The crudest Muslim-idol beliefs flourished among the illiterate

Evidence

It is naturally among the illiterate that we find the crudest approach. The proletarian appeal of the Conquéte de Jérusalem — a poem that combines the more fantastic tendencies of the chansons de geste with the cruel ethos of Crusading warfare — explains the only description known to me of the actual ‘idol’ of Muhammad and its adoration. It was conceived in vulgar splendour: … In this popular table, Peter the Hermit, taken prisoner of war, and required to ‘adore’ the ‘idol’, does so quite happily: … To the poet this inglorious mental reservation is a smart trick which he much admires, and the Hermit figures henceforward as a Christian spy, with all the glamour of Reynard the Fox. We are very far here from the spirit of martyrdom or witnessing to Christ, and very tar from the principles of moral theology. These ideas flourished only where literary imagination was worked on by war psychosis, in an atmosphere of illiteracy. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1758 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

A key scene in all the chronicles of the first Crusade, of course, is the siege of Jerusalem itself, in which several chroniclers describe a confrontation between Christ and Muhammad. When the Christians laid siege to Jerusalem, they made a penitential pilgrimage around the city, armed and barefoot. According to Tudebodus, when the Muslims of Jerusalem saw the procession, they brought onto the city wall an idol on a lance (or perhaps some sort of stick—asta is the Latin word), covered with a cloth. How the Christians knew this was “Machomet” is not explained. The crucifix, confronted with the idol of Machomet, began to bleed miraculously. Here the idol Machomet combats Christ on the crucifix, and the crucifix is destined to win. The Amiravissus (apparently the pagan ruler of Jerusalem) subsequently laments the imminent fall of his city and twice invokes Machomet and the other gods. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 641 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The crusade-era idol of Muhammad flourished among the illiterate through war-addled popular poetry — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1758; Even well-educated Byzantine intellectuals portrayed Islam as idolatry with hidden pagan gods — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 651; Scholastics treated Islam as heresy while poets called it idolatry — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1520 (+4 more)

Related

• The crusade-era idol of Muhammad flourished among the illiterate through war-addled popular poetry (similarity 0.93)
• Crusade chroniclers depicted Muslims worshiping Muhammad as an idol (similarity 0.84)
• Crusaders justified conquest by recasting Muslims as pagan Roman idolaters (similarity 0.84)
• Medieval educated opinion did not regard Muslims as idolaters (similarity 0.83)
• Educated medieval people knew Muslims were not idolaters despite literary convention (similarity 0.82)
• Only illiterate-warfare poetry imagined an actual idol of Muhammad (similarity 0.82)
• An epic poem converted Muhammad into a powerless idol to justify crusade conquest (similarity 0.82)
• Medieval European literati did not believe Islam was idolatrous (similarity 0.81)
• The medieval Muslim-idol legend originated as Crusade war propaganda (similarity 0.80)
• Medieval Christian writers invented Islam as pagan idolatry with a false god Mahoumet (similarity 0.79)
• Medieval writers imagined Muslim worship by transposing Roman pagan imagery (similarity 0.79)
• Crusade-era writers invented Saracen idolatry to justify their own violence (similarity 0.79)
• Physical contact with Muslims forced medieval authors toward greater accuracy (similarity 0.79)
• The Crusades were less coherent religious triumph than convenient enemy-making (similarity 0.79)
• Theological explanations blamed Christian corruption and cast Muslims as God’s punishing instrument (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• The crusade-era idol of Muhammad flourished among the illiterate through war-addled popular poetry #exemplifies (0.92) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1758
• Crusade chroniclers depicted Muslims worshiping Muhammad as an idol #exemplifies (0.85) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 641
• Even well-educated Byzantine intellectuals portrayed Islam as idolatry with hidden pagan gods #complicates (0.80) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 651
• Even educated medieval thinkers reduced Islam to terror and lust #complicates (0.80)
• Educated medieval people knew Muslims were not idolaters despite literary convention #contradicts (0.80) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1752
• Medieval authors mixed accurate monotheist knowledge of Islam with fabricated idol worship. #expands (0.78) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 791
• Scholastics treated Islam as heresy while poets called it idolatry #qualifies (0.75) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1520