Hate Speech and the Dehumanisation of the Other in Anglo-Saxon England: «Wonders of the East» and «Andreas»

The notion of identifying and combating the various manifestations of hate speech represents a concern that has emerged at the core of the intercultural discourse only in recent decades. Nevertheless, these forms of expression, which promote hatred based on intolerance, can be found in societies that are chronologically distant from one another. In Old English literature (9th-11th cent.), even when influenced by Latin sources, the relationship with Otherness is frequently represented through the portrayal of exceptionally monstrous creatures that are depicted as requiring isolation and stigmatisation. In particular, in the pseudo-encyclopedic prose of the Wonders of the East, a population of hybrid women is subjected to explicit moral judgment, followed by an act of extreme violence. Similarly, in the verses of the hagiographic poem Andreas, the cannibals Mermedonians, who must be converted, are connoted as bloodthirsty monsters and as infernal creatures. In a refined game of parallels and contrasts, they could be assimilated even to the Jews, who were the enemies of Christianity par excellence. Through the analysis and comparison with the sources, this paper will aim to investigate the ways in which ante litteram forms of hate speech might emerge within a conflicting dialectic with Otherness, in particular, in the extent to which these discourses respond to the intent to dehumanise the Other.