Were there Muslims in 12th century England?
score:28
There is almost no direct historical evidence that openly-practicing Muslims were LIVING in the British Isles in the decades and centuries after the Norman Invasion. But I guess I'll start this post by highlighting the one prominent fringe hypothesis that would say otherwise (note that I mean hypothesis in a loose scientific sense here, as in a well-researched conclusion that has not gained widespread acceptance). The geneticist and demographer Donald Yates in The Early Jews & Muslims of England & Wales claims that he has discovered distinct pockets of Muslim patrilineage among UK citizens in Wales and Lincoln. According to Yates, these individuals possess the "right" North African genetic markers and surnames to surmise that they are descended from 9th-11th century Moorish merchants. However; Yates is the only resource out there making this claim and it is such a recent one (2014) that there hasn't been a lot of outside investigation by historians that would confirm this conjecture.
On the other hand, the historical record is full of examples of English-Islamic cultural exchanges going back as far as the 8th century. Note that we can't necessarily assume that these cultural exchanges were a product of Muslim traders coming to Britain (many Islamic ideas about science, trade, and jurisprudence came to Britain via contact with the Normans), but the influence was nevertheless significant. Examples include when Offa, the 8th century King of Mercia, ordered the minting of gold coins designed to resemble the dinars of the Abassid Caliphate. The reason for doing so was to apparently facilitate Mercian traders venturing to Muslim Spain and southern France. How about another example: Islamic geographers from the 9th century included Britain on their maps. Also, starting around the time of the Third Crusade, if not earlier, the Latin-translated works of highly-regarded Muslim scholars were also making their way to England and being studied by intellectuals of the period (see writings of Roger Bacon and Chaucer).
As far as hard population numbers and primary source documentation of a permanent Muslim presence in England, you won't get that until the Elizabethan period I'm afraid. For various reasons, these folks also tended to be native English who converted (save the Ottoman diplomatic delegation to the Court of Elizabeth), so it's doubtful they "stood out on the street". Good luck in your search.
Upvote:0
Personally, I always hate it when a TV or movie producer takes some famous book and makes major changes to it, like adding a totally new character. Like hey, if you didn't like the story, write your own. Don't put your words into someone else's mouth just so you can piggyback on his popularity. There was certainly no such character in the original Robin Hood story. Whether this really is or will become a "staple of the mythology", we'll see I guess. But that little rant aside ...
To make a Muslim character living in England plausible, you don't have to suppose any large community of Muslims establishing a permanent residency in England. You just have to posit that ONE person could have made it there. And that seems pretty obviously possible. Others have noted that Muslims did visit England and trade with England in this period. You just have to suppose that among the hundreds(?) thousands(?) of Muslims who visited, one decided to hang around and join this particular group.
Upvote:2
Since the background of the Robin Hood legend is, in most cases, based on the events surrounding the Third Crusade (1189–1192), the intoduction of the Saracen (as Muslims were called then) character Nasir in the Robin of Sherwood series is very straightforward and plausible:
- he was taken, as a prisoner, back to England
So it would seem that the British screenwriter Richard Carpenter invested some time to do some research, which is one reason why British series tend to be of a higher quality than their US counterparts.
So it is plausible that some Muslims arrived and remained in England during this time
- founding families while doing so
The motivation to bring back the Muslim prisoner may have been to serve the feudal Lord as a warrior and therefore could very well have had a high standing.
Since England was a feudal society at the time, a prisoner of feudal Lord would probably not be in danger of arrest for just looking weird?
- there were no police at the time
A feudal Lord enforced the Kings (or his own) will
- through those serving him
So it is unlikely that a commoner would ask a servant of a feudal Lord to arrest a prisoner (likely a warrior himself) of that feudal Lord.
Robin Hood is a legendary heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature and film. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions of the legend, he is depicted as being of noble birth, and in modern retellings he is sometimes depicted as having fought in the [Third] Crusades before returning to England to find his lands taken by the Sheriff.
...
Through retellings, additions, and variations, a body of familiar characters associated with Robin Hood has been created. These include his lover, Maid Marian, his band of outlaws, the Merry Men, and his chief opponent, the Sheriff of Nottingham. The Sheriff is often depicted as assisting Prince John in usurping the rightful but absent King Richard, to whom Robin Hood remains loyal.
- was produced by HTV in association with Goldcrest, and ran from 1984 to 1986 on the ITV network
Cast and characters - The Merry Men
...
Nasir (Mark Ryan)
A Saracen assassin, he was captured in Palestine by the Baron de Belleme and brought back to England to work as his henchman. After the Baron is killed by Robin, Nasir – having found respect for Robin during a crucial sword fight – decides to join the Merry Men. Throughout the series, he speaks very little.
Saracen is a despective term widely used among Christian writers in Europe during the Middle Ages to refer to Arabs and Muslims. The term's meaning evolved during its history. In the early centuries of the Common Era, Greek and Latin writings used this term to refer to the people who lived in desert areas in and near the Roman province of Arabia Petraea, and in Arabia Deserta. In Europe during the Early Middle Ages, the term came to be associated with tribes of Arabia. The oldest source mentioning the term Saracen dates back to the 7th century. It was found in Doctrina Jacobi, a commentary that discussed the event of the Arab conquests on Palestine.
