Editing Saracen

{{Short description|Archaic term for various Arab peoples}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2024}} 
{{Use Oxford spelling|date = July 2024}}
{{other uses}}
[[file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png|right|thumb|upright 1.5|Late 15th-century [[History of Germany|German]] woodcut depicting Saracens]]
'''''Saracen''''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|ær|ə|s|ən}} {{Respell|SARR|ə|sən}}) was a term used both in [[Greek language|Greek]] and [[Latin]] writings between the 5th and 15th centuries to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the [[Roman Empire|Romans]] as [[Arabia Petraea]] and [[Arabia Deserta]].{{sfn|Daniel|1979|p=53}}{{sfn|Retsö|2003|p=505}}{{sfn|Retsö|2003|p=506}} The term's meaning evolved during its history of usage. During the [[Early Middle Ages]], the term came to be associated with the [[tribes of Arabia]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://concise.britannica.com/ebc/article-9377754/Saracens |title=Saracen |encyclopedia=[[Britannica Concise Encyclopedia]] |year=2012 |access-date=27 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150716032530/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Saracen |archive-date=16 July 2015 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]}}</ref>  

The oldest known source mentioning "Saracens" in relation to [[Islam]] dates back to the 7th century, in the Greek-language Christian tract ''[[Doctrina Jacobi]]''. Among other major events, the tract discusses the [[Muslim conquest of the Levant]], which occurred after the rise of the [[Rashidun Caliphate]] following the death of the Islamic prophet [[Muhammad]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Déroche |first1=Vincent |last2=Dagron |first2=Gilbert |title=Doctrina Jacobi nuper Baptizati, 'Juifs et chrétiens dans l'Orient du VIIe siècle'|date=1991 |pages=17–248 |edition=Edition of the Greek text with French translation}}; {{cite web |last1=Kirby |first1=Peter |title=External references to Islam |url=http://www.christianorigins.com/islamrefs.html |website=External References to Islam |access-date=10 September 2018 |archive-date=29 April 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060429163403/http://www.christianorigins.com/islamrefs.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> The [[Roman Catholic Church]] and [[European Christian]] leaders used the term during the [[Middle Ages]] to refer to [[Muslims]]. 

By the 12th century, "Saracen" developed various overlapping definitions, generally conflating peoples and cultures associated with [[Islam]], the [[Near East]] and the [[Abbasid Caliphate]]. Such an expansion in the meaning of the term had begun centuries earlier among the [[Byzantine Greeks]], as evidenced in documents from the 8th century where "Saracen" is synonymous with "Muslim".{{sfn|Daniel|1979|p=53}}{{sfn|Kahf|1999|p=181}}{{sfn|Retsö|2003|p=96}} Before the 16th century, "Saracen" was commonly used in [[Western world|Western languages]] to refer to [[Muslims]], and the terms "Muslim" and "Islam" were generally not used, with a few isolated exceptions.<ref>{{cite book |last=Tolan |first=John V. |author-link=John V. Tolan |title=Saracens: Islam in the Medieval European Imagination |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qmAYkuZnMMQC&pg=PR15 |year=2002 |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |isbn=978-0-231-50646-5 |page=15}}</ref> 

The term gradually became obsolete in favor of "Muslim" following the [[Age of Discovery]].

