Black Africans in Hohenstaufen Iconography

Author(s): Paul H. D. Kaplan

Source: Gesta, Vol. 26, No. 1 (1987), pp. 29-36
Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the International Center of Medieval Art
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Black Africans in Hohenstaufen Iconography
PAUL H. D. KAPLAN
Wake Forest University

Abstract The greater number of images of blacks in Western

art of the 1100s, and the greater variety of meanings which
In the late 12th century positive images of black
Africans began to increase in Western art. This they convey, are due to several factors. The first three
phenomenon was encouraged by a developing interest Crusades surely had an important effect. Many blacks
in blacks on the part of the Hohenstaufen emperors fought in the Islamic armies which clashed with a broad
Henry VI and Frederick II. Henry's conquest of Sicily spectrum of European knighthood from 1097 on.4 In
in the 1190s brought a number of black Moslems South Italy and Sicily, however, dark-skinned Moslems
under his rule, and miniatures from the period record
this fact. In the 1220s his son Frederickestablished an had already been visible for several centuries. One of the
Islamic colony which included a number of blacks at gates of Islamic Palermo was named after the black African
Lucera in Apulia, and at least two sculptures can be residents of the city.5 The Norman conquest of Sicily in
associated with these Africans. One is a capital depic- the late I Ith century must have led to more direct contact
ting a remarkably naturalistic black as well as other between these blacks and white Christians. But it was not
varied ethnic types. The second work is evidently
a portrait of Johannes Maurus, a black who was until the end of the I 100s that these Africans attracted the
Frederick's chamberlain. The two blacks who appear special attention of Christian rulers and artists.
in the Adoration of the Magi on Nicola Pisano's Siena The extensively illustrated Liber ad honorem Augusti,
pulpit are undoubtedly based on African retainers at written by the Hohenstaufen apologist Pietro da Eboli in
the Hohenstaufen court. Even after the fall of the
1195-1197, provides our first glimpse of that family's
Hohenstaufen, artists made repeated references to the
family's fondness for black people in art and in life. incipient interest in black Sicilians.6 The Hohenstaufen
had only just established their presence in Southern Italy.
The first great member of this Swabian family, the Holy
One of the important achievements of the visual arts Roman emperor Frederick Barbarossa, had married the
in the West during the Gothic period was the rediscovery Norman heiress of Sicily and Naples, and their son Henry
of an effective means of depicting human racial variation.1 VI set out to conquer his rightful kingdom in 1194. The
In the years after 1180, Italian and Northern European Liber ad honorem tells the story of his victory over the
artists shared a growing interest in reproducing the details Norman usurper Tancred of Lecce. Three separate minia-
of such variation, and special attention was devoted to tures include black characters, and in all three cases the
representations of black Africans. At the same time, the blacks appear as royal retainers. In the first image, how-
imperial dynasty of the Hohenstaufen, German by birth ever, the three black trumpeters (identifiable by virtue of
but increasingly immersed in Italian politics and culture, the dark wash applied to their faces) are servants of
began to exhibit a remarkable fascination with black Tancred, who is shown triumphantly entering Palermo.7
people. This essay will explore the nature of the Hohen- As black musicians and artists were often to be met with
staufen predilection for black Africans in art and in life; it at the Islamic courts which stretched from Spain to Syria
will also attempt to describe some of the ways in which during this period,8 it seems likely that Tancred's use of
later images of blacks are derived from aspects of them was simply a carry-over from the practices of the
Hohenstaufen iconography. former Emirs of Sicily; that the Normans retained many
In the earlier Middle Ages black-skinned people were Islamic customs is well known. On a following page of the
often characterized as evil in text and image, but by the Liber ad honorem (Fig. 1), however, Henry VI makes his
12th century a more positive view began to gain ground.2 own triumphal entry into the Sicilian capital, and he is
In the mosaics of the Pentecost cupola in San Marco in equipped with an almost identical set of turbaned black
Venice, for instance, a pair of blacks are included among trumpeters. These African musicians seem to affirm
the peoples to be converted by the apostles. A mosaic of Henry's legitimacy as well as his familiarity with the
about 1215 over the entrance to a monastery of the traditions of his new kingdom.
Trinitarian order in Rome depicts Christ redeeming both a Although we can recognize the blacks because of their
white and a black captive from the suffering of slavery. comparatively darker color, they are perhaps less distinct
Egalitarian images of this kind are not common, but they than the artist might have wished. On another page of the
do exist; they seem to imply that all races are equal before same manuscript, however, a more convincing version of a
God, and that the Christian mission is universal.3 black is depicted, but in an unexpected situation. The text

