Arabic script on Christian kings: textile inscriptions on royal garments from Norman Sicily

Roger II’s famous mantle and other royal garments from twelfth- and thirteenth-century Sicily prominently display Arabic inscriptions. While the phenomenon is highly unusual in the context of Latin Christian kingship, the use of inscriptions as a textile ornament was common and imbued with political...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Das Mittelalter
Main Author: Dolezalek, Isabelle (Author)
Format: Electronic Book
Language:English
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Published: Berlin Boston De Gruyter [2017]
In: Das Mittelalter (Band 5)
Series/Journal:Das Mittelalter Beihefte Band 5
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Kingdom / Normans / King / Garment / Textile art / Arabian writing / History 1100-1230
Further subjects:B Textiles, Norman Sicily, Arabic, Mediterranean
B Medieval / HISTORY
B Middle Ages
B Thesis
B Medieval History
Online Access: Cover (Verlag)
Cover (lizenzpflichtig)
Review
Volltext (Open access)
Volltext (Open access)
Rights Information:CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Parallel Edition:Non-electronic
Erscheint auch als: 978-3-11-053388-0
Erscheint auch als: 978-3-11-053212-8
Description
Summary:Roger II’s famous mantle and other royal garments from twelfth- and thirteenth-century Sicily prominently display Arabic inscriptions. While the phenomenon is highly unusual in the context of Latin Christian kingship, the use of inscriptions as a textile ornament was common and imbued with political functions in the Islamic courts of the medieval Mediterranean. This case study of the inscribed garments from Norman Sicily draws attention to the diverse functions of Arabic textile inscriptions using various contextual frames. Such a contextual approach not only highlights the specificities of the Norman textile inscriptions and emphasises the practical and political choices underlying their use at the Sicilian court, it also pinpoints the flaws of universalising approaches to transcultural ornamental in circulation in the medieval Mediterranean. This new perspective on the royal garments from Norman Sicily draws from a variety of disciplines, including Islamic and European art history, the history of textiles, epigraphy, legal history and historiography, and aims to challenge established notions of cultural and disciplinary boundaries.
Roger II’s famous mantle and other royal garments from twelfth- and thirteenth-century Sicily prominently display Arabic inscriptions. While the phenomenon is highly unusual in the context of Latin Christian kingship, the use of inscriptions as a textile ornament was common and imbued with political functions in the Islamic courts of the medieval Mediterranean. This case study of the inscribed garments from Norman Sicily draws attention to the diverse functions of Arabic textile inscriptions using various contextual frames. Such a contextual approach not only highlights the specificities of the Norman textile inscriptions and emphasises the practical and political choices underlying their use at the Sicilian court, it also pinpoints the flaws of universalising approaches to transcultural ornamental in circulation in the medieval Mediterranean. This new perspective on the royal garments from Norman Sicily draws from a variety of disciplines, including Islamic and European art history, the history of textiles, epigraphy, legal history and historiography, and aims to challenge established notions of cultural and disciplinary boundaries
Format:Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
ISBN:3110533871
Access:Open Access
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1515/9783110533873