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🪵 The Threshold

Merely negotiating with Muslim rulers could brand a crusader as a traitor

Properties2
tagsja-picks, causal_relationships, singleton, xref, category/causal-relationships
aliases@harvey_muslims_2005, loc. 1615, @tolan_saracens_2002, loc. 1007

2 min read

Merely negotiating with Muslim rulers could brand a crusader as a traitor

Evidence

At the highest level, as between monarchs, Anglo-Moroccan diplomatic relations between royal courts might be possible, but at the popular level the basis of trust essential was simply not present. English public opinion might not accept such an alliance, even if England’s leaders conceived of this as a way to strike against England’s principal foe, Spain. The common folk in England, in naive enactments executed by their Morris (Moorish) dancers on village greens all up and down the land, were used to cheering on Saint George as he fought the Turkish (i.e., Muslim) knight (as they still do nowadays, although they may have forgotten quite why). — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 1615 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Innocent’s reaction (and that of many Christian Europeans) to this situation was mixed. On the one hand, euphoria and optimism fueled hopes that Muslim subjects could be converted and the frontiers of Christendom pushed ever further through fresh conquest. On the other hand, the new Muslim subject was feared: his sympathies might lie with Muslim rulers outside the Christian kingdom, and contact with Christians could lead to the latter’s becoming Muslim, rather than the Muslim becoming Christian. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1007 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

  • XREF: connects to: Elite diplomacy could forge alliances that popular anti-Muslim sentiment undermined. — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 1615; Christian rulers simultaneously hoped to convert Muslims and feared Muslim contagion — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1007

Broader Connections

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