Imagined Invasions: Muslim Vikings in Laȝamon’s Brut and Middle English Romances

English texts about invasions by non-Christians were popular throughout the Middle Ages. Middle English authors adopted an Old English literary tradition that responded to ongoing historical circumstances and adapted it to fit their own Crusades-era moment by replacing invading Scandinavians with Muslims. This essay explores the legacy of literary responses to the Scandinavian invasions of England from the ninth through eleventh centuries in Middle English literature, particularly when depicting Muslim enemies. A key text in this analysis is Laȝamon's Brut, which both exhibits characteristics of the Old English literature that precedes it and provides an early witness to themes popular in the Middle English literature that follows it. Because of historical circumstances, such as the growing Anglo-Scandinavian presence in England, Old English texts allowed for the religious conversion and acceptance of Scandinavians. However, the Brut only offers the possibility of redemption to Arthur's European pagan enemies and not to Muslims. The Brut's portrayal of irredeemable Muslims in the context of pagan invasions reverberates in later Middle English romances like King Horn, where Muslims invading England are beyond salvation even as they reenact the Viking raids of Scandinavians, and Chaucer's "Man of Law's Tale," where redeemable European pagans are contrasted with Syrian Muslims who refuse conversion. As such, the Brut is a critical text for understanding depictions of non-Christians in Middle English romances dealing with invasions.