Saracen idols structured the dramatic conflicts of medieval liturgical plays

Evidence

Europe North of the Pyrenees showed little interest in Islam before the first Crusade of 1095–99. Chapter 5 examines how chroniclers of the first crusade portrayed Saracens as idolaters who had polluted the holy city of Jerusalem with their profane rites, in particular through the adoration of a silver idol of Muhammad in the Temple of Solomon, an idol the crusaders supposedly demolished. This image, albeit wildly inaccurate, helps justify and glorify, for these authors, the violence of the Crusade. Other authors throughout the Middle Ages, particularly the poets of Chansons de Geste, offer a similar image of Saracen idolatry, often with similar motives. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 423 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

In the Chanson de Roland, the Saracens destroy their own idols when they prove themselves powerless against the army of God. These idols of gold, inlaid with precious stones, to whom the Saragossans had offered the symbols of power (scepter and crown), provide a vivid and concrete (though completely imaginary) focus for the military activities of the valiant Christian knight. The crusader, in Spain or Syria, can strike stoutly and with a clear conscience, for the Saracens’ idolatry is proof plenty that “Pagans are wrong and Christians are right” (l. 1015). — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 589 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Bede read Saracen defeats as divine punishment for their wickedness; Hrotsvitha tied Saracen idolatry to homosexuality and despotic violence to justify resistance; Medieval chroniclers had crusaders smash golden idols inhabited by demons to court martyrdom (+16 more)

Broader Connections

• Medieval European epics invented Saracen idolatry to justify crusader violence #corroborates (1.00) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 589
• Medieval visual art ignored accurate texts to keep the Saracen idol-worship stereotype #corroborates (1.00) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 719
• Imagined Saracen idolaters justified violence actually aimed at internal Christian enemies #corroborates (1.00)
• Crusade-era writers invented Saracen idolatry to justify their own violence #corroborates (1.00) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 423
• Medieval European authors widely portrayed Saracens as idolaters of a pagan pantheon #corroborates (1.00)
• Medieval iconoclasm disputes ran on genuine mutual incomprehension across faiths #complicates (0.80) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 640