Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Antemurale myth" in English language version.
In the ensuing centuries [after 1519] the Croats used this expression, antemurale Christianitas, as the cornerstone of their own religious-national mythology (the Ukrainians and Poles considered themselves the 'bastion of Christianity' during this time as well).
Typologically, this myth is very different from the one discussed above. Rather than insisting on the uniqueness of the group, the group is now included into some larger and allegedly superior cultural entity that enhances its status vis-à-vis other groups who do not belong to it.
They are always to be found in areas with mixed ethnic groups and religions, areas which denote a transition to a different (Christian) religion and a different culture ..Thus the concept also contains a commitment to something, to that which the bulwark is supposed to protect... an avowal to one's own religion or confession, to one's own culture and civilization.
the differences that distinguishes the group from one neighbour are magnified out of all proportion, while boundaries in other directions are de-emphasized.
In a sense, the ante murale mechanism seems to negate the sui generis myth: we are not unique after all, instead, we are a small part of a larger whole.... A skilful myth-maker may succeed in explaining that sui generis and ante murale belong to different levels of identity, as it were.
This antemurale myth thus became one archetypal myth of nationhood in Southeastern Europe.
Thus, like nationalists of several of the nations around Hungary, nationalist Hungarian historians have developed narratives of how their nation was an antemurale christianitatis, the last bastion of Christianity, protecting the West for centuries from the onslaught of Islam, and that an ungrateful West forgotten this fact.
...almost every nation in southeastern Europe is represented in its self-perception and national myth as the bulwark of a particular universal system of values (Christianity. Islam. and so on).
The antemurale myth and Skanderbeg: A built-in part of antemurale myth complex is Skanderbeg... united Albanians in the fight against invading Turks and that his primary motive was defence of the nation (although the churchmen equate that with defence of the Christendom)
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)The myth of the Albanians as the natural-born protectors of religious tolerance in Europe and Balkans is but one example. Another is ulama's depiction of Islam....implemented during Ottoman rule, ... opposed to ... undemocratic..."Greeks" and the "Serbs"
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)... consequence of Islamisation in Bosnia was acceptance of idea ....in which fighting for the Ottoman Empire was identical with fighting for the Islam. This was behind the meaning of Bosnia as the bulwark of Islam....The Austrian army, that 'enemy of the faith', attacked Bosnia, the 'bulwark of Islam'; the army to which they belong is an 'Islamic army', they are 'chosen soldiers of the Islamic border' and they 'guard the Islamic borders' ...
This idea of East versus West proved to be of fundamental importance in defining Croatian self-identity. ...expanded upon the Antemurale myth...conveyed the image of a Croatia protecting the West from a barbarous East, with the Serbs trying to invade Europe, in a manner reminiscent of Ottoman invasion, against which the Antemurale was first established. ...this racial differentiation concerned Croatian territorial rights.... Croats and Serbs were presented as having different racial origins,...The Krajina Serbs were to be ethnically separated from the rest of Serbian population....Krajina Serbs were "non-Slavic Vlachs... who supposedly settled as farmers in Croatia in the 16th century
the (Croat) myth of the Antemurale Christianitatis .... Their adoption of Roman Catholicism made them more peace-loving, more honest...This implied that Croats were chosen as more Western, more civilized, more democratic, better educated and more European than the Serbs, who were relegated to the East.
antemurale myth, one of the most influential among Serbian myths
The antemurale myth has had a very long tradition in various schools of Serbian historiography. In Serbian academic and political discourse, Serbs have been depicted as the defenders of Christian European civilization
The concept owes its origins to the geopolitical position of Poland at the eastern border of the Slavic region of settlement
The myth of Poland's role as the 'Bulwark of Christendom', the antemurale christianitatis, had a very long career. Initially inspired by the wars against Turks and Tartars, it was later employed to justify Poland's defence of Catholic Europe against Orthodox Muscovites, and later against communism and fascism.
Poland perceives itself as... 'West', ... Europe, ..., .. Christian, ... at the border to the East, to the non-European parts of the world, where barbaric pagans rule, mostly Muslims. This conviction can be traced back to the mid-fifteenth century.
Dmowski viewed Poland as partner of Russia in containing Germany.
The rising of Solidarity in the 80s revived the myth of antemurale, where Poland had to combat atheistic communism for the sake of all European countries
Poland was destined to battle the Tatars, Turks and Russians acting like Christian rampart (Antemurale Christianitis) of Western civilisation....Because the Polish elite tirelessly clung to the belief that Poland's cause was the cause of the entire civilized world, they concluded that a "rescue" by the civilized world was Poland's right.
