By Lisbet Jære.

The Norse sagas contain a surprising number of negative perceptions about Muslims. “It was a form of propaganda to garner support for Christianity,” says a researcher.

In other European countries, quite a lot of research has been conducted on how Islam and Muslims are portrayed in medieval literature. Now, for the first time, we have an insight into how Muslims are mentioned in Norse literature.

“Creating a distinction between ‘us’ and ‘them’, or what is termed ‘othering’, existed in the Middle Ages just as it does today. The underlying intention is probably the same: to portray “us” in a better light than ‘them’,” says Karl Farrugia, a Ph.D. candidate in medieval studies at the University of Oslo.

He has examined how Norse texts from early Christian times, from 1050 to 1350, portrayed, imagined, and constructed the image of Muslims and Islam. A main finding is that Muslims were referred to as an ancient enemy that posed a threat to Christian civilisation.

Referred to as Pagans

One recurring notion in the texts is that Muslims were pagans.

“The texts state that they worshiped multiple gods, and the descriptions resemble how Norse gods were worshiped in Norway before Christianity. Muhammad was just one of the gods they worshiped; another was Apollo, for example,” says Farrugia.

The texts mentioned that they were very focused on icons and had wooden figures of the gods. Another finding in Farrugia’s research is that Muslims were also described as a people engaged in heresy. This was, however, less common than the notion of them being pagans.

“The idea was that they originally had been Christians but that they now belonged to a group that had broken away from Christianity and preached false teachings.”

This portrayal of Muslims also appears in European texts. An important finding is that the Norse texts do not significantly differ from other European texts from the period.

“Scandinavians often perceive themselves as being on the periphery of Europe and therefore infer that the literature would be different. I have found that there are many similarities.”
Chivalric and Kings’ Sagas

But how common was it to write about Muslims in the old kings’ sagas and other Norse literature? Farrugia did not have to search extensively to find relevant literature.

“I was very surprised by how much literature existed on this topic. The chivalric sagas are the most voluminous genre with texts about Muslims.”

The chivalric sagas were among the most popular genres in the Middle Ages and constituted a larger part of Norse literature than the king’ s sagas. They were translated, often from French.

Today, however, they are less well known, as later scholars tended to dismiss them as a kind of medieval pulp fiction, according to norgeshistorie.no, a website dedicated to Norwegian history.

In “Heimskringla” from the 13th century, a collection of kings’ sagas written by Icelandic author Snorre Sturlason, Muslims are also mentioned.
Fought Islam as Mercenaries and Crusaders

There were two main reasons Norwegians came into contact with Muslims, Farrugia explains.

“One was that they were crusaders, like Sigurd the Crusader, who fought against Muslims on the Iberian Peninsula. The other point of contact was that several served as mercenaries for the Byzantine army.”

One of the most well-known is Harald Hardrada. After the Battle of Stiklestad in 1030, he served as a mercenary for the Byzantine emperor in Constantinople and fought against the Islamic enemy not only in the Middle East but also in North Africa and Sicily.

The Norwegian mercenaries were called Varangians and were known for being especially fearless and formidable warriors.

How Much Did They Really Know?

A common thread in Farrugia's findings on how Muslims and Islam are portrayed is that they are misrepresentations. Muslims become fictional figures in Western texts.

Farrugia quotes from Professor Siobhain Bly Calkin's book “Saracens and the Making of English Identity: The Auchinleck Manuscript.”:

“They are Oriental constructs, representations of the East produced in the West for Western consumption that enshrine western ideas of easterness rather than any empirical reality of the East”.

Islam, like Christianity, has always been a monotheistic religion. A question Farrugia asks is: How many knew this was actually fantasy and falsehood? And did they really want to know the truth, or did they prefer this fictional portrayal?

“Peter the Venerable, one of the most important authors of the time, wrote that many accused Muslims of being pagans but that this was wrong. They believe in one God, just like Christians, he wrote. Despite this clarification, the accusation that they were pagans dominates in the kings’ sagas.”

Peter the Venerable was a French Benedictine abbot. He commissioned a translation of the Quran as part of a larger study of Islam that he led. This was the first Latin translation of the Quran.

Propaganda to Garner Funding for the Crusades

Farrugia has some thoughts on why the idea that Muslims were pagans spread so easily.

It was a form of propaganda to gain increased support for Christianity. By portraying Islam so negatively, they managed to elevate Christianity as a much better, more sophisticated religion.

Additionally, they needed both financial and moral support for the crusades. The more negative portrayals of Muslims spread, the easier it was to get sympathy and funding for the crusades.

“There could also be an element of entertainment here; it was fun to portray them this way. A sort of caricature of ‘the other’”.
Criticised for Being Primitive

The portrayal of Muslims in Norse texts as more primitive also presents a significant paradox when compared to historical records.

The period from 750 to 1250 is referred to as the Islamic Golden Age. The Islamic empire stretched from Andalusia in Spain to the Far East, where Muslim scholars excelled in medicine, technology, astronomy, and culture. Arabic was developed as a common language.

But in the Norse texts, Muslims are described as backward, as people belonging to the past.

“When denigrating a culture today, it is common to say they ‘live like in the Middle Ages’, that they are ‘barbaric’ and have not made as much progress as we have. This was also the case with how Muslims were described nearly 1,000 years ago. They had to change and become Christians if they were to be on the same level as ‘us’,” says Karl Farrugia.