posted August 29, 2010 03:45 PM         

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THE GLOBAL AFRICAN COMMUNITY
HISTORY NOTES: THE MOORS IN EUROPE
BY RUNOKO RASHIDI

It would not be inaccurate to say that the Moors helped reintroduce Europe to civilization. But just who were the Moors of antiquity anyway? As early as the Middle Ages, and as early as the seventeenth century, "The Moors were," according to the Oxford English Dictionary, "commonly supposed to be mostly black or very swarthy, and hence the word is often used for *****." Dr. Chancellor Williams stated that "The original Moors, like the original Egyptians, were Black Africans."

At the beginning of the eighth century Moorish soldiers crossed over from Africa into Spain, Portugal, and France, where their swift victories became the substance of legends. To the Christians of early Europe there was no question regarding the ethnicity of the Moors, and numerous sources support the view that the Moors were a black-skinned people. Morien, for example, is the adventure of a heroic Moorish knight supposed to have lived during the days of King Arthur. Morien is described as "all black: his head, his body, and his hands were all black." In the French epic known as the Song of Roland the Moors are described as "blacker than ink."

William Shakespeare used the word Moor as a synonym for African. Christopher Marlowe used African and Moor interchangeably. Arab writers further buttress the Black identity of the Moors. The powerful Moorish emperor Yusuf ben-Tachfin is described by an Arab chronicler as "a brown man with wooly hair."

Black soldiers, specifically identified as Moors, were actively recruited by Rome, and served in Britain, France, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Poland, and Romania. St. Maurice, patron saint of medieval Europe, was only one of many Black soldiers and officers under the employ of the Roman Empire.

[1998] Runoko Rashidi. All Rights Reserved"

And from Wikipedia:

"Sir Morien and Sir Palamedes of Arthurian fame. Sir Gawain, whose life was saved on the battlefield by Sir Morien, is stated to have "harkened, and smiled at the knight's speech." It is noted that Morien was the fashion of his land. "Morien, who was dark of face and limb," was a great warrior, and it is said that: "His blows were so mighty; did a spear fly towards him, to harm him, it troubled him no whit, but he smote it in twain as if it were a reed; naught might endure before him." Sir Morien personified all of the finest virtues of the knights of the European Middle Ages."

The Moors were in Spain before the year 800. There is a picture on the Wilipedia site showing the Moorish ambassador to Queen Elizabeth 1 (16th C). I would think it is very likely they traded with Britain if nothing else, during the Middle Ages.
Source(s): http://aalbc.com/reviews/themoors.htm

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More information on such:
Ancient and Medieval Africa

Blacks in Greece and Rome

Blacks in Greece and Rome
When some people learn that the Greeks and Romans had a high regard for black intelligence and morality they assume it was because they had little contact with black people. Greeks and Romans not only had contact with blacks from Africa, but they had contact with their black neighbors. Frank Snowden discovered that, "The exact number of Ethiopians who entered the Greco-Roman world as a result of varied military, diplomatic, and commercial activity is difficult to determine, but all the evidence suggests a sizable Ethiopian element, especially in the population of the Roman world….The black population in Greece and Italy was larger than has been generally realized."

In the late 4th century AD Church fathers Sophronius and St. Jerome even refereed to Colchis as a, "second Ethiopia," because of its large black population. Two accounts in the 4th century BC, one by Hanno and another by Palaephatus, tell of the city of Cerne, located just outside the Pillars of Hercules, which was inhabited by Ethiopians. Cerne is described as a market town where the Carthaginians and Ethiopians traded elephant tusks and hides, wine, perfume, Egyptian stones, Athenian pottery, and skins of deer, lions, and leopards. The sizable population of blacks in ancient Rome is demonstrated by the fact that on one occasion, in 61BC, Nero allowed only blacks into the theater to watch one hundred Ethiopian huntsmen perform.

Following the construction of the city of Alexandria many more blacks traveled to the Greco-Roman world--that is evident by the growing numbers of Negro statues at the seaports of Rome and Greece. Blacks often immigrated permanently. Snowden wrote, "whoever laid down arms after having fought only yesterday against Rome was welcome, whoever came to Rome was there, no one inquired after origins--all those with talent, industry, and good fortune had chances to forge ahead."

Blacks--like any other immigrants--found careers as craftsmen, metalworkers, carpenters, entrepreneurs, soldiers, government officials, politicians, actors, dancers, jugglers, boxers, acrobats, animal tamers, gladiators, charioteers, bath attendants, bootblacks, cooks, courtesans, divers, laborers, and lamp-bearers. "Ethiopians," Richard Poe tells us, "were just as likely to be philosophers, priests, athletes, warriors, or merchants in the Roman world as they were servants." As discussed before, the Isiac religion from Nubia-Meroe spread throughout the Greek and Roman world. Many of the high priests in that religion, as shown by the art, were black.

According to some accounts Aesop was Ethiopian, and Terrence, the famous Roman writer and former slave, was described as having dark and black skin. A Nubian King, during the reign of Philadelphus, received a Greek education and studied philosophy. Odysseus's herald, Eurybates, was described as having black skin and woolly hair. On several occasions, landowners mentioned on the Pylos tablets had the name Aithiops (meaning black), although this may have been just a common Greek name of the time.

The Black population in Greece and Rome created regular contact between Blacks, Italians, and Greeks. The contact did not lead to a disdain for Black people, as many white supremacists would wish; rather it lead to a very high regard for the intelligence and piety of blacks.

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