In Black and White

The statue of St. Morris as a black African from the Magdeburg Cathedral 

I have added a new chapter to my book, The Enchanting Encounter with the East. The extract belongs to Unit 2, The Saga of All My Sons. The episode delves into the attitude to the race issue in medieval Europe. I show the emergence of the concept which I call the "race fiction", i.e. the superficial and biased approach to differences among people. The literati in the European Middle Ages adopted this outlook from the early church, whose representatives often saw the reality in black and white.  

The chapter explains that the color carried many other functions accept the reference to foreign origin and soaring climate. The whiteness was perceived as a sign of superiority, leaving the blackness as a mark of inferior position. 

Religion played the major role in people's lives, and any other faith except the Christianity seemed the distortion from the truth. In addition, the Christians in the East were believed to be stuck in heresy. They were welcomed only as a potential ally in the confrontation with Islam. 

The case of St. Morris depicted as a black African is exceptional. Its introduction is connected to the eccentric figure of Frederic II, the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, who was at loggerheads with the Apostolic See.