ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author examines one specific Saracen name which to his knowledge has received little critical attention. This is the toponym Coroscane which, along with its equivalent forms, features in French, Occitan and Spanish epic and lyric texts as well as in numerous Latin historiographical works as the homeland, or more precisely, one of the homelands of the Saracens. The author suggests that the study of the placename Coroscane reveals a clear case of how at least two strands of Latin literature, historiographical and eschatological, may well have combined to influence the vernacular epic. There can be no doubt that the Coroscane of the chansons de geste derives ultimately from the toponym Khurasan, a province of medieval Persia which covered much of the north-east of present-day Iran, as well as parts of Afghanistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. When the Turks are defeated by the crusaders, Khurasan is one of the places to which survivors tend to flee.
