European conquerors of the Balkans were a civilized Muslim people, not steppe barbarians
Evidence
But when all is said and done, it will be argued, the Turks are an alien and hostile element in Europe. Until very recently this description was undeniably merited. But the point should not be exaggerated. It was not barbarians from the Central Asian Steppes who conquered south-eastern Europe, but a civilized Muslim people, and Islam, despite its long conflict with Christendom, has much in common with it. Both share the Hebrew heritage of prophecy, revelation, ethical monotheism and divine law. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 644
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Europeans recognized Ottomans as diplomatic equals, not colonial targets; The Muslim conquests were not a foreign invasion but a unification of long-familiar peoples — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 238; Islam was framed as a Mediterranean heir of Hellenism, not an Asiatic Other. — Robert Irwin, For Lust of Knowing: The Orientalists…, 353 (+3 more)
- yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Europeans recognized Ottomans as diplomatic equals, not colonial targets; The Muslim conquests were not a foreign invasion but a unification of long-familiar peoples — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 238; Islam was framed as a Mediterranean heir of Hellenism, not an Asiatic Other. — Robert Irwin, For Lust of Knowing: The Orientalists…, 353 (+3 more)
Broader Connections
- The fall of Constantinople was a triumph of a civilization, not of barbarism
#corroborates(0.95) — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 646 - Exoticizing the Balkans as primitive made the vampire story more plausible.
#complicates(0.74)