GESTA XXVI/1 ? The International Center of Medieval Art 1987 29

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 r;~~ 4 ::-:
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FIGURE 1. Entry of Henry VI into Palermo, from Pietro da Eboli's Liber ad honorem FIGURE 2. Matthew of Ajello as Bigamist and
Augusti, 1195-1197. Bern, Burgerbibliothek, Cod. 120, fol. 134 (photo: Fotoatelier Gerhard Murderer,from Pietro da Eboli's Liber ad honorem
Howald). Augusti, 1195-1197. Bern, Burgerbibliothek, Cod.
120, fol. 134 (photo: Fotoatelier Gerhard Howald).

bitterly attacks Tancred's associate Matthew of Ajello, woman, an Asian, and, most remarkably, a black. The
and in a two-part miniature he is castigated for his representation of Africans was by no means new to the art
immorality (Fig. 2).9 Above he is shown as a bigamist; of Apulia. Ancient Apulian ceramics frequently depict
below he is seen trying to assuage the pain of his gout by black Africans, often as locked in struggle with wild
means of the barbarous expedient of executing one of his beasts, and this motif was revived in the Romanesque
black servants so that the man's blood could be used as a period.12 Griffins prey upon hapless blacks both in the
bath for Matthew's swollen feet. It may be significant that floor mosaic of the Cathedral of Otranto (a work of 1166),
the author and illustrator of the Liber used a cruel action and on the west faqade of the Cathedral of Ruvo, finished
against a black as evidence of the depravity of this enemy about 1200.13 These, however, are comparatively crude
of the Hohenstaufen. images which only serve to emphasize the striking natu-
The early death of Henry VI in 1197 gravely weakened ralism of the head from the capital.
Hohenstaufen power, but luckily his young son Frederick Hans Wenzel has tried to account for the sophistica-
was protected by the Pope. Frederick II was chiefly brought tion of the Troia capital by emphasizing its close relation-
up in Sicily, and he emerged as a cosmopolitan Mediter- ship to French Gothic sculpture. In this regard, he made
ranean ruler more at home in the south than in the north. particular reference to the work on the north porch of
Like his Hohenstaufen forebears, however, Frederick Chartres, where two convincingly carved blacks appear:
hoped to make the theoretical powers of the imperial one as servant to the judging Solomon, and the other as
throne a reality. He wanted to rule an empire which would retainer to the Queen of Sheba (Fig. 4).14 But compared
be made up of not only Italian and German, but perhaps with the Chartrain blacks, the Apulian head is even finer
also North African and Middle Eastern subjects. By the and considerably more dignified. Moreover, this black
1220s he had broken with his papal protectors, and he figure, unlike those at Chartres, is not represented in
sought to weaken the universal spiritual claims of the the role of a servant. One senses that the creator of
Church by asserting his own right to secular sovereignty the capital actually knew black people; the presence of a
over all the world's peoples.1o mustache is a particularly naturalistic touch which falls
These universalist objectives seem to be manifested in outside the limits of the accepted medieval stereotype of
an unusual Apulian capital from the first half of the 13th black Africans.
century (Fig. 3). The work was discovered in 1954 lying in Using the chronology of French Gothic as their prin-
a dark corner of the sacristy of the Cathedral at Troia, but cipal criterion, Wenzel and other scholars have dated the
nothing certain is known about its origin." The piece is capital to about 1220, and presumed that Troia was its
decorated with four heads of varied types, including a original location. However, there is reason to question
30

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 WTIT--

FIGURE 3. Four-Headed Capital. Troia, Museum (photo: author).

T OWN
-41

-R ISM

FIGURE 4. Black Servant of the Queen of Sheba. Chartres, Cathedral, north porch, right doorway, left jambs (photo: author).

31

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 OWN":
poo.

Ii•
117 :

FIGURE 5. Johannes Maurus. Lucera, Museo

Civico Fiorelli, "G. Fiorelli,'" inv. no. 171 (photo:
Museo Civico, Lucera).

FIGURE 6. St. Maurice. Magdeburg, Cathedral

(photo: author).

