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(Secret Seal) |
On the image of the Blackamoor in European Heraldry |
Considering the deep roots of Christianity in the cultural experience of the
African American community, it is only natural that even in the most cursory of
discussions on Black history, the hope always is raised of discovering Christ as
a man of colour. Moreover, in this global village of television and
transatlantic travel, the standard Euro-centric portrayal of Christ is both
anomalous and anachronistic, particularly in these racially sensitized times. It might therefore prove a great source of spiritual strength and
psychological affirmation for those of us of African descent if a relatively
unknown and forgotten medieval European tradition regarding the image of the
black was reconstructed for all to see and share. What I am referring to are the coat of arms of the blackamoor which
proliferated in both the private and civic European escutcheons (coat of arms)
throughout the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries.
And, a common corollary to this negative view was the African figure became a
symbol of evil, universal or personal, that had to be subjugated or vanquished.
Given the economic/political positions of those with the right to bear arms, the
hold that heraldry has had on the imagination of the West has been a very
powerful one and this particular perception of the blackamoor as a symbol of the
negative has undoubtedly played an enormous part in the propagation of racism. The Imagery of St. Maurice Modern specialists in the science of heraldry suspect, however, that this
blazon (coat of arms) of the blackamoor is instead the very opposite of a
negative symbol. In the last decade or two it has been pointed out that the
moor's head quite possibly could have referred to St. Maurice, the black patron
saint of the Holy Roman Empire from the beginning of the 10th century. Because of his name and native land, St. Maurice had been portrayed as black
ever since the 12th century. The insignia of the black head, in a great many
instances, was probably meant to represent this soldier saint since a majority
of the arms awarded were knightly or military. With 6,666 of his African
compatriots, St. Maurice had chosen martyrdom rather than deny his allegiance to
his Lord and Saviour, thereby creating for the Christian world an image of the
Church Militant that was as impressive numerically as it was colourwise.
The particular symbol of St. Maurice's blackness that must have most
antagonized the Protestant faction, however, was the one regarding the mystery
of Papal authority. Scholars have been able to show, for example, that in the
theological debates of this period, even the abstract adjectives, black and
white, were defiantly acknowledged by apologists of both stripes to represent
the Church and the Reformers respectively. Prester John
Because of their ethnic and geographic origins, it is likely that St. Maurice
and his Theban Legion became associated with Prester John as the ideal soldiers
for the ideal state. It should be pointed out, furthermore, that, heraldically,
since he was the only monarch who could claim the 'Sang Real' or the 'Royal
Blood' of Christ because of his descent from Solomon, Prester John was the only
individual deemed worthy of the right to bear as arms the image of the Crucifix.
Even the earring traditionally worn by the blackamoor is a reference to this
sacred privilege. ![]() The Golden Ring in the Blackamoor's Ear To understand how these two objects are related to each other--the earring
and the image of the Crucifix--we must refer back to the Old Testament. In the
Book of Leviticus can be found an ordinance describing the ritual ear piercing
of any slave who chooses to continue in his master's service after being granted
his freedom. Since one of the most important of all Ethiopian royal titles was
"Slave of the Cross," the golden ring in the blackamoor's ear was
probably meant to be interpreted as a deeply devotional and--considering the
belief in the Bible as the Word of God--a highly rhetorical symbol. Ethiopia and the Holy Grail Due also to the age-old belief that the Ark of the Covenant had been hidden in Ethiopia, the great epics of the Arthurian cycle transformed the Ethiopian emperor into the founder of the Grail dynasty and the ancestor, nine generations later, of the only knight of the Round Table who would achieve the Quest, Sir Galahad. It would appear that the long-standing confusion over whether the Holy Grail was a cup or a stone was a deliberate one. Considering the opportunity afforded by these Ethiopian traditions, medieval writers were able to theologically fuse together the symbols of both the Old and the New Testament: the Tablet of the Law and the Chalice. |
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