PRAISING THE TURK AFTER NICOPOLIS: FRENCH SOURCES

Özet

The Crusade of Nicopolis (1396) fought and led by a great number of Franco Burgundian noblemen and knights against the Ottoman Turks was a great blow to Christendom and especially to the kingdom of France. The impact of the defeat in France can easily be detected from contemporary writings where, in addition to lamenting the defeat, there was a critical stance towards the crusaders coupled with an apparent awe towards Ottoman soldiers. The presence of similar themes in different genres of writing in the period may suggest an early humanist tendency that enables an objective evaluation of the infidel albeit hand in hand with the commonplace “scourge of God” theme. Moreover, however they should possibly be based on true accounts, the authors’ praise of Turks may have served a completely different agenda given the background of the contemporary decadence among men-at-arms in France, going through a difficult time in terms of its military and politics.