both of these conclusions. Troia was sacked by Frederick II expedition to Germany. A monkish chronicler relates that
in 1229, the date usually proposed as terminus ante quem the emperor "proceeded in great glory with numerous
for the work. Little was produced there in the following carriages laden with gold and silver, byssus and purple,
decades, yet the advanced style of the capital suggests that gems and costly vessels, with camels, mules as well as
it was carved in the 1230s or 1240s."5The capital, clearly a dromedaries, with many Saracens, and with Ethiopians
dislocated fragment of some destroyed monument, is much having knowledge of rare skills accompanying apes and
more likely to have been sculpted in the neighboring city leopards and serving as guards bringing along money and
of Lucera-an imperial stronghold whose history provides treasure."'18These unusual servants were surely Lucerans,
an obvious explanation for the unusual presence of a since we know that the exotic animals were kept in Lucera
black face on this work of art. between trips.19 Musicians are not mentioned, but the role
In 1224-25 Frederick II decided on the final "pacifica- of these blacks as guardians of the royal treasury is
tion" of the Sicilian interior which was still partly con- noteworthy.
trolled by petty Moslem princes. The roughly 16,000 By 1239 a black Luceran had attained a position of
prisoners taken in this campaign were shipped to Lucera, considerable responsibility at the imperial court. Johannes
where they were allowed to practice their religion openly. Maurus, the son of a slave woman, held the position of
All of these Moslems were regarded as Frederick's personal Chamberlain until Frederick's death in 1250.20 He was
servants, and the emperor organized the colony at Lucera also the benbeuschenky (administrator-judge) of Lucera.
with a view toward developing its military potential. In After 1250 he served briefly as Lord Chamberlain and
1233 he began the construction of a castle there, and an Governor of Lucera under Frederick's son Conrad IV, but
elite guard of Luceran troops was soon formed.16 he went over to the Pope in 1253 and obtained the title of
Blacks are specifically mentioned in some of the Grand Chamberlain of the Kingdom of Sicily. Unhappy
documents which relate to the colony. In 1239 Frederick with Johannes's treasonous abandonment of the Hohen-
ordered the formation of a brass band which was to staufen cause, his own Luceran troops murdered him in
include "sclavis nigris"; in a letter of 1240 two of these the following year, and his severed head was brought back
"servitelli nigri" are named-they were called Musca and to Lucera and placed as a warning on one of the city
Marzuch-and like the other musicians they were between gates.
sixteen and twenty years of age."7 Frederick was clearly Johannes is described as black, and as "deformatus";
imitating earlier patterns of Norman and Hohenstaufen this last term seems not to be merely an ethnocentric
pageantry which are recorded in the miniatures of the reaction to his African physiognomy, but rather an allusion
Liber ad honorem (Fig. 1). to some injury or deformity.2 A remarkable head now in
Already in 1235 blacks had been observed in the the Museo Civico in Lucera is likely to be a contemporary
splendid retinue which Frederick brought with him on an portrait of Johannes (Fig. 5). The tightly curled hair, wide
32

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FIGURE 7. Nicola Pisano, Adoration of the Magi, FIGURE 8. William of Orange Jousting with a Black Giant. Pernes, Tour Fernande
detail. Siena, Cathedral,pulpit, 1266-68 (photo: author). (photo: author).

nose, full lips, and the deliberately chosen dark grey stone and martyred in Germany, Maurice's martial qualities
clearly indicate that the man is a black African, and the made him an appropriate patron during the Ottonian
carefully carved scar running from chin to cheekbone may campaign against the pagan Slavs.
be the deformity in question. There is no precedent in The Hohenstaufen association with Africans did not
medieval art for the use of a dark stone to portray a black, end with Frederick's death in 1250. The colony at Lucera
but it was not unusual in Roman art, as a head now in the continued to sustain Conrad IV, and after his death in
Naples museum demonstrates.22 The Lucera head is flat- 1254 it pledged itself to Frederick's illegitimate son
tened at the back and at the top, and must have been part Manfred, who was presented with one hundred black
of some monument or building. Although the head is slaves by a Sicilian supporter.27 Conradin, the last
rather roughly carved, its link to Roman sculpture and its Hohenstaufen, probably had black retainers as well. In the
architectural context remind one of Frederick's gate at Adoration of the Magi panel from Nicola Pisano's Siena
Capua, built in the 1230s, with its classically-inspired pulpit, two superbly carved blacks are seen riding camels
portrait heads of imperial officials.23 in the train of the Three Kings (Fig. 7). Nicola, himself an
The four-headed capital and the portrait of Johannes Apulian, was familiar with Hohenstaufen imagery, but the
signify more than a record of the black presence in southern reference here is more precise. Siena was a Ghibelline city
Italy at this time. Hohenstaufen claims to universal loyal to the Hohenstaufen, and in 1267, while Nicola was
sovereignty could be supported with evidence that people at work on the pulpit, Conradin and his court spent a
from remote lands acknowledged Frederick as their lord. month in the city. The blacks in Nicola's relief are the first
Some of Frederick's Luceran blacks no doubt became to appear in depictions of the royal retinue of the Wise
Christians, and it should be pointed out that when Men, and they must allude to Hohenstaufen practice.28
Frederick managed to negotiate the return of Jerusalem in The execution of Conradin by the new Angevin rulers
1229, among his new subjects were black monks from the of southern Italy did not extinguish the memory of the
kingdom of Ethiopia.24 All this suggests that the great favor which had been shown to blacks by Hohenstaufen
statue of St. Maurice, made in the 1240s for Magdeburg rulers. A wall painting of the 1280s from Pernes in
Cathedral (Fig. 6), is also related to the Hohenstaufen Provence, commissioned by some Angevin baron, shows
interest in blacks.25 This sculpture, which is the earliest the legendary tale of William of Orange defeating a heathen
surviving image of St. Maurice as a black man, was giant-and, exceptionally, the giant is a caricatured black
created in a loyal imperial city, where Maurice was a saint (Fig. 8).29 Right next to this mural is a representation of
who had been specially venerated by emperors since the the Angevin victory over Manfred in 1266.30 The black
10th century.26A Roman warrior who was born in Egypt giant, then, must also stand for the Moslem Lucerans who
33

