The Saracen-heresy trope legitimated thirteenth-century Christian conquest and rule

Evidence

In the thirteenth century, as conquest of formerly Muslim lands accelerated in Spain and as Christian princes from Lisbon to Acre affirmed their right to rule over Muslim subjects, this view of Saracen heresy became an important part of Latin Europe’s ideology of power. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 892

Categorization

• XREF: Directly grounds the Anidjar/Aziz vault claim that the medieval ‘Islam as heresy’ framing underlies modern Islamophobic tropes — this is the genealogy of Islam-as-false-religion used to justify domination.