The Monstrous Races in Medieval Art and ThoughtBeyond the boundaries of the known Christian world during the Middle Ages, there were alien cultures that intrigued, puzzled, and sometimes frightened the people of Europe. The reports of travelers in Africa and Asia revealed that "monstrous" races of men lived there, whose appearance and customs were quite different from the European norm. This book examines the impact of these races upon Western art, literature, and philosophy, from their earliest mention until the age of exploration. Friedman furnishes a descriptive catalog of the races, most of which were real, geographically remote peoples, some of which were fabled creatures that served as symbols. He traces the evolution of European attitudes toward them, with particular emphasis on the high Middle Ages, when they seem most strongly to have captured the Western imagination. Ranging through literature, the arts, cartography, canon law, and theology, he considers the widely varying ways in which Christians viewed and depicted strange races of men. Finally, he examines transformations in European consciousness brought about by the discoveries of the exotic peoples of the Americas. Whatever their form—pygmy, giant, hirsute cave—dweller, cyclops, or Amazon-the monstrous races clearly challenged the traditional concept of man in the Christian world scheme. It is the medieval thinking about this challenge that Mr. Friedman addresses in this revealing account. |
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Adam Alexander Amazons animals Antipodes antiquity Apostles appearance Aristotle Beowulf Bibliothèque Nationale Blemmyae Bodleian Library Book Bragmanni British Library Cain Cain's called century Christian City creatures Ctesias Cynocephali depicted discussion dog-headed East Ebstorf Ebstorf map English Ethiopians example Figure geographic giants Greek Gymnosophisti hairy Hereford map History human idea illustrated India Isidore Jacques Jacques de Vitry Jerusalem John land Latin LCL Cambridge legend Liber Monstrorum Library MS Cotton Literature live M. R. James Mandeville Mandeville's Travels manuscript Marco Polo marvels medieval Middle Ages miniatures monsters monstra monstrous races monstrum moral Moyen Age nature Naturis Rerum Nicole Oresme Noah Oxford Panotii Paris Pentecost Plinian races Pliny Pliny's portents Psalter Pygmies Ratramnus Renaissance Rhabanus Maurus Roman rubric Saint Augustine Saracen says Sciopod shows Solinus Studies Thomas of Cantimpré tion tradition Western wild wonders word World map writers York