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 ~? ~--"'--"c And it seems likely that it was one of Charles's artists who
Q~ 35a9 ~;-;;;
first ventured to show one of the Three Magi as black.40
This iconographical innovation became immensely popular
I
~d
1 by the late 15th century. Whenever we look at a noble
black African magus in a Renaissance or Baroque painting,
._i? r :w c we should perhaps also be thinking of the trumpeters of
D
~ I:~ f~lPI~e~H~S~S~BBS~
c-
Henry VI, the guardians of Frederick II's treasure, and of
Johannes Maurus.41
B ~,
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~a~U~ ."" NOTES

I would like to thank Prof. Harry Titus and Dr. Christoph von
FIGURE 9. The False Frederick and His Black Retainers,from Clemens
Steiger of the Burgerbibliothek in Bern, for their assistance with
Specker's Austrian Chronicle, 1476. Bern, Burgerbibliothek, Cod. A45, research problems. The material in this essay was presented in
p. 143 (photo: Fotoatelier Gerhard Howald). lecture form at the Annual Southeastern College Art Conference,
held in New Orleans in October of 1985.
2. On representations of blacks as inherently evil or demonic, see
G. K. Hunter, "Othello and Colour Prejudice," Proceedings of
defended Manfred to the last. The Luceran colony was the British Academy, LIII (1967), 139-63; P. Du Bourguet,
"La couleur de la peau du d6mon dans l'iconographie chr6tienne
ultimately broken up and sold into slavery by Charles of a-t-elle une origine precise?," in Actas del VIII Congreso inter-
Anjou.3' Nevertheless, only a generation later Charles's nacional de arqueologia cristiana, Barcelona 5-1I octobre 1969
son Robert promoted a freed black slave to the exalted (Congresso Internazionale di Archeologia Cristiana, Studi di
position of Royal Seneschal. Boccaccio recorded this Antichita Cristiana, pubblicati a cura del Pontificio Istituto di
remarkable but, as we have seen, hardly unprecedented Archeologia Cristiana, XXX) (Rome and Barcelona, 1972), 271 72.
rise to power, and in the 15th century Jean Fouquet For lengthier treatment of the evolution of images of black Africans
in Western art, see P. Kaplan, The Rise of the Black Magus in
illustrated the story.32 Western Art (Ann Arbor, 1985); idem, "Ruler, Saint and Servant:
In Germany the black retainers of the Hohenstaufen Blacks in European Art to 1520," Ph.D. dissertation, Boston Uni-
were certainly not forgotten. An impostor claiming to be versity, 1983 (especially chapter IV); J. Devisse, M. Mollat, and
Frederick II appeared near Cologne in 1283. He had little J. M. Courths, L'image du Noir dans lart occidental. II. Des
to buttress his assertion, except for three black servants premiers siecles chretiens aux "grands decouvertes", 2 vols. (Fri-
bourg, 1979), esp. I, 46-79.
who followed him; one was his chamberlain, whose duty
was simply to dispense treasure.33 Reminiscences of 3. For the mosaic in San Marco (from the middle of the 12th century),
where the blacks are labelled as Egyptians, see O. Demus, The
Johannes Maurus and of the blacks of the imperial retinue
Mosaics of San Marco. I. The Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries, 2
of 1235 are here combined. An Austrian miniature of 1476 vols. (Chicago, 1984), I, 153, II, col. pl. 4, pl. 186; Demus erron-
concisely illustrates a later retelling of this event (Fig. 9).34 eously implies that the notion of black Egyptians was anomalous in
The impact of the Hohenstaufen interest in black this period. See also Kaplan, "Ruler, Saint and Servant," 68. For
Africans is evident not only in images which directly the mosaic on the gate of the San Tomaso in Formis, see Devisse et
al., L'image du Noir, I, 146-48, fig. 12; Kaplan, "Ruler, Saint and
involve the princely family, but also in many other sub-
Servant," 76-77. The sources for this imagery are largely Byzantine;
sequent representations of blacks in European art. Black ibid., 55-78.
heads began to appear in coats of arms after 1250. Royal 4. Albert of Aix, Historia Hierosolymitana, in Recueil des Historiens
Aragonese examples are among the earliest.35On seals the des Croisades, Historiens Occidentaux, IV (Paris, 1879), 266 713,
kingdom of Aragon itself was represented by four black 490, 494, 497, 513, 514, 533, 534, 544, 592, 594, 700.
heads, and the Aragonese provinces of Corsica and Sar- 5. The Bab-es-Soudan; V. di Giovanni, La topografia antica di
dinia were given other versions of the same coat of arms.36 Palermo dal secolo X al XV (Palermo, 1889), I, 46, 92, 221. On
The royal family of Aragon promoted itself as the true Sicilian Moslems, see also M. Amari, Storia dei musulmani di
successor to the Hohenstaufen, and the Aragonese claim Sicilia, 3 vols. (Florence, 1854-72); on blacks in predominantly
white Islamic cultures, see G. Rotter, Die Stellung des Negers in der
to the two islands relied in part on former imperial
islamischen-arabischen Gesellschaft bis zum X VI. Jahrhundert
sovereignty over these districts.37 The Aragonese kings (Bonn, 1967).
also favored black court retainers, and soon exported this 6. Bern, Burgerbibliothek, Cod. 120; De rebus siculis carmen, in
custom to the courts of France and Italy.38 Rerum italicarum Scriptores, XXI, part I, ed. E. Rota (CittBadi
More importantly, a later Holy Roman emperor Castello, 1904).
sought to imitate the kind of iconographic use to which 7. Entitled Triumphi Spurij Regis; fol. 102.
black figures had been put in Frederick II's day. In 8. B. Lewis, Race and Color in Islam (New York, 1971), 14-15;
Charles IV's castle at Karl'tejn near Prague, during the T. Glick, Islamic and Christian Spain in the Early Middle Ages
1360s, a second image of a black St. Maurice was created.39 (Princeton, 1979), chapter 6.

