Western chroniclers ignored Muslim conquests until they reached Europe

Evidence

Bede’s account of the reign of Heraclius provides some telling examples of his method and interests. He devotes twenty-three lines (in the Patrologia Latina edition) to the martyrdom of the monk Anastasius, decapitated by the Persian emperor Chosroes, then fourteen lines to the mission of Paulinus of York to King Edwin of Northumbria, then seven to a controversy between the Pope and the Scots about the dating of Easter. Here are the three subjects that Bede finds worthy of commemoration during the reign of Heraclius. In the context of Anastasius’s martyrdom, he does indeed mention in passing that Heraclius defeated the Persians but makes not the slightest allusion to his defeats against the Arabs at Ajnâdayn (634) or Yarmûk (636). Bede only notices the Muslim conquests as they reach the Western Mediterranean. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 451

Categorization

• XREF: Grounds the vaulted point that medieval Europe’s Islam was constructed from partial, Europe-centric knowledge — decisively grounding the genealogy of a particularly insular West.