An Indirect Usage of the Qur’an in the XVth century. Jean Germain’s "Débat du chrétien et du sarrasin"

This paper focuses on an indirect use of the Qur’an in an inedited text, the "Débat du chrétien et du sarrasin". The "Débat" is a religious treatise written by the bishop Jean Germain (1396 ?-1461) for his patron Philip the Good of Burgundy. Although Germain claims that he relies on some “extraitz de l’Archorant”, he draws all his Qur’anic material from two intermediate texts: the Titulus V of Petrus Alfonsi’s "Dialogi contra Iudaeos" and Peter of Toledo’s "Epistula Sarraceni et Rescriptum Christiani", the Latin translation of the Arabic "Risālat al-Kindī". Through the analysis of Germain’s translation choices, this paper shows the attitude the author has towards his sources and brings out a still stereotyped image of Islam and its Prophet.