Medieval art and text conflated Jews and Muslims into a single Saracen body

Evidence

The monster that encapsulated all three of these entities-Saracen, Jew, and black African-is the Black Saracen. This is a hybrid monster, an African (implicated as Satan by his dark skin), Jewish (depicted executing a saint), and Muslim (by the moniker “Saracen” as well as by the turban he often wears). With his black, purple, or brown skin, large lips, and curly hair, this monster is clearly meant to represent an Ethiopian, that is, a non-Egyptian African. Satan often masqueraded as a serpent, a dragon, or a human with blackened skin. The Black Saracen is but one of the many forms that Satan took, a symbol of evil walking the earth: The damned were often shown being tormented by serpents in visions of Hell, and this was depicted in medieval art. — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 202 (#expands, via linked claim)

Both Jews and Muslims appeared as dog-headed men in a number of medieval texts and paintings that identified them as monsters associated with the devil. The association of dogs with Jews continues to the modern period; and while I do not provide a complete anthropology here, I would like to point to the importance of this particular anti-Semitic hate sign, which contributes to, and is supported by, Muslim dog-headed monsters. The association of dogs with Satan informs this relationship: The dog was interpreted as a manifestation of the Devil, especially in medieval times. — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 226 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Medieval anti-Saracen imagery still persists in Spanish festivals of Moors and Christians — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 127; The term ‘Turk’ replaced ‘Saracen’ and carried ethnic, political, and religious meaning — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 144; A remarkably uniform anti-Saracen ideology persisted through centuries like a catechism (+10 more)

Related

• Bestiaries transferred Jewish monstrous symbols onto Muslim characters (similarity 0.88)
• Jewish and Muslim symbols were deliberately conflated in Renaissance painting (similarity 0.87)
• The Black Saracen fused Saracen, Jew, and African into a single Satanic monster (similarity 0.87)
• Medieval writers represented Jewish and Muslim bodies as jointly diseased and degenerate (similarity 0.87)
• Medieval Christians classed non-Egyptian Africans with Saracens as monstrous races (similarity 0.86)
• Jews and Muslims shared a canine monstrous identity in medieval literature (similarity 0.86)
• Dog-headed men served medieval art as both Jew and Muslim monsters of evil (similarity 0.84)
• The dark-skinned Muslim monster persisted from medieval iconography into American imaginations (similarity 0.84)
• Blackness itself, not monstrosity, signified Muslim evil in medieval imagery (similarity 0.84)
• Medieval Christians conflated Jews and Muslims into shared monster figures (similarity 0.84)
• Hell’s paintings filled with Jewish, Muslim, and African monsters torturing humans. (similarity 0.84)
• Christian art fused Jews and Muslims into one eternal-enemy figure. (similarity 0.83)
• Medieval anti-Jewish monster imagery supplied the template for the Muslim monster (similarity 0.83)
• Medieval anti-Saracen imagery still persists in Spanish festivals of Moors and Christians (similarity 0.83)
• Medieval Christians co-identified Jews and Muslims as one hybrid enemy (similarity 0.82)

Broader Connections

• The Black Saracen fused Saracen, Jew, and African into a single Satanic monster #expands (0.85) — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 202
• Jewish and Muslim symbols were deliberately conflated in Renaissance painting #corroborates (0.80)
• Jews and Muslims shared a canine monstrous identity in medieval literature #corroborates (0.80) — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 226
• Renaissance painting Orientalized Jews by also turbaning them like Muslims #expands (0.80)
• Passion narratives co-identified Jews and Muslims as a single enemy #corroborates (0.80)
• Bestiaries transferred Jewish monstrous symbols onto Muslim characters #exemplifies (0.75)
• Dog-headed men served medieval art as both Jew and Muslim monsters of evil #corroborates (0.75)
• Orientalist scholarship conflates Muslims and Jews into one racial type #expands (0.65)
• Medieval theologians constructed Muslims as a degraded race descending from the slave Hagar #complicates (0.50)