34

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9. See Devisse et al., L'image du Noir, I, 108, 110, fig. 80. cum symiis et leopardis, pecunias thesauros suos custodientes
secum adducens, in multitudine copiosa principum et exercitus
10. On Frederick, see E. Kantorowicz, Frederick the Second 1194-1250
Winpiam usque pervenit.
(New York, 1957), and T. Van Cleve, The Emperor Frederick II of
Hohenstaufen; Immutator Mundi (Oxford, 1972). Continuatio Funiacensis et Eberbacensis, in MGH Scriptores, XXII,
11. This capital was first discussed by H. Wenzel, "Ein gotisches 348, June 1235. Other writers noticed the exotic animals
but not the blacks: Mainardino of Imola, in P. Scheffer-Boichorst,
Kapitell in Troia," ZfKg, XVII, no. 2 (1954), 185-88. Wenzel
and a number of more recent scholars have all linked this work Zur Geschichte des XII. und XIII. Jahrhunderts (Berlin, 1897),
to an extremely similar capital (with a black head) in The Cloisters 282; Salimbene de Adam, Cronica Fratris Salimbene de Adam
Ordinis Minorum, in MGH Scriptores, XXXII, 92-93; Annales
(inv. no. 55.66). However, the authenticity of this piece is now
very much in question, according to Mr. Charles Little of the Cremonenses, in MGH Scriptores, XXXI, 17; Annales Colmariensis
Metropolitan Museum (to whom I am much indebted for this Minores, in MGH Scriptores, XVII, 189. As late as the 16th century
these accounts were readapted for contemporary use. Maximilian I
information). See V. K. Ostoia, "To Represent What Is as It Is,"
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., XXIII (1964-65), is described as approaching Padua in 1509 as follows:
367 72; K. Hoffmann, ed., The Year 1200; A Centennial Exhibition Tamburi, croni, tampani, et trombetee
at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, I (New York, 1970), 41-42, Gniaccare, gridi con furia disciolta
no. 49; R. Haussherr and C. Vaterlein, eds., Die Zeit der Staufer, Insegnie, gomphalon, bandere ellette
5 vols. (Stuttgart, WuirttembergischesLandesmuseum, 1977), I, 665, Stendardi di piu foggie a folta a folta
nos. 840-41, fig. 623; Devisse et al., L'image du Noir, I, 117, Lancie, spade, archi, balestre, e gianette
figs. 89-91. Arnese, e barde, de ricchezza molta
Cavalli, mulli carri, e dromedarii
12. On ancient Apulian images of blacks with wild animals: E. Buschor,
Genti infinite de linguaggi varii
"Das Krokodil des Sotades," Miinchner Jahrbuch der Bildenden
Con questa giente limperator santo
Kunst, XI (1919), 1-43. On both ancient and Romanesque works of Verso di padoa prese il suo camino
this kind, Kaplan, "Ruler, Saint and Servant," 11-20.
Nicol6 degli Agostini, Li successi bellici seguiti nella Italia dalfatto
13. Otranto: C. A. Willemsen, L'enigma di Otranto: il mosaico darme di Gieredada ... (Venice, 1521), canto VI, stanzas 33-34.
pavimentale del presbitero Pantaleone nella Cattedrale (Galatina,
1980), pl. IX. Ruvo: L. Priess and H. Popp, eds., Apulien: 19. Egidi, La colonia saracena, 45; Amelj, Storia della cittai di
Mitteralterliche Architektur und Skulptur der Normannen und Lucera, 191.
Hohenstaufen im suddstlichen Italien (Stuttgart, 1922), fig. 18. 20. There are two contemporary sources for Johannes's career: Niccol6
14. Wenzel, "Ein gotisches Kapitell," 185-88. Solomon's servant is in di Jamsilla, Historia antea edita sub inscriptione anonvmi de rebus
the lintel of the right doorway. See A. Chastel, "La rencontre de gestis Frederici II. Imperatoris, in Rerum italicarum Scriptores, ed.
Salomon et de la Reine de Saba dans l'iconographie medievale," L. A. Muratori, VIII (Milan, 1726), 522, 527-28, 542; Petri de
GBA, XXXV (1949), 99-114; Kaplan, Black Magus, 39-40, fig. 8; Vineis (Piero delle Vigne), Epistolarium, ed. J. R. Iselius, 2 vols.
