The Racial Thoughts of Medieval Europe

Race has always been a big problem of many conflicts. The segregation of Jews and Muslims were an important topic in medieval Europe. Christian had certain stereotypes given to the Muslims and the Jews. Jewish people were portrayed as filthy and vile. Jews were perceived to be uncontrollable, greedy, filthy, horrid heathens that went around terrorizing the English Christian's. Also they were portrayed to have a fascination for wealth. Jews were known to be merchants and to practice some sort of witch craft and known for their tricky ways of getting what they want from others. These points are prominent in our reading of the Hobbit comparing the dwarves to Jews. Anti- Islamic was also an important topic in medieval Europe. Muslims were seen as lustful, unwholesome, warlike people. They have a stereotype of hating everyone who is not a Muslim and being and being extreme. This example is found in the King of Tars when then Muslim king declared war on the Christians because they would not hand over the princess over. This is extreme because the king killed many of his own men and the Christian men, just so he could get what he wanted. You can also see in the King of Tars that Medieval Muslims are portrayed as being lustful. The Muslim king started a war just to get the Christian princess. Apparently during this time period nothing good could come from a Muslim. Even when the Muslim king and the Christian princess had a child, the child was born a lump, literally a lump of flesh and when the lump was baptized it turned into a beautiful pale baby boy. The medieval Jews and Medieval Muslims were depicted as considerable heinous and impure by the medieval Christians.  

Zara Robinson