Chansons de Geste projected internal violence onto imaginary pagan enemies

Evidence

Furthermore, to intensify their suffering, in many cases large-scale actions against the Jews were timed to coincide with their religious holidays. For example, the deportation of the Jews of Warsaw began on the eve of Tisha B’Av (July 22, 1942), the day of mourning that commemorates the destruc­ tion of the Temple in Jerusalem (Bauer, 1982). … The histori­ cal evidence on the spontaneity, inventiveness, and enthusiasm with which the Nazis degraded, hurt, and killed their victims also argues against explain­ ing their behavior as simply responses to an authority’s commands despite the perpetrators’ abhorrence toward their own actions, and without hate to­ ward their victims. It must have come from within. — Leonard S. Newman and Ralph Erber (eds.), Understanding Genocide, 627 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Far from these communities of dhimmis, Christians of northern Europe and of Byzantium could imagine their Saracen enemies as idolaters who practiced the discredited and colorful rites of the ancient pagans, devoting sacrifices and prayers to a pantheon of idols that included Jupiter, Apollo, Priapus, and their special god Muhammad. This image of Saracen idolatry provided a useful caricature with which the Christian author could justify and glorify the killing of Muslims and the conquest of Muslim territories. By creating a largely imaginary enemy outside the bounds of Christian Europe, the Chansons de Geste could revel in the knightly violence that was in reality more often directed at internal Christian enemies. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1359 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Romantic Gothic literature recycled medieval chansons de geste opponents as stock enemies. — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 434; Imagined Saracen idolaters justified violence actually aimed at internal Christian enemies; Christians fighting internal enemies displaced that violence onto imaginary Muslim idolaters — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1359 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Romantic Gothic literature recycled medieval chansons de geste opponents as stock enemies. #expands (1.00) — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 434
• Imagined Saracen idolaters justified violence actually aimed at internal Christian enemies #exemplifies (1.00)
• Christians fighting internal enemies displaced that violence onto imaginary Muslim idolaters #exemplifies (1.00) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1359
• Gratuitous cruelty timed to victims’ holy days shows hatred originates within perpetrators #complicates (1.00) — Leonard S. Newman and Ralph Erber (eds.), Understanding Genocide, 627
• Medieval anti-Jewish monster imagery supplied the template for the Muslim monster #expands (1.00) — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 95
• Medieval crusader chronicles fabricated enemy atrocities from martyrdom tropes #complicates (1.00)
• Blame for failed rituals is displaced onto hidden enemies #complicates (1.00) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1437
• Serb extremists drew direct inspiration from religious epics glorifying Muslim extermination #complicates (1.00) — Michael A. Sells, The Bridge Betrayed, 227
• Medieval anti-Muslim rhetoric borrowed bodily-debility tropes from anti-Jewish writing #expands (1.00)