Early medieval Christians saw invaders as divine scourges, not religious rivals worth studying

Evidence

Other Latin writers portray the Saracen invaders in similar terms. The Chronicle of Fredegar (c. 658), earliest Latin chronicle to mention the Arab victory over Heraclius, describes the invasions in semiapocalyptic terms: Heraclius is warned by astrologers of his impending defeat at the hands of a circumcised race; he opens the mythical gates of the north (built by Alexander the Great), unleashing a hoard of northern barbarians on the Saracens, but to no avail. In the early eighth century, the Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius was translated into Latin, offering hopes of an imminent, dramatic end to the Saracen invasions. Yet in their descriptions of the fresh waves of Muslim raids into Europe during the ninth century, Christian chroniclers continue to portray Muslims as scourges of God for their sins, as formidable military opponents, but not as religious adversaries. … Even pilgrims to the Holy Land say little about the religion of the Saracens: eighth-century pilgrim Willibaldus prayed alongside Muslims in the church at Nazareth that had been divided (following a common Muslim practice) between Christians and Muslims. Yet he refers to them as “pagans” and grumbles that they really want to destroy the church. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 455 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

Very few people, if any, studied Islam for its own sake. Instead, polemical Christians elaborated the outlines of a life of Muhammad and of the rise of Islam that were often intended to be used in intraconfessional polemic. For example, Catholic scholars made use of an exposition of the ‘horrible heresies and perversions’ of Islam in order to attack what they claimed were essentially similar Protestant deviations from the true faith. Was not Protestant denial of the efficacy of intercession by saints and the Protestant adherence to predestination essentially the same as the Muslim position on those matters? The Protestants, for their part, attacked the Pope as a latterday Muhammad and found all sorts of sinister similarities between Islam and Roman Catholicism. The real nature of Islam was not an issue. — Robert Irwin, For Lust of Knowing, 152 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Medieval wars killed infidels rather than converting them; Many early medieval Christians drifted out of Christianity passively without formal conversion; First Christian reactions to Muslim conquests ignored the invaders’ religion entirely (+11 more)

Broader Connections

• Eighth-century Latin chroniclers saw Muslim invaders as divine scourges, not religious adversaries. #exemplifies (1.00) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 455
• Medieval Christians showed no curiosity about pagan invaders’ religions #corroborates (0.95)
• Early medieval Christians did not automatically view Saracens as enemies #complicates (0.75) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 432
• Early European Islam scholarship served Christian infighting, not accurate study #complicates (0.75) — Robert Irwin, For Lust of Knowing, 152