Abstract
The name of the half–Armenian queen of Jerusalem, Melisende, today resonates well beyond the double binary boundaries of East and West, and males and females. An heir to the Crusader throne of Jerusalem, her name is primarily tantamount with her inspired struggle to co–rule, and her ingenious hybrid portrayals of long–established eastern Mediterranean traditions, dyeing the sacred spaces with both the Armenian cochineal purple, precious silks, and the acanthus pattern. Trespassing gender, creed, and pictorial differences, her legacy includes a body of art, remarkable in its diversity, and often staggering in its mythically biblical and exegetical implications. The potential for more nuanced manifestations is perhaps nowhere better configured than in the privileged holy sites. Affirming a more dialectical, less unbalanced, spatial imagery, indeed, one that perfects textual records, however indirectly they seem to be, Melisende has become a shape shifter. Hence, the administrative testimonies of the Cairo Geniza, Crusader chronicles and charter evidence, and Armenian and Latin paradigmatic sources and exegeses, offer greater transparency to Meta cultural encounters. Taking the role of kin–keeper to her hybrid clan, Melisende promoted her artistic projects, deploying a Theo–poetical, ecumenical decorum that complemented and transcended history. This paper follows Melisende’s sophisticated gaze and scrutiny, interweaving the holy sites with manifold pictorial veils, reflecting an inventive, imaginary gender of a devoted female, acting in a male-oriented society, and considered “above her female sex” by her contemporaries.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
QUEEN MELISENDE, GENDER, CLAN, KINSHIP, ART PATRONAGE, CRUSADER JERUSALEM
