Muntaner’s comments on nations and ethnical groups in the Greek section of the Chronicle

Abstract

AbstractRamon Muntaner’s Chronicle displays a multiplicity of literary genres. Among them, the travel chronicle is worth high lighting, in that it was something new in that period. This paper examines the ethnographic contents found in the Greek section of the Chronicle. First of all, the chronicle must be placed within its literary frame, in which other historiographical works also pay considerable attention to ethnographic and anthropological aspects. Secondly, Muntaner’s relationship with this perspective is worth examining, as it was not inherited from the tradition of the genre. Finally, a set of passages of ethnographic interest is taken from a specific section of the chronicle related to the Greek campaigns of the Catalan Company.

Keywords: Muntaner, Chronicle, historiography, anthropological ethnocentrism, contrast