How Much Knowledge of Nubia Did Medieval Europe Possess?

I still find it rather inconceivable that, in Marco Polo's time, the Mongols had greater contact with Ethiopia than Europeans did. But, what about upper Nubia? Was there a gradually decreasing gradient of familiarity between Nubia and the rest of Christendom, or did knowledge fade out rapidly south of Egypt?
 
I still find it rather inconceivable that, in Marco Polo's time, the Mongols had greater contact with Ethiopia than Europeans did. But, what about upper Nubia? Was there a gradually decreasing gradient of familiarity between Nubia and the rest of Christendom, or did knowledge fade out rapidly south of Egypt?

The Byzantine Empire and the Egyptian Coptic Church had close contacts from the 6th century until the 7th century. The three Cristian kingdoms of Sudan were inspired by the Byzantines. They even let the Coptic Church of Egypt be their supervisor. When Arab-Muslim conquest began in the 7th century, everything was over. Of Western Medival Europe, there seem to be no tales so far. But in the 6th-7th century they seem to be too far removed from Sudan.
 
I still find it rather inconceivable that, in Marco Polo's time, the Mongols had greater contact with Ethiopia than Europeans did. But, what about upper Nubia? Was there a gradually decreasing gradient of familiarity between Nubia and the rest of Christendom, or did knowledge fade out rapidly south of Egypt?

The Mongols had greater contact with Ethiopa? May I ask for a source? This caught my interest.

Byzantion raised a fair point about the knowledge of the Byzantine Empire regarding the northeastern African realms. Even if they were aware, contact between them was shattered by the Muslim conquests.

Now, regarding Latin Europe, its true that they had an extremely vague notion of what lay beyond the Mediterranean Sea. I recall that the theoretical basis of the Prester John myth (which was born and propagated during the Crusades) at first was the supposed missions of St. Thomas in the interior of Asia, which the Europeans seemed to conflate with the vague idea of "India".

In the start of the Age of Exploration (which goes well beyond OP's timeframe), the Iberians reallocated the Prester John concept to Africa, including Ethiopia in their fabled notion of India. According to the Wiki, the first diplomatic contact between an Western European kingdom and the African powers south of Egypt occurred in the late 15th Century, and they still confused it with the perception of Prester John.
 
The Mongols had greater contact with Ethiopa? May I ask for a source? This caught my interest.

Byzantion raised a fair point about the knowledge of the Byzantine Empire regarding the northeastern African realms. Even if they were aware, contact between them was shattered by the Muslim conquests.

Now, regarding Latin Europe, its true that they had an extremely vague notion of what lay beyond the Mediterranean Sea. I recall that the theoretical basis of the Prester John myth (which was born and propagated during the Crusades) at first was the supposed missions of St. Thomas in the interior of Asia, which the Europeans seemed to conflate with the vague idea of "India".

In the start of the Age of Exploration (which goes well beyond OP's timeframe), the Iberians reallocated the Prester John concept to Africa, including Ethiopia in their fabled notion of India. According to the Wiki, the first diplomatic contact between an Western European kingdom and the African powers south of Egypt occurred in the late 15th Century, and they still confused it with the perception of Prester John.

Confusion between India and Ethiopia goes way back into (some) Classical sources.
There was some very vague and limited knowledge about Ethiopia in Latin Medieval Europe, though. No sustained contact as far as I can tell.
I would suspect that the Nubian realms were conflated into this pretty vague idea of "Ethiopia" as well, a confusion that, again, goes back into Classical and Biblical sources ("Ethiopia" was, IIRC, the Vulgate translation of "Kush", that is Nubia).
 
The Mongols had greater contact with Ethiopa? May I ask for a source? This caught my interest.

Byzantion raised a fair point about the knowledge of the Byzantine Empire regarding the northeastern African realms. Even if they were aware, contact between them was shattered by the Muslim conquests.

Now, regarding Latin Europe, its true that they had an extremely vague notion of what lay beyond the Mediterranean Sea. I recall that the theoretical basis of the Prester John myth (which was born and propagated during the Crusades) at first was the supposed missions of St. Thomas in the interior of Asia, which the Europeans seemed to conflate with the vague idea of "India".

In the start of the Age of Exploration (which goes well beyond OP's timeframe), the Iberians reallocated the Prester John concept to Africa, including Ethiopia in their fabled notion of India. According to the Wiki, the first diplomatic contact between an Western European kingdom and the African powers south of Egypt occurred in the late 15th Century, and they still confused it with the perception of Prester John.

John Julius Norwich's A History of Venice , where he stated that while the Mongols had heard vague rumors, the Polos were completely unaware of it.
 
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