Nigra Sum Sed Formosa: Black Slaves and Exotica in the Court of a Fourteenth-Century Aragonese Queen 1 Núria Silleras-Fernández University of California-Santa Cruz Abstract African slaves of Europeans are most commonly associated with images of exploitation as brute labor or domestic servants, as marginalized and discriminated against on the basis of their skin color, and perceived of as of inherently lower status. An examination of the role of black slaves in the royal households of the Crown of Aragon in the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance, however, reveals that African captives were sometimes given a privileged position at court. African slaves were esteemed as ornamental fixtures and, as such, com- prised yet another element of the exotica with which members of the aristocratic elite sur- rounded themselves in order to convey a sense of wealth and power. Although this may represent yet another dimension of the objectification of these slaves, nevertheless, it reflects the fact that, prior to the age of colonization and mass-enslavement, Africans could be valued rather than disdained for their appearance. Keywords Queens-Spain–History; Queenship; Slavery–History; Spain–History; Exotic Animals– History; Crown of Aragon (Spain)–History. 1 his article is a revised version of the paper “Black Slaves as Exotica in the Court of María de Luna (1396-1406)” presented at the hirty-Fifth International Congress on Medieval Studies at Kalamazoo (5 May 2000). I would like to acknowledge the generous funding received from the Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia of Spain and from the Uni- versitat Autònoma de Barcelona for supporting the journey to Kalamazoo and to express my gratitude to Professors Brian A. Catlos and Sharon Kinoshita of the University of Cali- fornia, Santa Cruz, for their advice in preparing this article. he present article was written during the course of a two-year postdoctoral fellowship (2002-4) from the Secretaría de Estado de Educación y Universidades of the Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte, which I held at the Center for Cultural Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. I would like to thank both of these institutions. he following abbreviations are used: ACA for Arxiu de la Corona d’Aragó (Barcelona); ARV for Arxiu del Regne de València (Valencia); C for Cancillería Real; RP for Real Medieval Encounters 13 (2007) 546-565 www.brill.nl/me Medieval Jewish, Christian and Muslim Culture Encounters in Confluence and Dialogue © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2007 DOI: 10.1163/157006707X222777