An indepth examination of the presentation of Constantinople and its complex relationship with the west in medieval French texts.

Introduction
Making Sense of History: East-West Relations and the Idea of the City in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries
Renewal and Utopia: Two Paradigms for Understanding East-West Relations in Medieval French Texts
Aemulatio: The Limitations of East-West Alliance
Admiratio: Utopia as Social Critique
Translatio Embodied? Renewal, Truth and the Status of Constantinople in Thirteenth-Century Didactic Texts
Renovatio as Commemoration: Civic Loyalty and the Latin Empire of Constantinople as Venetian Historiography
Conclusion
Appendix 1: Original Latin Quotations
Appendix 2: References to Constantinople in Other Epics and Romances
Appendix 3: Outline of Events in the History of East-West Relations from the Second Crusade to the Palaeologan Reconquest
Bibliography