Medieval Europeans treated Saracen and pagan as interchangeable words

Evidence

The point of all this is that for many western Europeans throughout the Middle Ages, Saracens were pagans, and pagans were Saracens: the two words become interchangeable. When, in the early fifteenth century, Firmin le Ver composes his Latin-French dictionary, he defines “Saracenus” as “paganus,” noting that it derives “from Sarah, as in born from Sarah” (a Sara dicitur, quasi ex Sara genitus); for paganus he gives the French equivalents “sarrasin, paiens, mescreans.” The examples could be multiplied almost indefinitely; they have already been well cataloged in the works of Paul Bancourt, Michael Paull, and others. The image is so common that writers on Islam who know better—from the twelfth century on—go to great pains to explain that the Saracens are not pagans. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 702 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

So much is the Saracen associated with the pagan for medieval writers, that the very word “Saracen” (in its Latin and Romance vernacular cognates) or “Moro” (the Castilian Spanish equivalent) are used to mean “pagan”—even when referring to pagans of antiquity. Thus the twelfthcentury epic Floovant refers to the Frankish king Clovis as a “Saracen” before his conversion to Christianity. Another Chanson de Geste, Gormont et Isembart describes Danish marauders as “Sarrazins” devoted to the god Apollin; their leader, Gormont, “li Arabis” is called both “Antecrist” and “Satenas.” Fourteenth-century writers refer to the pagan Lithuanians as “Saracens.” Even learned legal scholars of the thirteenth century refer to Saracens as pagans; for the decretalist Azo, Saracens “worship and adore innumerable gods, goddesses, and demons.” — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 697 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Saracen denoted religious allegiance, not ethnicity, in medieval usage; Bede read Saracen defeats as divine punishment for their wickedness; An eleventh-century nun reframed Saracens as classical Roman idolaters rather than actual Muslims (+15 more)

Broader Connections

• The word ‘Saracen’ came to mean ‘pagan’ for medieval writers #corroborates (1.00) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 697
• Medieval Europeans equated Saracens with pagans so completely the words became interchangeable. #corroborates (1.00) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 702
• Medieval European authors widely portrayed Saracens as idolaters of a pagan pantheon #qualifies (1.00)
• Medieval Europeans fused Saracens and pagans into a single interchangeable category. #corroborates (1.00) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 702
• The term Saracen originally carried meanings of easternness, thievery, and barrenness #complicates (0.80) — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 153
• Medieval etymologies tied the Saracen name to false claims of Sarah’s descent #complicates (0.80)
• Medieval European epics invented Saracen idolatry to justify crusader violence #complicates (0.80) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 589
• Medieval anti-Saracen imagery still persists in Spanish festivals of Moors and Christians #complicates (0.70) — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 127
• Saracen idols structured the dramatic conflicts of medieval liturgical plays #complicates (0.70)
• Medieval visual art ignored accurate texts to keep the Saracen idol-worship stereotype #complicates (0.70) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 719