《马可·波罗游记》与中世纪欧洲东方观的悖异--以东方三博士传说体系为例

The Paradoxes between Travels of Marco Polo and the Oriental View of Medieval:An Investigation Centered on the Legendary System about Magi

中世纪后期的欧洲社会盛传三个关于基督教在东方扩张并取得胜利的传说人物,即东方三博士、圣托马斯和祭司王约翰。他们曾被神圣罗马帝国皇帝腓特烈一世的文人团队构建出一个以东方三博士为核心的传说体系,用以宣传德皇权力的普适性和权威性,并为十字军东征提供了宗教依据。然而,《马可·波罗游记》并未将它们置于基督教的话语体系中进行记述,且与拉丁版传说体系之间存在诸多悖异之处,不仅从外部解构了三者彼此之间的有机链条,而且否定了各传说内部诸多要素的传统说法。这在一定程度上动摇了东方三博士在神学体系中的重要地位,打破了拉丁世界与祭司王约翰夹击穆斯林的幻想,甚至造成了基督教精英集体性的“心理创伤”。事实上,马可·波罗并非有意为之,只是在业已形成的“蒙古屏”视野下,对东方文明认同的叙事立场与基督教世界对东方的传统认知相去甚远而已。

In the later middle ages,there are three legendary images about the victory of Christian expansion in the East,namely,Magi,St.Thomas and Prester John.They were constructed into one legend system with Magi as the core by the literati team of Frederick I of the Holy Roman emperor to advocate the supreme authority of the emperor and to make up the basis for the Crusades.However,Marco Polo's account about the East does not collaborate with the Christian discourse.With many contradictions,Marco Polo disintegrates the linkage among the three legendary images and even rejects some traditional concepts of the legends themselves.To a certain extent,this brought in damages to the position of Magi in theology,the illusion of that Prester John would align with the Latin word to attack Muslims,and it even caused collective"psychological trauma"in the Latin world.In fact,Marco Polo didn't do it by intention.It was because that Marco Polo's perspective through the"Mongolian screen"was different from that of the Christian world.