Saracen

For other uses, seeSaracen (disambiguation).

Saracen(/ˈsærəsən/SARR-ə-sən) was a term used both inGreekandLatinwritings between the 5th and 15th centuries to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by theRomansasArabia PetraeaandArabia Deserta.The term's meaning evolved during its history of usage. During theEarly Middle Ages,the term came to be associated with thetribes of Arabia.

Late 15th-centuryGermanwoodcut depicting Saracens

The oldest known source mentioning "Saracens" in relation toIslamdates back to the 7th century, in the Greek-language Christian tractDoctrina Jacobi.Among other major events, the tract discusses theMuslim conquest of the Levant,which occurred after the rise of theRashidun Caliphatefollowing the death of the Islamic prophetMuhammad.TheRoman Catholic ChurchandEuropean Christianleaders used the term during theMiddle Agesto refer toMuslims.

By the 12th century, "Saracen" developed various overlapping definitions, generally conflating peoples and cultures associated withIslam,theNear Eastand theAbbasid Caliphate.Such an expansion in the meaning of the term had begun centuries earlier among theByzantine Greeks,as evidenced in documents from the 8th century where "Saracen" is synonymous with "Muslim".Before the 16th century, "Saracen" was commonly used inWestern languagesto refer toMuslims,and the terms "Muslim" and "Islam" were generally not used, with a few isolated exceptions.

The term gradually became obsolete in favor of "Muslim" following theAge of Discovery.

Early usage and origins

TheLatintermSaraceniis of unknown original meaning. There are claims of it being derived from the Semitictriliteral rootšrq"east" andšrkt"tribe, confederation".Another possible Semitic root issrq"to steal, rob, thief", more specifically from the nounsāriq(Arabic:سارق), pl.sāriqīn(سارقين), which means "thief, marauder".In hisLevantine Diary,covering the years 1699–1740, the Damascene writerHamad bin Kanan al-Salhi(Arabic:محمد بن كَنّان الصالحي) used the termsarkanto mean "travel on a military mission" from theNear Eastto parts of Southern Europe which were underOttoman Empirerule, particularlyCyprusandRhodes.

Ptolemy's2nd-centurywork,Geography,describesSarakēnḗ(Ancient Greek:Σαρακηνή) as a region in the northernSinai Peninsula.Ptolemy also mentions a people called theSarakēnoí(Ancient Greek:οἱ Σαρακηνοί) living in the northwesternArabian Peninsula(near neighbor to the Sinai).Eusebiusin hisEcclesiastical historynarrates an account whereinPope Dionysius of Alexandriamentions Saracens in a letter while describing the persecution of Christians by the Roman EmperorDecius:"Many were, in the Arabian mountain, enslaved by the barbarous 'sarkenoi'."TheAugustan Historyalso refers to an attack bySaracenionPescennius Niger's army inEgyptin 193, but provides little information as to identifying them.

BothHippolytus of Romeand Uranius mention three distinct peoples in Arabia during the first half of the third century: theTaeni,theSaraceni,and theArabes.TheTaeni,later identified with theArab peoplecalledTayy,were located aroundKhaybar(an oasis north of Medina) and also in an area stretching up to theEuphrates.TheSaraceniwere placed north of them.These Saracens, located in the northernHejaz,were described as people with a certain military ability who were opponents of theRoman Empireand who were classified by the Romans asbarbarians.

The Saracens are described as forming theequitesfromPhoeniciaandThamud.In one document, the defeated enemies ofDiocletian's campaign in theSyrian Desertare described as Saracens. Other 4th-century military reports make no mention of Arabs, but refer toSaracengroups ranging as far east asMesopotamiawho were involved in battles on both theSasanianand Roman sides.The Saracens were named in the Roman administrative documentNotitia Dignitatum,dating from the time ofTheodosius Iin the4th century,as comprising distinctive units in theRoman army.They were distinguished in the document from Arabs.

