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 Muhammad's 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.
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