Friendship and trust between medieval princes: affective strategies for navigating intercultural difference across the Mediterranean

Abstract

This essay analyses the rhetoric of friendship in John of Sulṭāniyya’s translation of a Persian letter from the Mongol-Turkic leader Temür (Tamerlaine) to the French king Charles VI in 1402/3. It examines how the discourse of political friendship was an effective strategy for navigating intercultural difference between princely rulers across the Mediterranean in the later Middle Ages. Friendship language and practices functioned as a diplomatic paradigm for cultivating an affective attitude of trust between secular and spiritual leaders. Central to eliciting trust were performances of goodwill and the demonstrable commitment of individual parties to engage in a reciprocal exchange of benefits and obligations. Negotiating intercultural friendships enabled European elites to effect political change while adopting models of masculine authority independent of the hegemonic warrior tradition of medieval leadership.