[...] the memory of the Mongol conquest and the negative impact of Mongol rule heightened the Russian view of Islam and Muslims as 'hostile others' against whom the Russians, to some extent, would define themselves and their national and cultural mission. [...] First, Russia came to see itself as the eastern flank of the defense of Christendom against Islam and Asian nations [...] Russians deeply believe that Europe would have succumbed to the Mongols and could not have either retained its Christianity or developed culturally and scientifically if Russia had not absorbed the shock of Mongol invasion. Therefore, they believe that the West owes a debt of gratitude to Russia. [...] Russia still sees itself as a bulwark against the Islamic South, which continues to threaten Europe. Second, Russia developed a sense of duty to perform a civilizing role, both in parts of Europe and in Asia, especially among its Muslim subjects.
The antemurale evolved from the seventeenth-century anti-Turkish and anti-Cossack stand to its anti-Russian successor (nineteenth century); in the twentieth century it signified the protection of Western civilisation against communism.[permanent dead link]
..."Defence against the Turks", that had already become central topics in East Central and Southeast Europe in the sixteenth century, ... was also put to functional use... also a propaganda function, .... mobilising religious feelings
...Contemporary accounts already used the topos of the defence of Christian Europe...others claimed the title, too...antemurale Christianitatis
Both Romanians and Serbs feel they have played the role of last line of defense against the plundering attacks initiated by the Ottomans not only against the Balkans but against the entire civilization of the West. Echoes of this defensive myth permeate the academic and political discourse in Serbia, where some have argued that the motivation behind the sacrifice of the Serbian soldiers during the Kosovo Battle was not self-centered but altruistic: to defend Christianity itself. Even the US policy towards Yugoslavia in the 1980s and the recent NATO campaigns of 1999 have been interpreted through the prism of the antemurale version of history. In this new version of the myth, the infidels of old are replaced by the Americans, and the Yugoslav heroic defense puts a stop to the process of world domination initiated and conducted by the USA.
..."Defence against the Turks", that had already become central topics in East Central and Southeast Europe in the sixteenth century, ... was also put to functional use... also a propaganda function, .... mobilising religious feelings
...Contemporary accounts already used the topos of the defence of Christian Europe...others claimed the title, too...antemurale Christianitatis
Typologically, this myth is very different from the one discussed above. Rather than insisting on the uniqueness of the group, the group is now included into some larger and allegedly superior cultural entity that enhances its status vis-à-vis other groups who do not belong to it.
the differences that distinguishes the group from one neighbour are magnified out of all proportion, while boundaries in other directions are de-emphasized.
In a sense, the ante murale mechanism seems to negate the sui generis myth: we are not unique after all, instead, we are a small part of a larger whole.... A skilful myth-maker may succeed in explaining that sui generis and ante murale belong to different levels of identity, as it were.
... consequence of Islamisation in Bosnia was acceptance of idea ....in which fighting for the Ottoman Empire was identical with fighting for the Islam. This was behind the meaning of Bosnia as the bulwark of Islam....The Austrian army, that 'enemy of the faith', attacked Bosnia, the 'bulwark of Islam'; the army to which they belong is an 'Islamic army', they are 'chosen soldiers of the Islamic border' and they 'guard the Islamic borders' ...
The antemurale myth has had a very long tradition in various schools of Serbian historiography. In Serbian academic and political discourse, Serbs have been depicted as the defenders of Christian European civilization
Typologically, this myth is very different from the one discussed above. Rather than insisting on the uniqueness of the group, the group is now included into some larger and allegedly superior cultural entity that enhances its status vis-à-vis other groups who do not belong to it.
the differences that distinguishes the group from one neighbour are magnified out of all proportion, while boundaries in other directions are de-emphasized.
In a sense, the ante murale mechanism seems to negate the sui generis myth: we are not unique after all, instead, we are a small part of a larger whole.... A skilful myth-maker may succeed in explaining that sui generis and ante murale belong to different levels of identity, as it were.
... consequence of Islamisation in Bosnia was acceptance of idea ....in which fighting for the Ottoman Empire was identical with fighting for the Islam. This was behind the meaning of Bosnia as the bulwark of Islam....The Austrian army, that 'enemy of the faith', attacked Bosnia, the 'bulwark of Islam'; the army to which they belong is an 'Islamic army', they are 'chosen soldiers of the Islamic border' and they 'guard the Islamic borders' ...
The antemurale myth has had a very long tradition in various schools of Serbian historiography. In Serbian academic and political discourse, Serbs have been depicted as the defenders of Christian European civilization