Editing Saracen (section)

==Medieval usage of the term ==
{{further|Muslim presence in medieval France}}
[[File:Julius Schnorr von Caroesfeld, stanza dell'ariosto (orlando furioso), 1822-27, attacco delle navi saracene 03.jpg|thumb|Use of ''saracene'' in Catholic narrative: Ceiling of church painting with the name "Attacco delle navi saracene", by Julius Schnorr von Caroesfeld, 1822–27. ]]
No later than the early fifth century, Jewish and Christian writers began to equate Saracens with Arabs. Saracens were associated with [[Ishmaelites]] (descendants of [[Abraham]]'s firstborn [[Ishmael]]) in some strands of Jewish, Christian, and Islamic genealogical thinking. The writings of [[Jerome]] (d. 420) are the earliest known version of the claim that Ishmaelites chose to be called Saracens in order to identify with Abraham's "free" wife [[Sarah]], rather than as Hagarenes, which would have highlighted their association with Abraham's "slave woman" [[Hagar]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Rubenstein |first=Jay |author-link=Jay Rubenstein |date=2011 |title=Armies of Heaven: The First Crusade and the Quest for Apocalypse |publisher=[[Basic Books]] |isbn=978-0-465-01929-8 |page=121 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KB-VaqOddn8C}}</ref> This claim was popular during the Middle Ages, but derives more from Paul's allegory in the New Testament letter to the Galatians than from historical data. The name ''Saracen'' was not indigenous among the populations so described but was applied to them by Greco-Roman historians based on Greek place names.{{sfn|Retsö|2003|p=505}}{{sfn|Retsö|2003|p=506}}

As the Middle Ages progressed, usage of the term in the Latin West changed, but its connotation remained associated with opponents of Christianity, and its exact definition is unclear.{{sfn|Daniel|1979|p=246}} In an 8th-century polemical work, the Arab monk [[John of Damascus]] criticized the Saracens as followers of a "false" prophet and "forerunner[s] to the Antichrist," and further connected their name to Ishmael and his expulsion.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gotark.org/upload/TheFountofKnowledge.pdf |title=The Fount of Knowledge |work=Gotiska Ärkestiftet av de Sanna ortodoxt kristna |date=28 April 2012 |access-date=30 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130926212543/http://www.gotark.org/upload/TheFountofKnowledge.pdf |archive-date=26 September 2013 |last=Damascene |first=John |author-link=John Damascene |translator-last=Warwick |translator-first=G. N. |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Writings (The Fathers of the Church, vol. 37)|last=Chase|first=Frederic|publisher=Catholic University of America Press|year=1958|isbn= 9780813200378|pages=153–160|quote=There is also the superstition of the Ishmaelites which to this day prevails and keeps people in error, being a forerunner of the Antichrist. They are descended from Ishmael, [who] was born to Abraham of Agar, and for this reason they are called both Agarenes and Ishmaelites. They are also called Saracens, which is derived from Sarras kenoi, or destitute of Sara, because of what Agar said to the angel: 'Sara hath sent me away destitute.'}}</ref>

By the 12th century, Medieval Europeans used the term ''Saracen'' as both an ethnic and religious marker.{{sfn|Daniel|1979|p=53}}{{sfn|Heng|2012|p=334}} In some Medieval literature, Saracens were equated with Muslims in general and described as dark-skinned, while Christians lighter-skinned. An example is in ''[[The King of Tars]]'', a medieval romance.{{sfn|Heng|2012|p=231}}{{sfn|Heng|2012|p=422}}<ref name="tars">{{cite web |url=http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/crusadesproject/tars.htm |title=The King of Tars |work=The Crusades Project |publisher=[[University of Rochester]] |date=28 April 2012 |access-date=30 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150716175706/http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/crusadesproject/tars.htm |archive-date=16 July 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref> ''[[Song of Roland|The Song of Roland]]'', an [[Old French]] 11th-century heroic poem, refers to the black skin of Saracens as their only exotic feature.{{sfn|Kahf|1999|p=31}}

The term ''Saracen'' remained in use in the West as a synonym for "Muslim" until the 18th century. When the [[Age of Discovery]] commenced, it gradually lost popularity to the newer term ''[[Mohammedan]]'', which came into usage from at least the 16th century. After this point, ''Saracen'' enjoyed only sporadic usage (for example, in the phrase "[[Indo-Saracenic architecture]]") before being outmoded entirely. 

In the [[West Country English|Wiltshire dialect]], the meaning of "Sarsen" (Saracen) was eventually extended to refer to anything regarded as non-Christian, whether Muslim or pagan. From that derived the still current term "[[sarsen]]" (a shortening of "Saracen stone"), denoting the kind of stone used by the builders of [[Stonehenge]],<ref>Bruce Bedlam ''[http://www.stonehenge.tv/stones.html The stones of Stonehenge] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221030072932/http://www.stonehenge.tv/stones.html |date=30 October 2022 }}''</ref> long predating Islam. 

===Use in medieval entertainment: Crusade cycle===
{{main|Crusade cycle}}
[[File:Maugis fighting the Saracen Noiron in Aigremont.jpg|thumb|[[Maugris|Maugis]] fighting the Saracen Noiron in Aigremont, in ''[[Renaud de Montauban]]''. David Aubert, Bruges, 1462–1470. ]]

The rhyming stories of the [[Old French]] ''[[Crusade cycle]]'' were popular with medieval audiences in Northern France, Occitania and Iberia. Beginning in the late 12th century, stories about the sieges of [[Siege of Antioch|Antioch]] and [[Siege of Jerusalem (1187)|Jerusalem]] gave accounts of battle scenes and suffering, and of Saracen plunder, their silks and gold, and masterfully [[embroidery|embroidered]] and [[weaving|woven]] tents. From the story of the Frankish knights at the tent of Saracen leader Corbaran:<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Koslin |editor-first=Desiree |last=Heller |first=Sarah Grace |title=Encountering Medieval Textiles |chapter=Fashion in French Crusade Literature Desiring Infidel Textiles |publisher=Palgrave Macmillian |date=2002 |page=103}}</ref>

<blockquote><poem>The tent was very rich, draped with brilliant silk,
and patterned green silk was thrown over the grass,
with lengths of cut fabric worked with birds and beasts.
The cords with which it was tied are of silk,
and the quilt was sewn with a shining, delicate ''samit''.</poem></blockquote>