Golden Age of The Moors

The name Maurice is derived from Latin and means “like a Moor.” The Black St.Maurice (the Knight of the Holy Lance) is regarded as the greatest patron saint of the Holy Roman Empire. The earliest version of St.Maurice story and account upon which all later versions are based, is found in the writings of Eucherius, Bishop of Lyons (ca. 450). According to Eucherius, Maurice was a high official in the Thebaid region of Egypt—an early center of Christianity. Specifically, Maurice as the commander of a Roman legion of Christian soldiers stationed in Africa. By the decree of Roman emperor Maximan, his contingent of 6,000 men was dispatched to Gaul and ordered to suppress a Christian uprising there. Maurice disobeyed the order. Subsequently, he and almost all of his troops were martyred when they choose to die rather than persecute Christians, renounce their faith, and sacrifice to the gods of the Romans. The execution of the Theban legion occurred in Switzerland near Aganaum (which later became Saint Maurice-en-valaus) on September 22, either in the year of 280 or 300. In the second half of the fourth century the worship of St.Maurice spread over a broad area in Switzerland, northern Italy, Burgundy, and along the Rhine. Tours, Angers, Lyons, Chalon-sur-Saone, and Dijon had churches dedicated to St.Maurice. By the epoch of Islamic Spain, the stature of St.Maurice had reached immense proportions. Charlemagne, the grandson of Charles Martel and the most distinguished representative of the Carolingian dynasty, attributed to St.Maurice the virtues of the perfect Christian warrior. In token victory, Charlemagne had the lance of St.Maurice (a replica of the holy lance eputed to have pierced the side of Christ) carried before the Frankish army. Like the general populace, which strongly relied on St.Maurice for intercession, the Carolongian dynasty prayed to this military saint for the strength to resist and overcome attacks by enemy forces. In 962, Otto I chose Maurice as the title patron of the archbishopric of Magdeburg, Germany. By 1000 C.E. the worship of Maurice was only rivaled by St.George and St.Micheal. After the second half of the twelfth century, the emperors were appointed by the pope in front of the altar of St.Maurice, in St.Peter’s Cathedral in Rome. In Halle, Germany a monastery with a school attached to it was founded and dedicated to St.Maurice in 1184. In 1240, a splendid Africoid statue of St.Maurice was placed in the majestic cathedral of Magdeburg. A center of extreme devotion to St.Maurice was developed in the Baltic states, where merchants in Tallin and Riga adopted in iconography. The House of Black Heads of Riga, for instance, possessed a polychromed wooden statuette of St.Maurice. Their seal bore the distinct image of a Moor’s head. In 1479, Ernest built several castles, one of which he named after St.Maurice-the Moritzburg. Under a banner emblazoned with the image of a Black St.Maurice, the political and religious leaders of the Holy Roman Empire battled the Slavs. The cult of St.Maurice reached its most lavish heights under Cardinal Albert of Brandenburg (1490-1545), who established a pilgrimage at Halle in honor of the Black saint. Between 1523 and 1540, people from throughout the empire journeyed to Halle to worship the relics of St.Maurice. The existence of nearly three hundred major images of the Black St.Maurice have been catalogued, and even today the veneration of St.Maurice remains alive in numerous cathedrals in eastern Germany