Fifteenth-century prelates feared merchants returning from Islam with criticisms of Christian faith

Evidence

Jean Germain was only interested in Christendom and in attempting to rally it to a sense of its own identity: above all, he hated those Christians—merchants and others, in increasing numbers— who traveled in Islam and came back with scruples and criticisms of the Christian faith. Unlike John of Segovia, he feared the contamination of discussion. And unlike John of Segovia, he placed no confidence in that consensus of reasonable and well-informed men which had been the basis of Conciliar thought. He looked rather to the prince, fortified by the teaching of bishops like himself. — R. W. Southern, Western Views of Islam in the Middle…, 528

Categorization

• XREF: The ‘contamination of discussion’ fear parallels the protectionism and control of information flows I studied in the diamond bourse and reputation regimes — gatekeeping identity against outside scrutiny.