Ibn Warraq: Walter Scott, The Talisman, the Crusades, Richard I of England and Saladin: Myths, Legends and History (Part 44)

Walter Scott, The Talisman, the Crusades, Richard I of England and Saladin: Myths, Legends and History
by Ibn Warraq
Part 44
Parts 1-39 / Part 40 / Part 41 / Part 42 / Part 43

Moving onto the nineteenth century, we have Sophie Cottin’s novel Mathilde, published in 1805, in which the eponymous heroine, sister of Richard the Lionheart, falls in love with Saladin’s brother, Malek-Adel [i.e. al-‘Ādil]. Saladin plays a secondary role, it is his brother who is the paragon of the chivalrous knight: noble, courageous, tender, full of fire and melancholy, physically and morally beautiful. Mathilde, torn between her religion and her profane passion, dare not confess she loves a Muslim until Malek-Adel agrees to convert to Christianity. Saladin is reluctant to fight King Guy in single combat, when he does he fares badly, and is only just saved by his brother Malek-Adel.

The novel was a great success, and led to six librettos being written between 1828 and 1863 for the music of Pacini, Bergonzi, Costa, Poniatowski, Ventura-Sanchez, Loewe.

The historical novels of G.A. Henty, written between 1867 and 1902 aimed at young people, were immensely popular right up to to the 1950s, in England, at least. He wrote over 120 works of historical fiction, which were frowned upon from the1960s onwards, for their imperialism, xenophobia, racism, and reactionary views. But these works written during the heyday of British imperialism are making a surprising comeback among conservative homeschoolers, looking for texts that will build character, courage, resourcefulness, and faith, and teach history at the same time. The historian A.J.P. Taylor, a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, who lectured in modern history at Oxford from 1938 to 1963, wrote that “true history began with Sir Walter Scott; he felt himself back into time”, and also confessed to a passion for the historical fictions of G.A. Henty. He claimed that it was the reading of Henty that gave him confidence to give tutorials on the Thirty Years War.

A glance at some of the titles of his novels indicate their sweep and range: With Clive in India: The Beginnings of an Empire [1884]; With Wolfe in Canada: The Winning of a Continent [1887]; Through Russian Snows: A Story of Napoleon's Retreat from Moscow [1896]; In Greek Waters: A Story of the Grecian War of Independence (1821–1827) [1893], and of course the work that concerns us here, Winning His Spurs: A Tale of the Crusades (aka Boy Knight) [1882]. The influence of Sir Walter Scott on the latter work is evident -- both the influence of Ivanhoe and The Talisman. Henty begins the Crusader novel in England and borrows Scott’s themes of the rivalry between the Saxons and the Normans, developed in Ivanhoe. Young Cuthbert accompanies Sir Walter (a homage to Scott?) and Richard the Lionheart to the Holy Land on the Third Crusade. Though accused of, above all, imperialism, Henty in this work does not take an imperialistic or a jingoistic position but adopts rather a realistic or critical attitude towards the Crusades and Crusaders. Father Francis explains to young Cuthbert what the Crusades were all about: “When the followers of the evil prophet took possession of the land, they laid grievous burdens upon the pilgrims, heavily they fined them, persecuted them in every way, and treated them as if indeed they were but the scum of the earth under their feet….

To be continued.

Ibn Warraq is the author of numerous books, including Why the West Is Best and Why I Am Not A Muslim.

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2 Comments

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Aardvark | January 19, 2013 11:24 AM | Reply

The books of G A Henty are long out of copyright, and are available - including Winning His Spurs - as free downloads on Project Gutenburg (www.gutenborg.org).

gravenimage | January 19, 2013 3:16 PM | Reply

Moving onto the nineteenth century, we have Sophie Cottin’s novel Mathilde, published in 1805...
..............................

The Romantics—many of which I have rather a fondness for—were entranced by the idea of the "noble savage". This led both to some fascinating expansions of point of view—including some real sympathy for the "other" and a welcome eroding of prejudice.

On the other hand, it also led to some jaw-dropping naïvité, and some repulsive whitewashing of barbarism.

Islam was one of the major beneficiaries of the latter phenomenon.

I grew up at the tail end of the period where Islam was presented as a fabulous setting for children's tales—the 1960s and 1970s. Even here, though—in the stories of Ali Baba and Scheherazade—the essential brutality of Islam bleeds through.

...in which the eponymous heroine, sister of Richard the Lionheart, falls in love with Saladin’s brother, Malek-Adel...
..............................

Of course, Matilda, Duchess of Saxony, never spent any time in the Holy Land—although her brother and husband did.

Saladin's brother Malek-Adel appears to be a fictional character, as well.

Of course, there's nothing wrong with using historical characters in fiction—there is, in fact, rather a revival of the form today—with predictable mixed results, which can range from penetratingly brilliant to laughably, ahistorically bad.

But the point is that an author had to go to wildly imagined fiction to come up with the perfect, chivalrous Muslim knight, because they certainly didn't exist in real history.

The historical novels of G.A. Henty...the work that concerns us here, Winning His Spurs: A Tale of the Crusades (aka Boy Knight) [1882]. The influence of Sir Walter Scott on the latter work is evident -- both the influence of Ivanhoe and The Talisman. Henty begins the Crusader novel in England and borrows Scott’s themes of the rivalry between the Saxons and the Normans, developed in Ivanhoe. Young Cuthbert accompanies Sir Walter (a homage to Scott?) and Richard the Lionheart to the Holy Land on the Third Crusade. Though accused of, above all, imperialism, Henty in this work does not take an imperialistic or a jingoistic position but adopts rather a realistic or critical attitude towards the Crusades and Crusaders. Father Francis explains to young Cuthbert what the Crusades were all about: “When the followers of the evil prophet took possession of the land, they laid grievous burdens upon the pilgrims, heavily they fined them, persecuted them in every way, and treated them as if indeed they were but the scum of the earth under their feet….
..............................

Well, this last is true—the Crusades were undertaken because Muslims in the Levant were attacking, murdering, enslaving, and kidnapping and ransoming Christian pilgrims on their way to the Holy Land.

This crucial point is all too often forgotten today, and the Crusades are falsely treated like some sort of proto-imperialism on the part of Europeans.

Of course, even here, as noted, the Crusades are treated critically. Often stories set before the Protestant Reformation were used to critique Catholicism—which seemed much more of an issue to most Britons in the 19th-century than did Islam, which was mostly seen as far away at the edges of their empire and at least partially defanged.

But now, Islam has come roaring back in all its bloody "glory"—yet we are left with the legacy of whitewashing and bowdlerizing the Muhammedan faith, as well as more modern PC/MC, which leaves us even less able to defend ourselves against its depredations.

Ibn Warraq, thanks for the continued serialization of this fascinating article here.

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