pagans are wrong and Christians are right¡¨ (1015) and prove the inappeasable enmity between the two peoples. Attached to this presumption are two shared supportive beliefs that make the stereotypical imagery and the binary paradigm sustainable. One is that the nature of romance is homogeneous and is constituted by literary conventions. The other is that medieval England was a world which was isolated from the actual encounter with the Saracens and thereby tended to adhere to the design of a propagandistic stereotype of the Continent (Metlitzki 167). This dissertation will attempt to explore the representation of the Saracens in Middle English romances, and at the same time to reshape the understanding of the binary paradigm as well as the two associated supportive beliefs. My approaches to studying the representations of the Saracens in Middle English romances are two: one is intratextual and the other is intertextual. The first is to take Middle English romances as a corpus, to investigate its homogeneity as well as its variants in the representations of the Saracens. The second is to draw the strands of theological, sociological and historical references to shed light on the contextual knowledge of Middle English romances in the representations of the Saracens. Chapter one introduces the binary paradigm and the supportive beliefs. Chapter two explores the representations of the Saracens mainly in Floris and Blancheflour and the medieval ideas regarding magic. Chapter three investigates mainly Josian, the Saracen Princess as the embodiment of the Saracenic intellectual culture in Bevis of Hampton and compares her with other Saracen females and Christian counterparts. Chapter four focuses on the representation of the Sultan of Babylon in the eponymous romance The Sultan of Babylon. He is represented as an offender of God on the one hand; on the other hand, he is a worthy conqueror, a competent leader and a kind father. The complex image modifies the rivalry paradigm. Chapter five concludes that alternative Saracen characters are not as rare as might be supposed and antagonism coexists with tolerance and inclusion in medieval English romances. In Middle English romances, the Saracens are not always evil, wrong and savage. English romancers express their understanding of the Saracens, the curiosity about the Saracenic culture, and give fair appraisals of the Saracens. They reflect ¡§real¡¨ encounters with the Saracens, they suggest the ambiguity of literary conventions and they indicate the possibility of toleration and inclusion. They reshape the paradigm proclaimed by Sir Roland, break down the myth of the unity and continuity of Western civilization and mark the particularity of English romances.

Ce travail qui propose une étude sur la représentation du Sarrasin dans Saint Louys ou la Sainte Couronne reconquise de Pierre Le Moyne, nous permet de constater que l’Orient véhicule tout un imaginaire qui attire et repousse à la fois. Ainsi ce travail comporte-t-il non seulement l’étude des Sarrasins eux-mêmes, mais aussi celle de la religion qui leur est attribuée, de leur organisation politique, de leurs armes et de leur manière de combattre. Une partie importante de cette étude consiste à découvrir si les Sarrasins de Pierre Le Moyne sont un portrait réaliste ou imaginaire des Arabes en Egypte et en Syrie, des Turcs, ou des Perses…etc.Ainsi, ce que Pierre Le Moyne dit des Sarrasins et de leur religion permet de nous faire une idée non seulement du contexte historique de l’époque, mais aussi de la conception sociale et culturelle de l’Orient. Cette représentation de l’ennemi sarrasin nous permet aussi de bien comprendre les intentions du poète qui voient fleurir différentes stratégies pour affronter le danger sarrasin. / This work which proposes a study on the representation of the Saracen in Saint Louys ou la Sainte Couronne reconquise of Pierre Le Moyne, allows us to observe that the Orient carries an imaginary that attracts and repulses at the same time. this work involves not only the study of the Saracens themselves, but also the characteristics of the religion which are attributed to them. But also their political organization, their arms, and their way to fight. An important part of this study is to discover that the Saracens of Pierre Le Moyne are a realistic or imaginary portrait of the Arabs in Egypt and Syria, Turks, or Persians ... etc.We can ask what Pierre Le Moyne says about the Saracens and their religion gives us an idea not only of the historical context of the time, but also of the social and cultural conception of the East. This representation of the Saracen enemy also allows us to understand the intentions of the poet who sees different strategies flowing to face the danger of Saracen.

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