In the medieval West, Muslims were widely thought to be idolators, pagans who worshiped demons. Crusade propaganda like the Song of Roland emphasized that Christendom was in a struggle to capture territory from their demons in the name of the true God.
And so a story was told of Archbishop Thiemo of Salzburg, who went with Duke Welf of Bavaria to liberate Jerusalem in the First Crusade in 1098. Approaching the holy city, they are surrounded and defeated and taken into slavery. In due course Thiemo smashes a golden idol worshiped by the Muslim king, who accuses him of sacrilege. In return, the bishop tells the king that his idols are not gods but demons and that he should cease worshiping them — whereupon he is subjected to torture and a gruesome death.
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