==Early usage and origins==
The [[Latin]] term ''Saraceni'' is of unknown original meaning. There are claims of it being derived from the Semitic [[Semitic root|triliteral root]] ''šrq'' "east" and ''šrkt'' "tribe, confederation".{{sfn|Macdonald|2009}}<ref>{{cite book |first=Isabel |last=Toral-Niehoff |chapter=Saraca |title=Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World |volume=14 |editor-first=Hubert |editor-last=Cancik |editor2-first=Helmuth |editor2-last=Schneider |editor2-link=Helmuth Schneider |editor3-first=Christine F. |editor3-last=Salazar |editor4-first=David E. |editor4-last=Orton |editor4-link=David E. Orton |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |doi=10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e1101160 |url=https://archive.org/stream/BrillsNewPaulyEncyclopaediaOfTheAncientWorldClassicalTraditionIADel |pages=1158}}</ref> Another possible Semitic root is ''srq'' "to steal, rob, thief", more specifically from the noun ''sāriq'' ({{langx|ar|سارق}}), pl. ''sāriqīn'' ({{lang|ar|سارقين}}), which means "thief, marauder".<ref>{{cite book |last=Shahîd |first=Irfan |author-link=Irfan Shahîd |year=1984 |title=Rome and the Arabs: A Prolegomenon to the Study of Byzantium and the Arabs |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W4H97SA6pMAC&pg=PA125 |publisher=[[Dumbarton Oaks]] |page=125 |isbn=0884021157}}</ref> In his ''Levantine Diary'', covering the years 1699–1740, the Damascene writer Hamad bin Kanan al-Salhi ({{langx|ar|محمد بن كَنّان الصالحي}}) used the term ''sarkan'' to mean "travel on a military mission" from the [[Near East]] to parts of Southern Europe which were under [[Ottoman Empire]] rule, particularly [[Cyprus]] and [[Rhodes]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.alwaraq.net/Core/waraq/coverpage?bookid=356|title=الحوادث اليومية من تاريخ أحد عشر وألف ومية|date=15 October 2015|series=''Yawmiat Shamiyya'' (Chronicles of Ash-Sham)|language=ar|trans-title=The Chronicles of Ash-Sham"|others=The Daily Events As of 1111 Hijri / 1699 CE|access-date=30 April 2018}}</ref> 

[[Ptolemy]]'s [[2nd century|2nd-century]] work, ''[[Geography (Ptolemy)|Geography]]'', describes ''Sarakēnḗ'' ({{langx|grc|Σαρακηνή}}) as a region in the northern [[Sinai Peninsula]].{{sfn|Retsö|2003|p=505}}{{sfn|Retsö|2003|p=506}} Ptolemy also mentions a people called the ''Sarakēnoí'' ({{langx|grc|οἱ Σαρακηνοί}}) living in the northwestern [[Arabian Peninsula]] (near neighbor to the Sinai).{{sfn|Retsö|2003|p=505}}{{sfn|Retsö|2003|p=506}} [[Eusebius]] in his ''[[Ecclesiastical History (Eusebius)|Ecclesiastical history]]'' narrates an account wherein [[Pope Dionysius of Alexandria]] mentions Saracens in a letter while describing the  persecution of Christians by the Roman Emperor [[Decius]]: "Many were, in the Arabian mountain, enslaved by the barbarous 'sarkenoi'."{{sfn|Retsö|2003|p=505}}{{sfn|Retsö|2003|p=506}} The ''[[Historia Augusta|Augustan History]]'' also refers to an attack by ''Saraceni'' on [[Pescennius Niger]]'s army in [[Egypt]] in 193, but provides little information as to identifying them.{{sfn|Retsö|2003|p=457}} 

Both [[Hippolytus of Rome]] and Uranius mention three distinct peoples in Arabia during the first half of the third century: the ''Taeni'', the ''Saraceni'', and the ''Arabes''.{{sfn|Retsö|2003|p=505}}{{sfn|Retsö|2003|p=506}} The ''Taeni'', later identified with the [[Arabs|Arab people]] called ''[[Tayy]]'', were located around [[Khaybar]] (an oasis north of Medina) and also in an area stretching up to the [[Euphrates]]. The ''Saraceni'' were placed north of them.{{sfn|Retsö|2003|p=505}}{{sfn|Retsö|2003|p=506}} These Saracens, located in the northern [[Hejaz]], were described as people with a certain military ability who were opponents of the [[Roman Empire]] and who were classified by the Romans as [[barbarian]]s.{{sfn|Retsö|2003|p=505}}{{sfn|Retsö|2003|p=506}} 

