Romancing the Other: Non-Christian and interfaith marriage in late Middle English literature, 1300--1450

This dissertation makes a significant contribution to postcolonial medieval studies by examining how fourteenth- and fifteenth-century Middle English authors use representations of non-Christian and interfaith marriages to enter a wider Christian European discourse centered around the threat of the religious Other. Because such marriages are not well documented historically in medieval England, my dissertation argues that their portrayal is not a reflection of actual practice, but rather a fantasy that allows these authors to engage actively in maintaining and defending the dominance of Christianity and the Catholic Church. As my readings show, these texts serve to bolster the Church's campaign against non-Christians by moving this campaign to marriage's domestic sphere. Marriage is thus not only politically important, as it enables alliances to be forged among kingdoms and nations; it is now also religiously important, as it becomes a means for the culture to fantasize about the extent to which Christianity can dominate.;The texts I examine cover an extensive period of the later Middle Ages, ranging from 1300 to 1450; the period of one hundred fifty years indicates that authors maintained an interest in conversion as a consequence of marriage and suggests that this motif was pervasive. The romances I examine include both canonical and non-canonical texts, many of which are anonymous. In chapter one, John Metham's 1449 text Amoryus and Cleopes permits me to discuss how aristocratic marriage is imagined (and expected) to have consequences on the populace of the spouses' kingdom(s)---most importantly, the consequence of conversion. Metham's text thus paves the way for my subsequent studies of interfaith marriage in the rest of the romances. Chapter two investigates how authors apply similar attitudes toward interfaith marriage to both Christian and Saracen figures. Though it seems at first that these authors attempt to show that Saracens share the same ideas and fears as Christians, their texts ultimately undermine any portrayal of a real Saracen figure because the Saracen figures' actions are always responses to the threat of Christianity. Finally, by looking at the Constance legends and popular romances featuring Saracen princesses, chapters three and four analyze the varying role of women in the evangelization process through their participation in interfaith marriages and argue for a reassessment of gender roles and a rereading of the Constance figure.