Imaginary Enemy: Non-believers in Medieval Iconography

Coats of arms and flags featuring scorpions, exotic turbans and caps, hooked noses, red hair, crimson, black or even blue faces, unnaturally contorted poses, obscene gestures, and sinisterly aggressive grimaces. In the art of medieval Western Europe, a variety of... signs were used to mark and denounce non-believers (Jews, Muslims, and pagans), heretics, other sinners, and outcasts. They were all associated with the «father of lies» — the devil, as well as with each other, as if they were part of a global conspiracy against Christian society. Pagan Romans were sometimes depicted in Jewish caps and with pseudo-Jewish inscriptions on their clothing, Jews were shown in Muslim turbans, and Muslims were accused of worshipping idols and invoking ancient Roman gods. In his new book, medievalist Mikhail Maizuls shows how from the 12th to the 16th century, the image of the enemy was constructed, how mechanisms of stigmatization worked in the sphere of images and on the streets of cities, and how techniques that emerged in the Middle Ages transitioned into pamphlets, posters, and caricatures of the Modern era.