People of African descent lived in medieval Europe, and Europeans were aware of the power of contemporary kingdoms in Africa. This shaped the way that people from African were depicted in the art and literature of medieval Europe in different ways. Dr. Chrissie Senecal, Associate Professor at Shippensburg University, shared about their presence during that era.

“it's really an erroneous idea that people of color actually of African descent were not present in Western Europe. Just a big example is that obviously Spain is in Western Europe. Spain had been conquered in the early medieval period by people from North Africa that were Muslim and had set up an incredibly vibrant culture, like the biggest city of medieval Europe was Cordoba. So that's a whole bunch of people. There were also constant exchanges with people in the Mediterranean. So, for example, the Kingdom of Ethiopia was known to be Christian, and they had an embassy in Rome. Moreover, there's a lot of contact with the Eastern Mediterranean through the Crusades. And that was a kind of melting pot in some ways of different cultures. The island of Sicily is also a place where many, many people of African descent existed.”

Figures like Balthazar, one of the Three Wise Men, were depicted with African features in medieval art. According to Dr. Senecal, Balthazar is a really fascinating character in medieval art.

“So, in the new test, obviously, we know medieval Europe, predominantly Christian, although there's many, many Muslims in Spain and there's a large Jewish population as well. But most people identified as Christian outside of Spain. And in the medieval period, there began to be legends attached to the Gospel of Matthew about the three wise men that went to visit Jesus. So that gospel actually doesn't say there were three. It becomes thought of as three wise men representing a king, sort of mage from Europe, from Asia, from Africa. And so Balthazar is considered to be from Africa. But here's where we get into, like, you know, descendant of Africa versus black, because in the first renditions of Balthazar in medieval art, like in the 11th century, Balthazar is depicted as with white skin. And it isn't until the 1400s that he's shown with black skin, even though he was considered to be from Africa. And some of the most beautiful paintings of the wise men come from the 1400s. And you see images of Balthazar wearing this incredibly beautiful clothing, sumptuous fabric. And, you know, he carries myrrh along with the other wise men carrying the other gifts. And it's really incredible. There's a kind of middle transition period. Like in the 1300s, we have an image of Balthazar and he has white skin, but he has a servant accompanying him. And that servant has black skin. So it's a pretty fascinating trajectory.”

Support WITF: https://www.witf.org/support/give-now/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.