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Blacks in medieval armies
Mike W.:
In the Maciejowski Bible, there is one person who, it appears, is depicted as a black man. Is there any other contemporary evidence of blacks serving in medieval European armies? I'm curious why the artist chose to depict one man, out of all them, this way. Was it artistic styling, or could it be reflective of historical European armies? Any thoughts?
Sir Edward:
You know, that's a really good question. Outside of the Moores, I'm not too familiar with it.
Sir James A:
My guess is more likely to be someone Middle Eastern with dark complexion rather than African?
Sir Douglas:
I don't know too much about it specifically in regards to armies, but check out this blog:
http://medievalpoc.tumblr.com/
It can be a little "preachy" at times, but there's some fascinating stuff there. Some of the images show dark-skinned folks with clearly African features, some are probably Middle-eastern or Moorish (who would have originally been North Africans anyway), and some are still a little dubious to me.
Aiden of Oreland:
French maybe?
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