Saracens in Middle English romances

Many Middle English romances are concerned with issues of identity on the macro level of culture and religion and/or the micro level of the individual and their place in society. Against the uncertainties of shifting politics, war, and plague, these romances question what it means to be English, to be Christian, to be a man or woman, to be a king, or to be a knight. Few things help define an identity better than encountering the Other, and popular Middle English romances often incorporate anxieties and confusions of identity by using Saracens. Interestingly, Saracens can be found all over Middle English canon, from the crusade romances that send Christian knights abroad to conquer the Holy Land, to the more insular Arthurian romances.