idem, "Ruler, Saint and Servant," 89-90. (Basel, 1740), I, 339-40. Several letters from or to Johannes are
15. See C. Gnudi, "Considerazioni sul gotico francese, l'arte imperiale given in Huillard-Breholles, Historia Diplomatica, V, part i, 486-
e la formazione di Nicola Pisano," in A. M. Romanini, ed., 87, 492, 601. Huillard-Breholles discusses his career, I, part i, cxlvii-
Federico H e l'arte del duecento italiano (Atti della III settimana di cxlviii. Other significant accounts of his life may be found in Van
studi di storia dell'arte medioevale dell'Universith di Roma, 15-20 Cleve, Emperor Frederick II, 265; Kantorowicz, Frederick the
maggio, 1978), 2 vols. (Galatina, 1980), I, 1-17, 2-3. Second, 312; Amelj, Storia della citta di Lucera, 191, 199, 205;
Amari, Storia dei musulmani, III, 711; Egidi, La colonia saracena,
16. On events in Sicily, see Amari, Storia dei musulmani. For accounts 19-20; C. De Cherrier, Storia della lotta dei Papi e degli imperatori
of the colony in Lucera, see Van Cleve, Emperor Frederick II, 153; della casa di Svevia (Palermo, 1862), III, 22-23, 26; G. Franciosa,
P. Egidi, La colonia saracena di Lucera e la sua distruzione (Naples, "Origine della colonia Saracena di Lucera e sua vita durante
1915); G. B. Amelj, Storia della citthidi Lucera (Lucera, 1861). il periodo svevo," thesis, Universith di Roma, 1950/1951, 54-57;
17. On the "sclavis nigris": B. Capasso, Historia diplomatica Regni Siciliae inde ab anno 1250
ad annum 1266 (Naples, 1874), 57, 83, 93-94; A. Haseloff, Die
Fideligati tue precipiendo mandamus quaetenus de sclavis nigris Bauten der Hohenstaufen in Unteritalien, I, Textband (Leipzig,
curie nostre si habes ex eis, vel si non habes de sclavis curie
1920), 113-18. This last author unwarrantably suggests that
nostre, emas de pecunia nostra usque ad quinque, qui habeant a Johannes owed his extraordinary rise in position to sexual services
XVI vel XX annis supra, et ipsos instrui facias ad sonandum
performed as a boy at the imperial court. Equally unsubstantiated
tubas, quorum quatuor doceantur ad tubas, et unus ad tubectam, are assertions that Johannes was a eunuch.
et ipsos instructos cum quatuor tubis et una tubecta ad presen-
tiam nostram quam citius poteris, debeas destinare.... 21. Niccol6 di Jamsilla, Historia antea, VIII, 522.
Cremona, 28 Nov., 1239; Regest. imper. Freder. II, fol. 29v; J. L. A. 22. Museo Archeologico Nazionale, no. 150242. On blacks in ancient
Huillard-Br~holles, ed., Historia Diplomatica Frederici Secundi, 6 art, see F. M. Snowdon, Jr., Blacks in Antiquity; Ethiopians in the
vols. (Paris, 1963), V, part i, 535-36. On Musca and Marzuch: Pisa, Greco-Roman Experience (Cambridge, Mass., 1970); idem, Before
24 Dec., 1239; Regest, imper. Freder. II, fol. 40r; ibid., V, part i, Color Prejudice: The Ancient View of Blacks (Cambridge,
601. See also ibid., V, part ii, 676-77 (Arezzo, 14 Jan., 1240), and E. Mass., 1983); J. Vercoutter, J. Leclant, F. M. Snowden, Jr., and
Winckelmann, "Zur Geschichte Kaiser Friedrichs II. in den Jahren J. Desanges, The Image of the Black in Western Art. I. From the
1239 bis 1241," Forschungen zur Deutschen Geschichte, XII (1873?), Pharaohs to the Fall of the Roman Empire (New York, 1976).
521-56, 524 (5 Feb., 1240).
23. Ostoia ("To Represent What Is," 368-69) proposes a link between
18. ... procidens in magna gloria cum quadrigis plurimin auro the Capua gate sculptures and the Troia capital.
argentoque onustis, bysso et purpura, gemmis atque preciosa
suppellectili, cum camelis mulis atque dromedis, Sarracenos 24. The first certain evidence of the presence of black monks in Jeru-
quoque multos et Ethyopes diversarum arcium noticiam habentes salem in 1237 indicates that they had been there for some time;

