Anglo-Saxon Perceptions of the Islamic World

by Katharine Scarfe Beckett

• ISBN13: 9780521054386
• ISBN10: 0521054389
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-01-21
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

In this book, Scarfe Beckett is concerned with representations of the Islamic world prevalent in Anglo-Saxon England. Using a wide variety of literary, historical and archaeological evidence, she argues that the first perceptions of Arabs, Ismaelites and Saracens which derived from Christian exegesis preconditioned wester expressions of hostility and superiority towards peoples of the Islamic world, and that these received ideas prevailed even as material contacts increased between England and Muslim territory. Medieval texts invariably represented Muslim Arabs as Saracens and Ismaelites (or Hagarenes), described by Jerome as biblical enemies of the Christian world three centuries before Muhammads lifetime. Two early ideas in particular - that Saracens worshipped Venus and dissembled their own identity - continued into the early modern period. This finding has interesting implications for earlier theses by Edward Said and Norman Daniel concerning the history of English perceptions of Islam.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

List of abbreviations

Introduction

Islam during the Anglo-Saxon period

Anglo-Saxon contacts with Islam

Arabs and Arabia in Latin

Ismaelites and Saracens in Latin

Arabs, Ismaelites and Saracens in early Anglo-Latin

Pseudo-Methodius and the sons of Ismael

Arabs, Ismaelites and Saracens in Old English

Persisting theories about Saracens in post-Conquest England

Conclusions

Bibliography

Index

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