Select annotated bibliography entry
Weever, Jacqueline de. Sheba’s Daughters: Whitening and Demonizing the Saracen Woman in Medieval French Epic. New York: Routledge, 1998.
Analyzes the figure of the so-called “Saracen” woman in medieval French literature in the 12th and 13th centuries. The book uses thematic patterns in the representation of these figures—such as the accented whiteness of crusader-abetting “Saracen” princesses, and the accented Blackness of those who resist the crusaders—to illuminate the intersection of racialization and imperial ambition in medieval French cultural contexts. The work thus explores discussions in the study of French literature, Blackness, conversion, and the crusades.
