Saracen is an historical term for a certain group of people but the meaning changed during its history. In the early centuries AD in Greek and Latin it referred to a people who lived in desert areas in and near the Roman province of Arabia, and who were specifically distinguished from Arabs.^[1][2] In Europe during the Early Middle Ages, the term began to be used to describe Arab tribes.^[3] By the 12th century, "Saracen" had become synonymous with "Muslim" in Medieval Latin literature. This expansion of the meaning had begun centuries earlier among the Byzantine Greeks, as evidenced in Byzantine Greek documents from the era of the Muslim Umayyad Caliphate.^[4][1][5]

Early usage and origins[link]

Ptolemy's Geography from the second century CE describes Sarakene as a region in the northern Sinai peninsula.^[2] Ptolemy also mentions a people called the Sarakenoi living in north-western Arabia (near neighbor to the Sinai).^[2] Eusebius of Caesarea references Saracens in his Ecclesiastical history, in which he narrates an account wherein Dionysus, Bishop of Alexandria mentions Saracens in a letter while describing the Roman emperor Decius' persecution: "Many were, in the Arabian mountain, enslaved by the barbarous sarkenoi."^[2] The Historia Augusta also refers to an attack by Saraceni on Pescennius Niger's army in Egypt in 193 CE but provides little information on who they might have been.^[6]

Both Hippolytus and Uranius mention three distinct peoples in Arabia during the first half of the third century: the Saraceni, the Taeni and the Arabes.^[2] The Taeni, later identified with the Arabic speaking people called Tayy, were located around the Khaybar oasis north of Medina, and also in an area stretching up to the Euphrates river, while the Saraceni were placed north of them.^[2] These Saracens located in the northern Hejaz appear as people with a certain military ability who are opponents of the Roman Empire and who were characterized by the Romans as barbarians.^[2]

The Saracens are described as forming the equites (heavy cavalry) from Phoenicia and Thamud.^[7] In one document the defeated enemies of Diocletian's campaign in the Syrian desert are described as Saracens. Other 4th century military reports make no mention of Arabs but refer to as Saracens groups ranging as far east as Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) that were involved in battles on both the Persian and Roman sides.^[7][8] They are described in the Roman administrative document Notitia dignitatum—dating from the time of Theodosius I in the 4th century—as comprising distinctive units in the composition of the Roman army and they are distinguished in the document from Arabs and Iiluturaens.^[7]

Medieval usage[link]

An illumination depicting Romans punishing Cretan Saracens, taken from the Madrid Skylitzes, a 12th-century Byzantine manuscript.

An illumination from the Auchinleck manuscript, a 14th-century manuscript which included The King of Tars.

Usage of the term in the Latin West changed as the Middle Ages progressed, but its connotation remained negative and its exact definition continued to be unclear.^[9] In an 8th century polemical work, John of Damascus criticized the Saracens as followers of a false prophet and "forerunner[s] to the Antichrist."^[10] Two centuries later, Europeans perceived Saracens as poor, uneducated idolaters belonging to a group wholly separate from the Arabs who brought Aristotle to the Latin West and the Moors and Berbers fighting Christians in Spain; someone who got all of his or her information on Islam from medieval sources would not conclude the three groups represented one continuous culture.^[9]

Medieval literature and race[link]

By the 12th century, Medieval Europeans had more specific conceptions of Islam and "Saracen" had become a racial and religious marker.^[1][11] In some Medieval literature Saracens—that is, Muslims—are black-skinned, while Christians are fair-skinned. An example is in The King of Tars, a medieval romance.^[12][13] The Song of Roland, an Old French 11th-century heroic poem, takes the association of black skin with Saracens a step further by making it their only exotic feature.^[14]

See Also[link]

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Saracens.

• Byzantine-Arab Wars
• Medieval Christian view of Muhammad
• Mohammedan
• Moors
• Orientalism
• Serkland
• Tatars

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Daniel, Norman. 1979. The Arabs and Mediaeval Europe. Longman Group Limited. ISBN 0-582-78088-8
• Heng, Geraldine. 2004. Empire of Magic: Medieval Romance and the Politics of Cultural Fantasy. Columbia University Press ISBN 978-0-231-12527-7
• Kahf, Mohja. 1999. Western Representations of the Muslim Women: From Termagant to Odalisque. University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-74337-3
• Retso, Jan. 2003. The Arabs in Antiquity: Their History from the Assyrians to the Umayyads. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-7007-1679-1
• Tolan, John Victor. 2002. Saracens: Islam in the Medieval European Imagination. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-12333-4

Dougie Poynter
Poynter in 2007
Background information
Birth name	Dougie Lee Poynter[1]
Born	(1987-11-30) 30 November 1987 (age 24) Corringham, Essex, England[citation needed]
Genres	Pop rock
Occupations	Musician
Instruments	Bass guitar, Vocals, Guitar
Years active	2003–present
Labels	Island (2003-2007, 2010-present) Super Records (2008-present)
Associated acts	McFly
Website	McFly.com
Notable instruments
Music Man Sterling Music Man StingRay Fender Jazz Bass

Dougie Lee Poynter (born 30 November 1987 in Corringham, Essex, England)^[1] is an English musician and the bassist and vocalist for the pop rock band McFly. He won the 11th series of I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here!

McFly[link]

Dougie is bassist of pop band McFly, also providing backing, and on occasion, lead vocals. He has co-writer credits on many of McFly's tracks, including the lead writer credit on their 2007 number one single "Transylvania." Poynter has called "Transylvania" his favourite song that he has written.^[2] Poynter also wrote an unrecorded track called Silence Is A Scary Sound, which features as a live recording on their third studio album Motion In The Ocean. The youngest member of the band, Poynter was also the last to enter it when Danny Jones and Tom Fletcher, who already had been signed to a record deal with Island, held auditions for a bassist and drummer. Poynter was 15 when he joined the band. Because of his young age, Dougie and the other members of McFly hold the record for the youngest band to ever have a debut album go straight to number one, a record previously held by The Beatles.

Personal[link]

Poynter dated Frankie Sandford of The Saturdays,^{[3][4][5][6][7]} until the pair briefly split up in March 2010.^[8] They reunited in April 2010,^[9] but split up again in November of the same year. Poynter has stated that they will not be getting back together for the third time.^[10] He spent some time in rehab following the split, due to his depression. Since his release from rehab, he stated he would not drink alcohol in order to keep a healthier state of mind.^[11] As of the end of 2011, Poynter is dating artist Lara Carew-Jones.^[12]

Other work[link]

Before joining McFly at the age of 15, Poynter was in a band named 'Ataiz'. In 2010, Dougie and three other people, including Motion In The Ocean and Radio:ACTIVE producer Jason Perry, started a clothing line called 'Zukie', named after Poynter's pet lizard. ^[13] Dougie owns 30 per cent of the business. In early 2011, it was confirmed that Poynter had started his own clothing range, by the name of 'Saint Kidd', a pirate-based company inspired by William Kidd. ^[14] Dougie is scheduled to be releasing a children's story with fellow bandmate Tom Fletcher entitled "The Dinosaur That Pooped Christmas", about a boy who gets a pet dinosaur for Christmas. The book is expected to be released in October 2012. ^[15]

Appearances[link]

Poynter won the 2011 series of I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here!, beating fellow Essex man Mark Wright.^[16][17][18]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: McFly

• Official website
• Dougie Poynter at the Internet Movie Database