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Cleopatra Lived Closer to the Computer Age than to the Pyramids, and Other Atypical History Facts

Khalid Elhassan December 30, 2019 33 min

30. Religion Trumped Race

The expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1497. Brewminate

The greatest dividing line in medieval Europe was religion, not race. Indeed, race back then was not defined the way it is now, so “white” or “black” mattered less in the Middle Ages than did one’s religion.

For example, a swarthy or dark-skinned bishop from Egypt, North Africa, or Nubia, was deemed to be more civilized, and possessed of a higher rank, than a white slave from the Pagan parts of Europe. Discrimination was more likely to be based on religion than skin color, so Jews or Cathars and other European heretics were likely to have a worse time than non-white Christians.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.