The Moors: Medieval Europe's Fascination with Black Africans, Black Knights, Moorish Culture, Moor's Heads

The Moors: Medieval Europe's Fascination with Black Africans

Thanks to Medieval European painters, we have evidence that Europeans came into contact with Africans long before the age of Western colonization and African slavery. In fact, Blacks were in Europe long before Europeans went to Africa. Most medieval paintings depicting Blacks are show them in a positive aspect. Blacks are either kings, heroes, knights, saints, magi, and allies -- very rarely servants, slaves, or foes. Some of the earliest paintings of blacks were magi:

Black Magi (Medieval Italian painting)

While the magi paintings were generally stereotypical, later paintings during the Renaissance, included real life portraits such as "Portrait of an African Man" in Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum:

Jan Mostaert's portrait of a nobleman guest of the Queen of Austria (early 1500's)

Europeans loved and appreciated the Moors so much that they've adorned the their cities with statues, emblems, official seals, flags, and with the faces of Black men. Such evidence can be seen even today. In fact, over 100 European cities and governments still retain the Moor's head (a head of a Black African) on their official seals:

Corsica Coburg, Germany (ancestral home of House of Windsor/Saxe-Coburg-Gotha) Freiburg, Germany (home of Pope Benedict)

Further to the myriad moor's heads on flags and seals, you can Moors everywhere in Europe:

Black Knight Statue at Cathedral in Munich, Germany

Moors playing Chess (Medieval European Painting)

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