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 E. Cerulli, Etiopi in Palestina; storia della comunitai etiopica di (Hanover, 1892-1909), V, part i, 421, verse 32189, 422, verses
Gerusalemme, 2 vols. (Rome, 1943-47), I, 62-68. 32221-25, 422-23, verses 32241-97. On this and other "false
25. Devisse et al., L image du Noir, I, 160-66, figs. 114-16. Fredericks," see K. Schreiner, "Die Staufer in Sage, Legende und
Prophetie," in R. Haussherr and C. Vaterlein, eds., Die Zeit der
26. Relics of St. Maurice came to Magdeburg in 968, and under Henry Staufer, III, 249-62, 253-55.
II Maurice became one of the patron saints of the Reich. From the
mid-I Ith until the 16th century the rite of the emperor's coronation 34. From Clemens Specker's Austrian Chronicle; see Matthaei cujus-
in Rome always involved mention of St. Maurice, and the emperor dam, vel Gregorii Hageni Germanicum Austriae Chronicon, in
was anointed at the altar of St. Maurice in St. Peter's. See Scriptores rerum Austriae, ed. H. Pez (Leipzig, 1721), I, 1051-158,
J. Bernard de Montmelian, Saint Maurice et la Legion Thibeenne, 1104-5.
2 vols. (Paris, 1888), I, 309-15; A. J. Herzberg, Der Heilige 35. Possibly from 1281, and certainly from 1308; F. de Sagarra,
Mauritius. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der deutschen Mauritius-
Sigillografia catalana. Inventari, Descripci6 i Estudi dels Segells de
verehrung (Diisseldorf, 1936), 75, 107; P. E. Schramm, Herrschaft- Catalunya (Barcelona, 1915), no. 32, pl. XVIII, no. 37, pl. XX,
zeichen und Staatsymbolik, 2 vols. (Stuttgart, 1954-56), II, 509-11; no. 39, pl. XXI, no. 46, pl. XXIV (possible), no. 47, pl. XXIV,
R. Elze, Die Ordinesfiir die Weihe und Krinung des Kaisers und no. 50, pl. XXVI (certain). In Swabia and Bavaria the heraldic
der Kaiserin (Fontes luris Germanici Antiqui in usum scholarum ex device of a black appears around the same time, and there may be
Monumentis Germaniae Historicis separatim editi, IX, Ordines some tie to Hohenstaufen or other imperial interests; A. Ziegler,
Coronationis Imperialis) (Hannover, 1960), 34, 36, 43-46, 49, 161, Der Freisinger Mohr, 2nd ed. (Munich, 1976), 14; Kaplan, "Ruler,
nos. XIII, XIV, XV, XXVII. Saint and Servant," 371-72.
27. On Lucera, see n. 16 above; on Enrico di Albi of Mazzara's gift of
36. See for instance the late 14th-century Gelre Book of Arms, Brussels,
slaves, see Saba Malaspina, Rerum Sicularum Historia, in Rerum
italicarum Scriptores, VIII, 781-874, 806. Bibliothbque royale, MS 15652-56, fol. 62v; V. Bouton, Wapenboek
ou armorial de 1334 a' 1372, par Gelre, heraut d'armes, 6 vols. (Paris
28. Frederick himself had passed through Siena in 1247, and a hostile and Brussels, 1881-1902), IV, part I, 194-97, pl. LX, nos. 3, 5. On
chronicler had noted that his troops included "Saraceni de Nuceria the persistence of these arms in Corsica, see H. Pinoteau, "Les
[sc., Lucera] et fere ex omni natione que sub celo est"; Salimbene de armoires de la Corse," L'Intermidiaire des Chercheurs et Curieux,
Adam, Cronica Fratris, 196. The connection between the black LIV (1955), 555-58. Pinoteau notes that until the 18th century the
figures on the Siena pulpit and the Hohenstaufen retinue was first arms are attributed to Corsica only by non-Corsican--and usually
made by J. Poeschke, Die Sieneser Domkanzel des Nicola Pisano Northern European-sources.
(Beitrage zur Kunstgeschichte, 9) (Berlin, 1973), 17, n. 26, and 48, 37. Frederick's granddaughter Constance had married Pedro II of
