medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
The Magdeburger Dom has a statue of St. Maurice as a Moor (with subsaharan features) from ca. 1260:
http://flickr.com/photos/8040300@N05/1857523858
http://tinyurl.com/3xunzk
Even earlier is an image at Rome, where the newly formed Trinitarians rebuilt in 1209 the ancient church of San Tommaso in Formis. Next to this they built a hospital. From the street one can see remnants of the hospital's ornamental portal:
http://www.romeartlover.it/Vasi52f5.jpg
http://tinyurl.com/lpb3d
The restored early thirteenth-century mosaic above the entrance:
http://tinyurl.com/ol5f8
, showing an enthroned Christ between two slaves, one white and one black, is signed by Jacopo Cosmati the elder and by Cosma Cosmati, early members of the famed family of mosaicists and stoneworkers.
Best,
John Dillon
On Wednesday, August 27, 2008, at 10:22 pm, George Hoelzeman wrote:
> I don't recall the date offhand, but the portal of the Bamberger Dom
> has a figure with obvious African features (subsaharan) - one of the
> three kings. I did
> some research on the prevalance of African visages in Medieval imagery
> and culture while at the University of Trier in 1991, but seem to have
> misplaced it.
>
> Apparently, it was not limited to slaves, if I remember correctly.
> Germans, in particular, had a minor fascination with Africans. Their
> depiction in the presence
> of the Emperor was (from what I recall) a sign of the universal rule
> of the Christian Emperor. Other nobles apparently (again from what I
> recall) adopted
> African faces and figures into their heraldry in order to show loyalty
> or affinity for the Emperor.
>
> Pope Benedict XVI's coat of arms features a crowned African face,
> clearly subsaharan. That having been noted, I don't know the date of
> origin for the
> Ratzinger coat of arms.
>
> George the Less
>
> On Wed, 27 Aug 2008 22:06:54 +0200, Karl Brunner wrote:
>
> >medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
> >Belakane, one of the wifes of Parzivals father, is black, and their
>
> >son Feirefiz is black and white, and comes to the grail: I only
> wanted
> >to say, that there is no negative connotation with black/niger people
>
> >in MA. I do not know, if they had any real knowlegde about real black
>
> >people, except of slaves in Venice.
> >yours
> >k
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