| ID | 115226 |
| Title Proper | European national poetry, Islam and the defeat of the medieval Church |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Aberbach, David |
| Publication | 2012. |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | The Muslim conquest of the Holy Land from Christendom, the invasion of southwestern Europe in the eighth century, and the Christian struggle, ultimately unsuccessful, to regain the Holy Land from Islam in the Crusades dominated European culture, particularly its poetry, for centuries. From the Old French epic, The Song of Roland (c. 1100) to the Albanian epic, The Highland Lute (early twentieth century), a vast popular culture grew in European vernacular languages in response to Muslim invasions and conquests. This article attempts to elucidate in panoramic form a neglected area of nationalism. It argues that from the medieval period until the fall of the Ottoman empire, poetry was instrumental in the rise of European national identities, partly in reaction to centuries of ascendancy of Islam, which undermined the authority of the Pope, the universal Church, the Gospel and Latin. The defeat of the medieval Church opened the way to narrower, more national and cultural concerns, reflected in a cluster of vernacular European poetic traditions. |
| `In' analytical Note | Nations and Nationalism Vol. 18, No.4; Oct 2012: p.603-623 |
| Journal Source | Nations and Nationalism Vol. 18, No.4; Oct 2012: p.603-623 |
| Key Words | Europe ; Islam ; Medieval Church ; National Poetry ; Religious Wars ; Balkan Nationalism |