Perrine Pilette (CNRS / UMR 8167 Orient et Méditerranée – Islam Médiéval Paris, France)
Abstract: During the 14th century, in a social and political context that was less and less favorable to Christians, the Coptic Church constituted the Coptic-Arabic Synaxarion, a calendar of the Saints gathering a number of accounts relating to their life and martyrdom, in Arabic. This new text seems to embody a new conception of history, more fragmented, where chronological time is not central anymore. Indeed, in the Synaxarion, previous historiographical material, mainly quotes from the famous History of the Patriarchs of Alexandria (HPA), is reorganized according to the liturgical time, while the latter tends then to circulate in abridged, shorter, versions.
Based on these observations, the paper intends to understand how such a switch in “historical writing” was made and, above all, why it occurred precisely during the Mamluk period. In order to make sense of this transformation, the text of the Synaxarion will be scrutinized and questions will be raised: what typology can be drawn up for the historical figures commemorated in the Synaxarion? Which elements are contemporary with the composition period (references to “new martyrs”, to Mamluk rulers, etc.)? Are the quotes from the HPA transformed in this new context? How were Islamic sources included in this corpus?