Medieval usage of the term

Further information:Muslim presence in medieval France

Use ofsaracenein Roman-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 withIshmaelites(descendants ofAbraham's firstbornIshmael) in some strands of Jewish, Christian, and Islamic genealogical thinking. The writings ofJerome(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" wifeSarah,rather than as Hagarenes, which would have highlighted their association with Abraham's "slave woman"Hagar.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 nameSaracenwas not indigenous among the populations so described but was applied to them by Greco-Roman historians based on Greek place names.

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.In an 8th-century polemical work, the Arab monkJohn of Damascuscriticized the Saracens as followers of a "false" prophet and "forerunner[s] to the Antichrist," and further connected their name to Ishmael and his expulsion.

By the 12th century, Medieval Europeans used the termSaracenas both an ethnic and religious marker.In some Medieval literature, Saracens were equated with Muslims in general and described as dark-skinned, while Christians lighter-skinned. An example is inThe King of Tars,a medieval romance.The Song of Roland,anOld French11th-century heroic poem, refers to the black skin of Saracens as their only exotic feature.

The termSaracenremained in use in the West as a synonym for "Muslim" until the 18th century. When theAge of Discoverycommenced, it gradually lost popularity to the newer termMohammedan,which came into usage from at least the 16th century. After this point,Saracenenjoyed only sporadic usage (for example, in the phrase "Indo-Saracenic architecture") before being outmoded entirely.

In theWiltshire 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 ofStonehenge,long predating Islam.

Use in medieval entertainment: Crusade cycle

Main article:Crusade cycle

Maugisfighting the Saracen Noiron in Aigremont, inRenaud de Montauban.David Aubert, Bruges, 1462–1470.

The rhyming stories of theOld FrenchCrusade cyclewere popular with medieval audiences in Northern France, Occitania and Iberia. Beginning in the late 12th century, stories about the sieges ofAntiochandJerusalemgave accounts of battle scenes and suffering, and of Saracen plunder, their silks and gold, and masterfullyembroideredandwoventents. From the story of the Frankish knights at the tent of Saracen leader Corbaran:

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, delicatesamit.

History

The Maghreb

The Islamic conquest of countries such asEgyptandSyriahad allowed the Muslims to create afleetcapable of undermining Byzantine supremacy in theMediterraneanin a relatively short time.

Especially on the Maghreb and Spanish coasts, variousemirateshad been established where the local component soon merged with theArabandBerberones. Each emirate was headed by anemirwho, apart from formal subjection to one of the threecaliphswho divided the Islamic Empire between themselves between the 8th and 9th centuries (Córdoba,CairoandBaghdad), were substantially independent.

Crete and the return to the western Mediterranean

The repression of theUmayyadinsurrection inal-Andaluswas bloody and it is in this period (818) that the mass emigration of Andalusians (so indicated, regardless of ethnic origin and religion) took place along two lines, partly to Morocco and others to Egypt. From here they supported their co-religionists for the 827Muslim conquest of Sicily.Also in this year, an autonomous Andalusian kingdom was founded inAlexandria,Egypt, which theAbbasid Caliphateput an end to in 825. Then the Andalusians left for theAegean,where they established theEmirate of Crete,independent and flourishing from a commercial and cultural point of view, as well as powerful from a military point of view, until the Byzantine reconquest in 961.

Crete became the center of numerousmilitary expeditionsin the Aegean, in southern Italy, where Traetto was also founded, andRomewas raided in 846, 849 and 876. In the western Mediterranean, due to the weakening of theCarolingian Empireand its fleet,Marseillewas raided in 838 and 846,Arlesin 842 and 850 andFréjusin 869. The Muslims established a refuge in theCamarguein these years, as chronicled in theAnnales Bertiniani,and from there they raged in theRhônevalley.

TheBalearic Islandswere finally conquered by the Andalusian Umayyad cause in 902.

