The Song of Roland portrays a tale of the heroic Franks and their conquest of the town of Saragossa of Muslim ruled Spain. Even though the focus of the Franks was conquest, the push for conversion to Christianity is apparent throughout the epic. The Christian Franks and the Muslim Spanish’s contrasting descriptions promote Christianity. God’s divine intervention with the Franks creates the allusion that Christians are protected by a holy and divine power. Therefore, the Song of Roland not only portrays a heroic tale, but is also a work of Christian propaganda through the depictions of conquest and divine intervention. The religious undertones of the Frank’s conquest of Spain are clear in the Song of Roland. In the first stanza of the epic, …show more content…
Throughout the epic, subtle nods are made to the lack of acceptance of other cultures in addition to the Sarsens. The reference to the Occian men as “a wild and godless clan” and as “repulsive scamps”, demonstrates the Franks’ unwillingness to accept other cultures (Sayers, 174). The epic refers to Africa as “a land accursed and vile,” and described “the Negro tribes” as “thick are their noses, their ears are very wide,” (Sayers, 125). The anti-African rhetoric present in the Song of Roland further pushes the ideology of the Franks that being Western and Christian make one superior. Continuing this rhetoric is part of what makes the Song of Roland a work of Christian …show more content…
There are many references to God as the provider for strength and guidance in the epic that are similar to the divine interventions in Ancient Greek works. St Gabriel, in the Song of Roland, is sent “to guard the Emperor, by God’s express decree,” as well as “watch at his head all night the Angel keeps, and shows to him, in likeness of a dream” (Sayers, 148). Divine dreams ensured that the Franks knew God was on their side. Even if the dream did not result in immediate help, the knowledge of God’s word was enough for the Franks to believe God’s help is a necessity. The divine intervention in the final stanzas result in the surprising win of Thierry’s battle with “God’s help,” (Sayers, 200). This win is a clear sign of divine intervention where God played an active role in setting the determinate outcome of a situation. Unlike the dreams, where God does not tell the Emperor who would win, God sides with the Christian Franks. God’s direct siding in this situation is interpreted as a way to show that being a traitor towards the Christians will not be tolerated. Therefore, the stanzas become a lesson for the reader that faith is stronger than personal
Between the covers of the book Night is the story of a boy who had to endure the constant threat of death. He had to watch as other perished, family, friends, strangers, everyone. Yet his God had done nothing. He remained unmoved and silent. How could a God he was taught to look upon when anguished allow such savagery to
Urban’s decision to begin the Crusade was based on more than just the idea that he was doing the Lord’s will. The Christian idealism was mind over m...
The First Crusade, for instance, was justified as being a response to the plea for help from Emperor Alexius Comnenus in repelling the Seljuk Turks who had invaded Byzantine territories in Anatolia. Equally, the Third Crusade was called to reconquer the lands captured by Saladin in an effort to preserve Christian rule in the region. In this essay I will argue that the Crusades were a complex series of campaigns which cannot be arbitrarily defined as solely defensive or expansionist exercises. Rather, their interpretation should be more nuanced; with each Crusade intended for both the expansion and defence of Christian territories to varying degrees. I shall be primarily investigating the expansion or defence of the boundaries of Christendom from a Traditionalist perspective within the First and Third Crusades, before taking a Pluralist view in studying the Iberian campaigns to determine whether Holy
Among some of the largest conflicts in the world stand the Crusades; a brutal conflict that lasted over 200 years and was debatably one of the largest armed religious conflicts in the history of humankind. Since this is so clearly an event of importance, historians have searched vigorously for the true answer as to why the crusades began. Ultimately, because of accusatory views on both the sides of the Christians and of the Muslims, the two groups grew in such hatred of each other that they began to act in deep discrimination of each other. Moreover, Christian motives seemed to be driven mostly by the capture of Jerusalem, the dark ages of Europe and the common-folks desperation for land, wealth, and a spot in heaven. What seems to be continually
Pope Urban II naturally had a religious control over his people and when he gave his speech at the Council of Clermont in November 1905, he constantly referred to it as the will of God. His speech reminded them that the Crusades were their “concerns as well as God’s” . Throughout his speech, the Pope is constantly trying to align the need for men to fight with t...
