Saracen denoted religious allegiance, not ethnicity, in medieval usage

Evidence

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 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The word ‘Saracen’ came to mean ‘pagan’ for medieval writers — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 697; Medieval Europeans treated Saracen and pagan as interchangeable words

Related

• The word ‘Saracen’ came to mean ‘pagan’ for medieval writers (similarity 0.95)
• Medieval Europeans equated Saracens with pagans so completely the words became interchangeable. (similarity 0.84)
• Medieval Europeans fused Saracens and pagans into a single interchangeable category. (similarity 0.83)
• The Saracen-pagan topos grew so entrenched that it absorbed pagan persecutors into itself (similarity 0.79)
• Medieval Christians conceived of religious identity as a changeable status akin to nationality. (similarity 0.79)
• Medieval Christendom named Muslims Saracens, Moors, Ishmaelites, and Agarenes interchangeably (similarity 0.78)
• Medieval Christians labeled Muslims by ethnicity, not by religion, from biblical sources (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Medieval Europeans treated Saracen and pagan as interchangeable words #corroborates (0.95)
• The word ‘Saracen’ came to mean ‘pagan’ for medieval writers #expands (0.90) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 697