The conquest of Sicily and the incursions into southern Italy

The Saracen conquest of Byzantine stronghold Syracuse,Siege of Syracuse (877–878)

Saracen musicians at the court ofRoger

Main articles:Muslim conquest of SicilyandDuchy of Naples

From 827 theAghlabidemirs ofKairouan,in today'sTunisia,began the conquest ofSicily,which took a long time, but which marked the apogee of Saracen rule in the Mediterranean for at least two centuries. The conquest was completed in 902, thanks to the offensive against the Byzantines, who had cut off supplies by conqueringCrete(827) andMalta(870).

The settlement of the Saracens was sometimes also encouraged and supported by local lords, as help in disputes, as in the case of Andrea,consulofNaples,who was harassed by theLombard prince of BeneventoSicoand after turning in vain toLouis the Pioushe asked the Saracens for help. The intervention was also requested again by his successorSicard,with the cities ofAmalfi,SorrentoandGaetajoining the Neapolitans: the Saracens behaved correctly towards the cities of Campania, helping them to defeat the Beneventans and signing peace and trade agreements. In exchange the Neapolitans helped the Saracens during the siege of Messina in843and maintained a complicit neutrality whenPunta Licosaand the islands ofIschiaandPonzafell under Islamic rule.

Again, the Neapolitans, to weaken Benevento, had invited the Saracens to attackBrindisiin 838, from which they extended toTarantoandBari,which became the seat ofthe eponymous emiratefrom 840 to 871.

Having defeated aVenetian fleetin theKvarner Gulf,the Saracens now took advantage of the rivalries between the local powers, acting as masters and now also putting themselves at the service of the unscrupulous Beneventans themselves.

In the year 840,Siconulf,lord of Salerno,fighting withRadelchisandLandulf,lords of Benevento andCapua,called to his aid the Saracens settled in the colony under the Traetto hill, at the mouth of theGarigliano,often and willingly hired by theDuke of Naples,Andrew II.After bloody incursions into some parts ofsouthern Italy,the Saracens found a way to prosper thanks to their raids and their offering themselves as mercenaries to the most diverse Christian lords of the time.

In 843 the Saracens went so far as to destroyFondiandMonte Cassino,arriving inOstiaand going up the Tiber to reach Rome where they sackedSt. Peter's Basilicain the Vatican andBasilica of Saint Paul Outside the Wallsin Rome.

The gesture prompted a swift reaction against the Saracens. A first attempt to expel the Saracens from southern Italy was made in 866-871 by the emperor and kingLouis II,who, having descended into Italy with an army ofFranks,BurgundiansandProvencals,in addition to the allied troops ofPope Sergius II,of theDoge of Venice,theDuke of Spoletoand that of Naples, he took back Benevento, Capua, Salerno, Bari, destroyingMateraandVenosa.

Now uncontrollable Saracen troops had been hired byAdelchis,Duke of Benevento: he forced the people of Bari to accept the protection of the Berber Khalfun, who as payment was promised nothing less than permission to sack and burn some sacred buildings in the area, but he went so far as to raze the city of Capua to the ground. Ludovico, then in Italy, managed to free Benevento from the mercenaries and pacify the Lombard princes, acting as guarantor for the division of the duchy into the two principalities of Salerno and Benevento and the county of Capua.

Main articles:Battle of OstiaandLouis II's campaign against Bari (866–871)