n. 71. See also Kaplan, Black Magus, 7, 10-11.
Aragon: see Kaplan, "Ruler, Saint and Servant," 589-90, 599.
29. P. Deschamps, "Les peintures murales de la Tour Fernande a
Pernes," CA, CXXi session, 1963: Avignon et le comtat Venaissin, 38. In 1354 and 1382, Aragonese kings sent black servants as gifts to
336-47. members of the French royal family: ibid., 444, 591; J. Lehoux,
Jean de France, Duc de Berri, 4 vols. (Paris, 1966-68), I, 39-40. On
30. There is also an adjacent image of the investiture of Charles of black slaves owned by the Aragonese rulers of the Kingdom of
Anjou as king of Naples in 1265. Naples in the 15th century, see C. Verlinden, "L'esclavage dans le
31. Egidi, La colonia saracena, 206. royaume de Naples a la fin du moyen Ageet la participation des
marchands espagnols a la traite," in Anuario de historia economica
32. The black, Raymond of Campania, had been purchased from y social (Universidad de Madrid, Seminario de Historia Social y
pirates by the royal prefect of cooks. Raymond served in turn as Economica), I (1968), 345-401, 346, 387; G. Monti, "Sulla schiavitfi
cook, Guard of the Royal Wardrobe, soldier, Master of the Royal domestica nel regno di Napoli dagli Aragonesi ai Austriaci,"
Household, and finally Seneschal. He married Philippa of Catania, Archivio Scientifico (Regno Istituto superiore di Scienze Economici
a white nurse who was also a royal favorite. Although Boccaccio e Commerciali, Bari), VI (1931-32), 127-53, 128-29. Later the
was impressed by Raymond's career, he was clearly affected by Sforza, Este and Gonzaga families adopted the practice from their
early racist attitudes which were then common in Tuscany. This Aragonese relatives.
background, combined with a lack of familiarity with south Italian
custom, led him to write: "What a ridiculous thing to see an African 39. By Master Theodoric, in The Chapel of the Holy Cross: Kaplan,
from a slave prison, from the vapor of the kitchen, standing before Black Magus, 77, fig. 40; Devisse et al., L'image du Noir, I,
Robert, the King, performing royal service for the young nobleman, 166, fig. 117.
governing the court and making laws for those in power!" Giovanni 40. In a work of ca. 1360 from the Emmaus Cloister in Prague; Kaplan,
Boccaccio, The Fates of Illustrious Men, trans. L. B. Hall (New Black Magus, 87-90, fig. 48.
York, 1965), 235-40. For Fouquet's depiction of the marriage of
41. Perhaps the most surprising black character to have been derived
Raymond and Philippa, illustrating a manuscript of Boccaccio's
from Hohenstaufen iconography is Monostatos in Schikaneder's
text, see Devisse et al., L'image du Noir, II, 143-44, fig. 148.
libretto for Mozart's Magic Flute. Monostatos, described as black,
33. The contemporary source is Anonymi Leobensis Chronicon, in is a favored servant of Sarastro, but is banished for his misconduct.
Scriptores rerum Austriae, ed. H. Pez (Leipzig, 1721), I, 751-972, Like Johannes Maurus, he eventually goes over to the enemy (the
855-56; but for information on the blacks in the imposter's retinue, Queen of the Night). How Schikaneder came by the story of
one must turn to Ottokar, Osterreichische Reimchronik, in MGH, Johannes Maurus is unknown, but the characters are so similar that
Deutsche Chroniken und andere Geschichtsbiicher des Mittelalters there must be some association.

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