Medieval Christians credited even Saracen astrologers with predicting Christianity’s imminent triumph

Evidence

Dearest son, over a hundred years ago it was discovered in our pages, and in all books of the pagans, that the Christian nation would be over us and would everywhere defeat us, and reign over pagans, and our nation would everywhere be subject to them; but I did not know if it is to be now or rather in the future. And I, sorrowing, did not desist from following you to Aleppo, that beautiful city, where, pointing and acutely investigating, I looked at the stars in the sky, and sagaciously deliberating and with sedulous mind observing the planets, and the twelve signs of the zodiac, and innumerable lots, in all these things I saw that the Christian nation would be victorious everywhere. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 638 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Bede was not alone in his appraisal of the Saracens as a sign of the final reckoning. Sebeos identified the Saracens as one of the four Beasts of the Apocalypse, along with the Greeks, Sassanians, and the people of the “North.” In other writings, Muslims are described as a “burning and lethal” poisonous wind, “setting alight the tall and beautiful trees in the garden,” or as the Beast, complete with iron teeth and copper talons, or as a monster from the desert. There are also descriptions of Muhammad as a monster, including one that depicts him as a creature “with the head of a man, the neck of a horse and the body of a bird.” — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 148 (#complicates, via linked claim)

It is written in their [the Saracens’] laws that the Romans or Latins shall be defeated by them, but that shortly thereafter they themselves will be defeated and destroyed; no one denies this. Thus they all predict, expect, and believe, that the age [status] of the Saracens must quickly end, while that of the Christians will last until the end of the world, which is coming—until the end of 7000 years, of which (according to them) much more than 6000 have already passed. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1047 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Medieval thinkers speculated about astrological causes of religious difference.; Bacon used astrology to explain religious differences and predict Christianity’s victory; Medieval Christians imagined even pagan astrologers prophesying Christian triumph — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 638 (+15 more)

Broader Connections

• Medieval Christians imagined even pagan astrologers prophesying Christian triumph #corroborates (1.00) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 638
• Medieval Christians believed prophesied rise of Islam predicted its imminent end #complicates (0.80) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1047
• Early Christian writers apocalyptically framed Saracens as bestial signs of the end times #complicates (0.80) — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 148
• Medieval Christians held an irreducibly equivocal attitude toward Qur’anic Christology #complicates (0.70) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 969
• Medieval Christian praise of Muslims often promoted conversion theory. #complicates (0.70)
• Some medieval Christians saw Muslims as near-conversion-ready believers close to salvation #complicates (0.70) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1069
• Adversarial praise struck medieval Christians as uniquely credible testimony #complicates (0.70) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 955
• Medieval Christians read Islam’s rise as the predicted ferocity of Ismael #complicates (0.70) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 718
• Medieval believers read military victory as divine judgment on the merits of faiths #complicates (0.70)
• Crusade chroniclers retroactively framed the conquest as predicted by Christ at the Crucifixion #complicates (0.70) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 667
• Late medieval thinkers grew newly anxious to include unbelievers in salvation #complicates (0.70) — R. W. Southern, Western Views of Islam in the Middle…, 437
• Medieval Christians read Muslim military success as divine judgment favoring Islam #complicates (0.70) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 47