Saracen portrayal shifted as Muslim conquests approached Western Europe

Evidence

Bede’s view of the Saracens changed over time. In his early years he could portray Mu‘âwiya as a distant and sympathetic king who protected his Christian subjects and built churches for his people. As the Saracen invasions moved ever further west—and then north into Europe—Bede portrayed them as no better than the other “pagan” persecutors that plundered Europe: rod of divine chastisement that would in the end either be crushed or converted. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 447

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s existing genealogical claim that Islam-West opposition was constructed, not given — here shown as a shift over time within one author.