Cluny and the Muslims of La Garde-Freinet: Hagiography and the Problem of Islam in Medieval Europe
Scott G. Bruce
Abstract
In the summer of 972 a group of Muslim brigands based in the south of France abducted the abbot of Cluny as he and his entourage crossed the Alps. Ultimately, the abbot was set free and returned home safely, but the abduction outraged Christian leaders and galvanized the will of local lords. Shortly thereafter, Count William of Arles marshaled an army and succeeded in wiping out the Muslim stronghold. This book uses this incident to examine Christian perceptions of Islam in the Middle Ages. The monks of Cluny kept the tale of their abbot’s abduction alive over the next century in hagiographica ... More
In the summer of 972 a group of Muslim brigands based in the south of France abducted the abbot of Cluny as he and his entourage crossed the Alps. Ultimately, the abbot was set free and returned home safely, but the abduction outraged Christian leaders and galvanized the will of local lords. Shortly thereafter, Count William of Arles marshaled an army and succeeded in wiping out the Muslim stronghold. This book uses this incident to examine Christian perceptions of Islam in the Middle Ages. The monks of Cluny kept the tale of their abbot’s abduction alive over the next century in hagiographical works and chronicles written to promote his sanctity. The book explores the telling and retelling of this story, focusing particularly on the representation of Islam in each account, and how that representation changed over time. The culminating figure in this study is Peter the Venerable, one of Europe’s leading intellectuals and abbot of Cluny from 1122 to 1156. Remembered today largely for his views of Islam, Peter commissioned Latin translations of Muslim historical and devotional texts including the Qur’an. As the book shows, Peter’s thinking on Islam had its roots in the hagiographical tradition of the abduction. In fact, Peter drew from the stories as he crafted a “Muslim policy” relevant to the mid-twelfth century, a time of great anxiety about Islam in the aftermath of the failed Second Crusade.
Keywords:
Islam,
Middle Ages,
Muslim,
abbot of Cluny,
Peter the Venerable,
Second Crusade
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2015 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780801452994 |
| Published to Cornell Scholarship Online: August 2016 |
DOI:10.7591/cornell/9780801452994.001.0001 |
Authors
Affiliations are at time of print publication.
Scott G. Bruce, author
Associate Professor of History, the University of Colorado, Boulder
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