The Saracens are described as forming the ''[[equites]]'' from [[Phoenicia]] and [[Thamud]].{{sfn|Retsö|2003|p=464}}{{sfn|Retsö|2003|p=465}}{{sfn|Retsö|2003|p=466}} In one document, the defeated enemies of [[Diocletian]]'s campaign in the [[Syrian Desert]] are described as Saracens. Other 4th-century military reports make no mention of Arabs, but refer to ''Saracen'' groups ranging as far east as [[Mesopotamia]] who were involved in battles on both the [[Sasanian Empire|Sasanian]] and Roman sides.{{sfn|Retsö|2003|p=464}}{{sfn|Retsö|2003|p=465}}{{sfn|Retsö|2003|p=466}}{{sfn|Retsö|2003|p=517}} The Saracens were named in the Roman administrative document ''[[Notitia Dignitatum]]'', dating from the time of [[Theodosius I]] in the [[4th century]], as comprising distinctive units in the [[Roman army]]. They were distinguished in the document from Arabs.{{sfn|Retsö|2003|pp=464–466}}

==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>

==See also==
{{Wikisource1911Enc|Saracens}}
* [[Hagarenes]] 
* [[Ishmaelites]] 
* [[Magarites]] 
* [[Muhajirun]] 
* [[Tayy]]
* [[Arab–Byzantine wars]] 
* [[Early Muslim conquests]] 
* [[Serkland]] 
* [[Böszörmény]] 
* [[Moors]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite web |last1=Kirby |first1=Peter |title=External references to Islam |url=http://www.christianorigins.com/islamrefs.html |website=christianorigins.con |access-date=10 September 2018 |archive-date=29 April 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060429163403/http://www.christianorigins.com/islamrefs.html |url-status=dead }}
* {{cite book |last1=Déroche |first1=Vincent |last2=Dagron |first2=Gilbert |title=Doctrina Jacobi nuper Baptizati, "Juifs et chrétiens dans l'Orient du VIIe siècle" |date=1991 |pages=17–248 |edition=Greek text with French translation}}
* {{cite book |last=Daniel |first=Norman |year=1979 |title=The Arabs and Mediaeval Europe |publisher=[[Longman]] |isbn=0-582-78088-8 |pages=385 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TEEaAAAAIAAJ |jstor=43628523 }}
* {{cite book |last=Heng |first=Geraldine |year=2012 |title=Empire of Magic: Medieval Romance and the Politics of Cultural Fantasy |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |isbn=978-0-231-12527-7 |pages=536 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pRXvHbNLPQ0C |jstor=10.7312/heng12526 }}
* {{cite book |last=Kahf |first=Mohja |author-link=Mohja Kahf |year=1999 |title=Western Representations of the Muslim Women: From Termagant to Odalisque |publisher=[[University of Texas Press]] |isbn=978-0-292-74337-3 |pages=207 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AZS6RJkujasC }}
* {{cite book|last=Macdonald|first=Michael C. A.|year=2009|title=Literacy and Identity in Pre-Islamic Arabia|chapter=On Saracens, the Rawwāfah Inscription and the Roman Army|publisher=Ashgate Variorum|series=Variorum Collected Studies Series|isbn=978-0-754-65965-5|url=https://www.academia.edu/4421918}}
* {{cite book |last=Retsö |first=Jan |date=4 July 2003 |title=The Arabs in Antiquity: Their History from the Assyrians to the Umayyads |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-0-7007-1679-1 |pages=704 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uq2_tK0L2g4C }}
* Timani, Hussam, ''Saracens,'' in Muhammad in History, Thought, and Culture: An Encyclopedia of the Prophet of God (2 vols.), Edited by C. Fitzpatrick and A. Walker, Santa Barbara, ABC-CLIO, 2014, Vol. II, pp.&nbsp;538–542. {{ISBN|1610691776}}
*[[John V. Tolan|Tolan, John]]; Veinstein, Gilles and Henry Laurens. 2013. ''Europe and the Islamic World: A History. ''[[Princeton University Press]]. {{ISBN|978-0-691-14705-5}}.
*Tolan, John Victor. 2002. ''Saracens: Islam in the Medieval European Imagination''. [[Columbia University Press]]. {{ISBN|978-0-231-12333-4}}
{{refend}}
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