[Rudder]

No Europeans in the Middle Ages had been to Africa

REALLY?!!

I don't believe this statement is accurate.

[Verginius Rufus]

St. Francis of Assisi was in Egypt--that's when he tried to convert the sultan.

St. Louis was in Africa on two crusades--the first one in Egypt, the second one (on which he died) in Tunisia. See Joinville's Life of St. Louis.