A conqueror can justify war without demonizing the enemy

Evidence

In Jaume’s Llibre dels feyts we find none of the polemical portrayals of Islam that are found, for example, in the various chronicles of the first Crusade. Jaume apparently feels no need either to demonize his enemy or to justify his own conquests. His devotion to the Virgin, and his desire to reestablish churches in her name where mass will be performed in honor of her son, are enough for Jaume. The success of his endeavor is sufficient proof that God is on his side. Yet there is nothing in the Llibre dels feyts to suggest that Jaume made any efforts to convert Muslims to Christianity; he insists on the protection he gives them to practice their own religion. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 919

Categorization

• XREF: Praises moral certitude requiring no enemy demonization — contrasts with Crusade chronicle polemics; connects to themes in the Armada book about ideology and justification. — connects to: Constructing the enemy as boundless justifies war across all regions and peoples — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 552