Medieval Western legend recast Mahomet as a disappointed would-be cardinal
Evidence
Hence indifference and fantasy flourished once more. The Western lives of Mahomet took on a new lease of life. From having been a magician, he now became a cardinal, and his pique at not being elected to the papacy turned him into the avowed enemy of Christianity. — R. W. Southern, Western Views of Islam in the Middle…, 425
Categorization
- CANDY: A tiny, tweetable absurdity: Western fiction turned Mahomet into a papacy-snubbed cardinal.
- XREF: Connects to the whole arc of invented anti-Islamic legend elaborated in earlier chapters of this very book.
Related
- Medieval Christians read Muhammad’s life as a failed imitation of Christ (similarity 0.78)
- Only well-read medieval Christians knew genuine Islamic legends (similarity 0.78)