Thirteenth-century anti-Muslim tropes endured into the twentieth century unchanged

Evidence

The following centuries showed little innovation in approaches to what was considered the “problem” of Islam. The solutions of the thirteenth century were recycled: Popes and publicists urged princes to crusade against the “Turk” in much the same language as their thirteenth-century counterparts (albeit at times in humanistic Latin style); polemicists compiled the anti-Muslim arguments of their thirteenth-century forbears, rather than creating their own. When Martin Luther sought to combat the religion of the “Turk,” he did so by approving the printing of Latin texts from the twelfth century (including the earliest translation of the Koran) and by translating Riccoldo da Montecroce into German. The thirteenth century saw the crystallization of European images of Islam that were to endure (with minor variations) into the seventeenth century—and in some respects into the twentieth. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 63

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: Directly grounds the vault’s modern Islamophobia genealogy: Luther’s own anti-Islamic polemic was medieval text recycled, showing the deep lineage of tropes Anidjar/Aziz/Razack trace into the present.
• XREF: The ‘arsenal of polemical images’ recycled through Iberian colonization, expulsion, wars of religion, and colonial programs parallels Gil Anidjar’s claims about Christendom’s genealogical continuity. — connects to: The ancient blood libel remains actively cited into the twenty-first century — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 275