By the 12th century, Saracen had become synonymous with Muslim in Medieval Latin literature. Such expansion in the meaning of the term had begun centuries earlier among the Byzantine Greeks, as evidenced in documents from the 8th century. In the Western languages before the 16th century, Saracen was commonly used to refer to Muslim Arabs, and the words Muslim and Islam were generally not used (with a few isolated exceptions). The term became gradually obsolete following the Age of Discovery.
Sources:
More post
- 📝 In 1700-1900 England, how were 'manners an end in themselves and not merely a means to achieve propriety by conformity'?
- 📝 Was Cossack cavalry ineffective relative to other troops?
- 📝 Was the treatment of US diplomats in Germany after the declaration of war during WW2 typical?
- 📝 Was there an embargo of Soviet gold in 1932, and was grain the primary exportable good?
- 📝 Why did Argentina invade the Falklands when they did, rather than wait for the pending sale of the UK aircraft carriers to complete first?
- 📝 What is the name of the king whose brother has been raised as a girl?
- 📝 Formation of underground layers of Rome
- 📝 Why did the Monitor and Merrimac (aka Virginia) have such radically different designs?
- 📝 Placard with 3 red crosses - probably WW1
- 📝 Did any country ever suppress the value of money?
- 📝 Did Comecon [even] fail to standardize container sizes?
- 📝 What were the requirements for Ancient Greek colonist groups?
- 📝 What was the purpose of tunnel fighting in a 17th century siege?
- 📝 What kinds of goods were commonly smuggled in the Roman Empire up to the end of the 3rd century AD?
- 📝 How many hours a week did the Tolpuddle Martyrs work?
- 📝 Which immigrants became elected officials in an acquired language?
- 📝 How did the Weygand Line collapse so quickly?
- 📝 Why did European alchemists seek metal transmutation in addition to the Elixir Of Life?
- 📝 Is there a factual basis for the character of Morgan le Faye from the King Arthur tale?
- 📝 Can you identify this artillery shell?
- 📝 Third Reich? What were the other two?
- 📝 To what can we trace the idea of "civic responsibility"?
- 📝 Why are the ceilings so high in older houses?
- 📝 Why was the British army so short of rifles after Dunkirk?
- 📝 Key points of a strong dictatorship
- 📝 Inquiry into the nature and roots of the temporal power of the Roman Catholic Pope:
- 📝 Who attributed to King George II the quote "Will someone please remove these infernal chains?"
- 📝 What is this building called? (It was built in 2002)
- 📝 During the Battle of Britain, what AA defenses were available, and where?
- 📝 When was the last bull & bear fight in California?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Were there Muslims in 12th century England?
- 📝 Were there distinctions between Arab, Berbers and Iberian Muslims in 10th century Islamic Spain?
- 📝 How many barons were there in feudal 10th century France?
- 📝 Why were there more Muslims in East Bengal than in West Bengal
- 📝 Were there records kept of French nobility before the invasion of England in 1066?
- 📝 Were there regionalist/independentist movements or feelings in mid-19th century Spain?
- 📝 Were there efforts made in the 19th century to inoculate the natives against smallpox?
- 📝 How many 'pubs' (alehouses, inns and taverns) were there in England in 1577?
- 📝 Were there more robberies of "commercial" or "personal" nature in 19th century in USA?
- 📝 Were there any Muslims left in the Indian side of the Punjab after the 1947 riots?
- 📝 Were there any monarchs of England or the United Kingdom who were not technically first in the line of succession?
- 📝 Were there women who were against giving women the right to vote?
- 📝 What were paper airplanes called before there were real airplanes? (i.e. untethered winged flyers, not kites or balloons)
- 📝 How much smaller were medieval farm animals in England than today?
- 📝 What drugs were used in England during the High Middle Ages?
- 📝 Why were there no internment camps for German-American citizens in USA during WW2?
- 📝 Why were there no nuclear detonations in 1959?
- 📝 Why were there no religious wars in Poland?
- 📝 Were there U.S. weapon restrictions during 19th century?
- 📝 In the "Christmas truce" of 1914 were there any football (soccer) matches between British and German troops?
- 📝 What did people in 13th century England know about Greek mythology?
- 📝 In 19th century France, were police able to send people to jail without a trial, as presented in "Les Misérables"?
- 📝 Were there large scale protests after earlier presidential elections in the US?
- 📝 Were there occasions when a sovereign country voluntarily joined another country?
- 📝 Were there any drunk driving laws before the automobile?
- 📝 Were there any travel restrictions during the Black Death pandemic?
- 📝 Why were nomadic tribes (like the Mongols) from the Eurasian steppes a much reduced threat from the 15th century onwards?
- 📝 Were there any Germans in Japan after the surrender of Germany in May, 1945 and if so, what happened to them?
- 📝 Were there any high-ranking female soldiers during the Middle ages?
- 📝 Why were there no agricultural, city-state forming civilizations in the Ice Age?
