The Myth Of The Greeks Gifts In The Medieval Historiography
The study wants to present why I consider Vergilius phrase Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes a historiographical myth. It was used especially by the Latin chroniclers from the 11th and 12th centuries as a mental preparation for the conquering of the Byzantine Empire. Vergilius phrase is turning out along other denigrating epithets into a cliché of the medieval clerics who wanted to justify their aggressive actions against the Eastern Empire. The Latin chroniclers related to this ancient myth of the poisoned gifts offered by the Greeks only to underline why their ideological approach was fully entitled. Their mental preparation needed an ideological substrate to explain their legitimate military actions against Byzantium. This has been found in the myth of the “dangerous Greeks gifts”. To legitimate their attack, the Western chroniclers needed something to rely on and to justify it. And it was found in this antiquity myth about the cunning Greeks.
Keywords: gifts, anti-Byzantine, Latins, myth, chroniclers, Normans, clergy, Constantinople, Vergilius.
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5.[1] Ibid., p. 117.
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7.[1] Sibyll Kindlimann, Die Eroberung von Konstantinopel als politische Förderung des Westens im Hochmittelalter, Zürich, 1969, p. 26 cf. Lanfranci Appendix Migne, col. 737.
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9.[1] Robertus de Monte Sanctis Michaelis, The Gesta Normanorum of William of Jumièges, Orderic Vitalis and Robert of Torigni, Oxford, 1995, p. 197.
10.[1] Ibid., p. 198.
11.[1] William de Apulia, La geste de Robert Guiscard, p. 123.
12.[1] Ibid., p. 126.
13.[1] Gaufredus Malaterra, De rebus gestis Rogerii Calabriae et Siciliae comitis et Roberti Guiscardi Ducis fratris eius, p. 251.
14.[1] Aimé, du Mont-Cassin, Histoire de li Normant, p. 188.
15.[1] Ibid., p. 148.
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25.[1] Ibid., p. 57.
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29.[1] Historia Peregrinorum, p. 134.
30.[1] Ansbert, Der Kreuzzug Friedrich Barbarossas, p. 52; Historia Peregrinorum, p. 139.
31.[1] Historia Peregrinorum, p. 144.
32.[1] Sibyll Kindlimann, Die Eroberung von Konstantinopel als politische Förderung des Westens im Hochmittelalter, p. 217 cf. Balduinus imperator Constantinopolitanus, De expugnata secundo urbe Constantinopoli, RHF XVIII, p. 523.
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34.[1] André Guillou, La Civilisation byzantine, Paris, 1990, p. 221.
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36.[1] Anna Comnena, Alexiada, Bucureşti, 1977, p. 214.
37.[1] Albert von Aachen, Geschichte des ersten Kreuzzuges, p. 302.
38.[1] Raymond de Aguilers, Le Liber de Raymond d’ Aguilers, p. 175.
39.[1] Orderic Vitalis, The ecclesiastical History of Orderic Vitalis, IV., p. 374.
40.[1] Raymond de Aguilers, Le Liber de Raymond d’ Aguilers, p. 212-215.
41.[1] Robert the Monk, Gesta Francorum, p. 97; Guibert de Nogent, Geste de Dieu par les Francs, p. 154.
42.[1] Orderic Vitalis, The ecclesiastical History of Orderic Vitalis, IV., p. 335.
43.[1] Robert de Clari, La Conquête de Constantinople, ed. Philippe Lauer, Paris, 1924, p. 186-188.
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