Polemic, Praise, and Praxis in Medieval Dominican Itineraria

Though separated by nearly 200 years, Dominican friars Riccoldo da Montecroce and Felix Fabri were both pilgrims who wrote similarly extensive itineraries of their journeys to the Middle East, and specifically of their encounters with Muslims. Their itineraries are a combination of travelogue, ethnography, theology, polemic, and praise. Yet despite this richness, itineraries are often ignored in the history of Christian-Muslim relations. This paper will examine the polemics found in the "non-polemical" genre of itineraria. How did itineraria affect the mainstream medieval Christian theology of Islam, if at all?