The compromise solution did not pleasePope Leo IV,who in those years was having Rome surrounded with the "Leonine belt"of walls, as proof of the fear that was still alive, so the pontiff sponsored the formation of a Campanian fleet which in 849 defeated the Saracens off the coast of Ostia. Ludovico, nominated emperor in the meantime, moved towards Bari, also begged by the abbots of Monte Cassino andSan Vincenzo al Volturno.In the meantime, an emir reigned in Bari who juggled between the various local powers, without denying the granting, upon payment, of safe conducts for pilgrims who wanted to embark for theHoly Land.He also protected the learned Jewish community ofOria.Expelled for the first time from Bari, a nucleus of them entrenched themselves near Monte Matino (Horace'sMons matinus) on a hill which therefore took the name ofMount Saracenoon theGargano.From there they often came down to plunder and burn towns, villages and cities, to desecrate temples and commit all sorts of cruelties and atrocities. Defeated numerous times by different peoples, the Saracens, who fled from the Gargano in 967, fortified themselves in Bari. The campaign against Bari was long and between various negotiations, alliances and treaties it took place from 855 to 871, with the active combat phase in the four years between 867 and 871. The emir Sawdan, who had also sacked theSanctuary of Monte Sant'Angeloon the Gargano, was allowed to spend his life in golden captivity by his friend Adelchis, prince of Benevento. But this move turned out to be wrong for the German emperor due to the entry into the scene of theByzantine emperorBasil I,who frowned upon the intervention in Southern Italy, a territory of Byzantine prerogative for centuries: Basil allied himself with Sawdan and he fomented a revolt of the Lombards of Benevento, who took the emperor prisoner for about two months, while a new Saracen army of twenty thousand men, sent by Kairouan, devastatedCalabriaandCampania.In 873 Ludovico returned to Campania and defeated the Saracens, but died two years later.

Main article:Battle of Garigliano

Therefore, the Saracen port of Taranto remained, from which a very richslave tradetook place. It was the Byzantines who recovered Taranto in 876. However, the Saracen raids in the Adriatic did not end with the reconquest of Taranto, indeed in those years the Muslims completed the conquest of Sicily (Syracusein 878,Taorminain 902). In 882, once again allied with the Campanians, they destroyed the abbeys of San Vincenzo and Montecassino, establishing a nest at the mouth of the Garigliano (Traetto), from which they also held Rome at gunpoint: they were finally expelled only in 915, when the Byzantine empressZoe Porphyrogenitamanaged to get the Italian lords to agree on the need to expel the Saracens from the Italian peninsula and began a campaign against them which - thanks to the commitment ofBerengar I of Italy,ofPope John X,and of the Dukes of Spoleto and Camerino - reaped the promised fruit. In reality the raids continued, in fact one of the most serious episodes seems to be the new sack of Oria and Taranto which occurred in 925/926, on which occasion the family of the well-known Oritan Jewish scholarShabbethai Donnolowas captured.

In 970, they returned again to the Gargano, devastating places (the two Roman cities ofSipontoand Matinum were razed to the ground), terrifying the inhabitants in massacres and robberies, who were forced to askOtto the Greatfor help. It is on Mount Saraceno, where they were strongly entrenched for years, that the Saracens were defeated and driven from the place by Otto the Great.

In 1002/03 DogePietro II Orseolosuccessfully led a fleet of 100 ships against the Saracens who had been besieging Bari for months. As thanks, the Church of San Marco dei Veneziani was built in old Bari.

From Sicily in the 9th century the Arabs continued to plunder the coasts of southern Italy, also establishing new, occasionalbridgeheads,such as atAgropoliorSanta Severina,which, despite the unsuccessful intervention ofOtto II(in 982), they lasted for a long time, falling away only after 1036, when the death of the Sicilian emir of al-Akhal led to an irreversible fragmentation of power on the island.

They were expelled from Sicily in 1071, after ten years of war, by theNormans.

Main article:Mujahid's invasion of Sardinia

The chain of coastal towers along the Tyrrhenian coast, connected to each other within sight to exchange signals, had the purpose of spotting pirate ships from afar in order to give the alarm to the defenseless populations in time, but they were only built in the 16th century to protect themselves by the Ottoman fleet. The commonly used name "Saracen Tower" is incorrect.

See also

• Hagarenes
• Ishmaelites
• Magarites
• Muhajirun
• Tayy
• Arab–Byzantine wars
• Early Muslim conquests
• Serkland
• Böszörmény
• Moors

Bibliography

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