Since this paper is my reflection, I will be honest by stating that I am nineteen years old, white, a male, and have been raised in a Catholic family just outside of Louisville, Kentucky. Now why is this important? This is important because the only viewpoint of the crusades that I have studied, prior to my experience with Maalouf, has been from the Christian point of view. Until now, I have yet to place myself in the shoes of those on the opposite end of the sword, shields, and Jihad. History is a touchy subject for me because I have come to learn there is always another side of the story to learn from. This fact leads to the first main thesis of Maalouf’s adventure.
God’s Battalions: The Case for the Crusades by Rodney Stark, will cause readers to question much of what they know about the Crusades, the Crusaders themselves, and the formidable Muslim forces they encountered along the way in liberation of the Holy Land. Stark gives compelling reasons for the Crusades, and argues that readers should not be too quick in following the lead of historians who cast the Crusaders in less than positive light. Stark makes his case supported by evidence that vindicates the valiant struggles of the Crusaders who accomplished the task of keeping Christianity alive through troubled times.
Pope chose to utilize the heroic couplet to trivialize this mock- epic “But when to mischief mortals bend their will, how soon they find it instruments of ill!” (3. 53-54). He also employs in many instances, historic allusions to give the poem a serious feel “Fear the just Gods, and think of Scylla's fate! chang'd to a bird, and sent to flit in air, she dearl...
Eusebius’ account of Constantine’s conversion is comparable to Gregory of Tours’ accounts of Clovis’ and Gundobad’s conversions to Christianity, in the sense that they all initially called upon the “Christ-God” (albeit Gundobad perhaps indirectly) to come to their aid, which he did, during periods of military crisis. The si...
Theme in “Defender of the Faith” can be interpreted in many varying ways, some of which are life-long lessons and others to the relation between faith and the individual.
With all the events which were occurring in the world, Urban had successfully chosen to launch the crusade at a time when the Christian West was ready to put a stop to the fighting in the East by eliminating all opposition to the Christians. It was also the perfect time for the Pope’s message of ‘guiltless, meritorious violence’. To an audience bred on fighting but fearful of hell the promise of an Indulgence was irresistible.
Through this story we can see how oppression in certain cultures changes individuals differently, creates tension between those who do not wish to be subjugated and those doing the subjugating, and we see the integral opposition between the path of Catholicism and that of curandism. WORKS CITED:. Contexts for the Criticism. Ed. Donald Keesey.
Apart from the discernable darkness depicted in England and Belgium, and the Congo, each places’ surface traits are not comparable. The civilized European cities are portrayed as refined, but also as a “whited supulchre,” with “prejudice no doubt” and a desire to “make no end of coin by trade” (Conrad 14). The term “whited supulchre” is a biblical allusion, referring to a person who is superficially pure, but categorically deceptive. In its literal sense, a supulchre is a coffin, and in being whited, it is beautiful on the outside but contains horrors on the inside. This bleak and inhumane place characterizes itself to be civilized, and there in lies the people who willingly welcome the burden of edifying the unfortunates in Africa. Alternatively, the primitive life along the African Congo strikes a glaring disparity to pristine European society. Not only are the riverbanks “rotting with mud” and “thickened with slime,” but also, a “general sense of vague and oppressive wonder” sets a sinister tone to the land and people of the Congo (Conrad 11). The notable absence of description of its inhabitants furthers Africa’s and Africans’ depiction as indistinguishable and incoherent to the European perception. Actual people living in this environ...
The Chronicles of Narnia are veritably the most popular writings of C.S. Lewis. They are known as children’s fantasy literature, and have found favor in older students and adults alike, even many Christian theologians enjoy these stories from Lewis; for there are many spiritual truths that one can gleam from them, if familiar with the Bible. However, having said this, it is noteworthy to say that Lewis did not scribe these Chronicles for allegorical didactics of the Christian faith, but wrote them in such a well-knit fashion that young readers might understand Christian doctrine through captivating fantasy and thus gain an appreciation for it. With this in mind, and in the interest of this assignment, the purpose of this paper is an attempt to analyze one of the many doctrines of the Christian faith from The Lion, The Witch, And, The Wardrobe (LWW), namely, temptation and how Lewis illustrates it through an individual character, Edmund.
Divine Intervention is a “direct and obvious intervention by a god or goddess in the affairs of humans”. In various myths such as the Iliad, the Epic of Gilgamesh, and Herakles, divine intervention was called upon in order to restrain a hero’s destructive or too powerful forces. Although the divine intervention was used to impair different heroes, the purpose to constrain was the same in all the narratives.