Medieval Latin Biographies of the Prophet Muhammad (II)

From Rodulf the Bald's Histories

For prior instalments in this series, see:

(i) From Anastasius the Librarian’s Ecclesiastical History

Rodulf the Bald (d. 1046-1047 CE) was a French Benedictine monk associated with the famous abbey of Cluny. He composed a history work that is divided into five books and serves as an important source for European history around the turn of the second Christian millennium.

The following extract is not a detailed biography of Muhammad but rather briefly discusses Muslim beliefs about his genealogy and his supposed fulfilment of prior Hebrew prophecies. It comes in the context of a story about the capture of Saint Maiolus of Cluny (the fourth abbot of Cluny- d. 994 CE) by a group of Muslim raiders in the Alps. The story, which is dated to 972 CE and is primarily intended to illustrate Maiolus’ piety, also features an interesting moment in which some of his Muslim captors reject and denounce defilement of the Bible by one of their companions.