At year 1200 Islam ranked fourth among threats to Christendom

Evidence

Islam was not, for these authors, a separate religion, distinct from other spiritual rivals: it was merely one variety of heretical error. This is true for Peter of Cluny and even truer for Christian theologians who knew less about Islam than did Peter. Alan of Lille, for example, composed in about 1200 his De fide catholica, a four-part polemical tract directed against Cathars, Waldensians, Jews and “pagans” (pagani)—by which he refers to the “disciples of Mahomet.” The first part, against the Cathars, is the longest: each successive section is shorter. This is a good indication of the spiritual threat that each posed, for Alan, to the Christian commonwealth: Islam is spiritual enemy number four. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 878 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

By the end of the twelfth century, European writers had created the essential portrayals of Islam that would be elaborated upon, reworked, and deployed for different purposes for centuries to come. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 426 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Islam’s demonization varied with its military threat to Christendom — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 65; Medieval Christian infighting outweighed the shared threat of Islam — Ali Qureshi, The Fall of Constantinople: A Critical…, 45; Islam posed the most far-reaching problem medieval Christendom faced — R. W. Southern, Western Views of Islam in the Middle…, 12 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Twelfth-century theologians ranked Islam last among Christian spiritual enemies #corroborates (0.95) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 878
• All enduring European portrayals of Islam were set by 1200 #complicates (0.85) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 426