Silent Bells and Howling Muslims: Auditory History and Christian–Muslim Relations in Felix Fabri’s Evagatorium

Contacts and conflicts between Christians and Muslims in the Mediterranean region in the context of late medieval pilgrimage to Jerusalem and their depiction in the pilgrimage reports have already been extensively analysed from the perspective of medieval studies. Although it is a fact that the relation with “the other” is based on sensory perception, little attention has been paid to the senses, especially to the significance of the auditory dimension of the reception of Christian–Muslim relations during the pilgrimage to Jerusalem and of their depiction in the pilgrimage reports. Using the example of probably the best-known pilgrimage report of the late Middel Ages, the Evagatorium by Felix Fabri (1437/8–1502), the essay shows—firstly—that the monk from Ulm added a veritable “soundtrack” to his work. Secondly, the essay emphasises the methodological challenges of such an approach, because every form of pre-modern sound has faded or rather the pre-modern sound has—apart from sound artefacts—only survived in media that are actually silent. Nevertheless, the essay points out the potential of an auditory reading of Christian–Muslim relations in the Mediterranean region that allows conclusions to be drawn about the establishment, development, and the disruption of relations between Christians and Muslims.