John of Joinville’s The Life of Saint Louis has a surprisingly objective portrayal of enemies and the “exotic other” in the context of the crusades. In this time, one would expect that a sense of religious entitlement and superiority would cross over into the descriptions of enemies, or exotic others. Anthropologically speaking, the Tartars, Turks and Bedouins are presented in manner not as subjective, and not with an air of superiority that has been portrayed before. Please consider Matthew Paris’ description of the Tartars; they are a “detestable race of Satan”, who “cover the face of the earth like locusts…spreading a destructive fire and slaughter” where ever they travelled. In short, as portrayed by Matthew Paris, the Tartars were a near a fiendish group of blood lusting, power hungry brutes. This and equally negative descriptions of the Tartars, Turks, and Bedouins are spared by John of Joinville in his The Life of Saint Louis, specifically the section detailing Joinville’s Crusade, or page 191 to 316.
The Tartars are not given as much attention as Matthew Paris gives in his Chronica Majora and are restricted to, in The Life of Saint Louis, a short chapter titled “The Crusaders at Caesara, (Reports Concerning the Tartars).” In this chapter Joinville describes the process of appointing a leader of the Tartars. Accordingly, each tribe under the mass empire of the Tartars would gather and each would elect their most promising member by throwing an arrow marked with the name of said person in a pile. Then a small child would pick an arrow, and whoever’s name was drawn selected his fifty-two closest, or highest-ranking friends, and thrown their names (arrows) in a new pile. The child would choose an arrow, and the corresponding person would be King of the Tartars.[1] In a climate of religious tension, Joinville would be expected to waste no time in placing a judgment on this process of determining rule that resembles the “throw-your-hockey-sticks-in-the-middle-and-sort-out-the-teams” style of organizing a rag-tag pickup hockey game. Joinville declines any such judgments and continues by outlining the laws given to keep the peace in the Tartar society; he states “that no man should steal from another or strike another if he did not want to lose his hand, nor should any man sleep with another man’s wife or daughter if he did not want to lose his hand or his life.”[2] Joinville concludes his description of this process by explaining “he [the king] gave them many other good laws in order to maintain peace.”[3] Joinville then describes the cultural make up of the Tartars: the role of women in society, the eating habits, and their impressive war reputation. The Tartars are explained as a very powerful group that is, at times, not so distant. An incident is described (after a description of a desolate city after a Tartar fallout) where the King makes contact with the Tartar king, and a response is given back stating that, in order to keep the Tartars from attacking them, an annual fee must be paid. The discussion is concluded with Joinville stating something to the effect of, “I bet the King wished he hadn’t made contact.”[4]
The Turks constantly seem to be at war with Joinville’s companions, and a reader can get a slight sense of bias when his description of the battles and the people therein are given. The Turks are presented as a formidable opponent, often employing “engines” that launch boulders and flaming arrows; Joinville neglects the opportunity to explain how this could be seen as a cowardly way of fighting. Also, it becomes apparent through Joinville’s presentation of the Turks in warfare, that they only fight fights they feel they can do well in. To explain, often a turning point has been reached in a battle, the Turks are quick to decide all is lost and flee. Very much of the time, the Turks fight in large groups, and if they are isolated or outnumbered, they flee – at least as presented by Joinville. In a more negative aspect, the individual attacks on people (by the Turks) are often done from behind; this is a very dishonorable thing to do. Joinville explains an attack: “A Turk appeared, coming from the direction of the king’s battalion, which was to our rear, and he struck my lord Peter Noville from behind with a mace, pinning him down on his horse’s neck with this blow.”[5] Again, Joinville declines to make hateful and judgmental comment a-la Matthew Paris when describing this attack. Finally, to conclude on the discussion of the Turks, is the conversation about “Scecedin” the commander of the Turks, and this perhaps shows the most bias. Joinville uses the term “infidel” to describe this ruler, but then later continues to describe the physical war clothing, and banners that he wears.[6] The last of the exotic peoples presented by Joinville is the Bedouins, and they are given a scant courtesy.
The Bedouins are described at the beginning of chapter seven. Joinville begins by saying he is going to tell us “what sort of people the Bedouins are.”[7] In short, the Bedouins do not believe in Muhammad, but his uncle, Ali. Under this belief, “when a man dies for his lord, or for any good cause, his soul enters a better and happier body than before.”[8] Joinville does not condone this belief and is quick to state that it is “wicked”, so “wicked that it is the equivalent to saying that God has no power to help us, for those of us who serve God would be fools if we did not believe that he did not have the ability to lengthen our lives and to protect us from evil and misfortune. “[9] Joinville supposedly corrects that viewpoint, and validates his own by saying, “We must believe in him [God], for he has the power to do all things.”[10] A detailed description of the lifestyle of the Bedouins can be found on page 208 and 209, but essentially it states that they are nomadic peoples, and describes that sort of lifestyle.
Finally, when looking at Joinville’s description of the Tartars, Turks, and Bedouins in The Life of Saint Louis one does not encounter the fierce xenophobic like accounts in the style of Matthew Paris, but a more distant, respective and well rounded description. Judgment calls are only ever made, in the case of Bedouins and their following of Ali, when religious doctrine is called into question.
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