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One thing I never understood about Kingdom of Heaven was why Orlando Bloom's father's posse had a random African crusader. Maybe it was just to show he had a diverse crew, but it seemed kind of anachronistic to me.
That said, given how there were apparently Africans in northern Europe since ancient times. Blacks who came a-conquering alongside their whiter counterparts in the Roman legions. However, I'd be by the fall of the western Roman Empire, such crosscultural relations had faded away.
What could have led to more continuous relations between Northern Africa and points south with Europe? And so medieval Europeans could be more aware of Moors and other such races, not just in the context of nemeses?