the local heraldry and vexillology well into modern times in Corsica and Sardinia. Armigers bearing moors or moors' heads may have adopted them for any of several reasons, to include symbolizing military victories in the Crusades, as a pun on the bearer's name in the canting arms of Morese, Negri, Saraceni, etc., or in the case of Frederick II, possibly to demonstrate the reach of his empire. The arms of Pope Benedict XVI feature a moor's head, crowned and collared red, in reference to the arms of Freising, Germany. In the case of Corsica and Sardinia, the blindfolded moors' heads in the four quarters have long been said to represent the four Moorish emirs who were defeated by Peter I of Aragon and Pamplona in the 11th century, the four moors' heads around a cross having been adopted to the arms of Aragon around 1281–1387, and Corsica and Sardinia having come under the dominion of the king of Aragon in 1297. In Corsica, the blindfolds were lifted to the brow in the 18th century as a way of expressing the island's newfound independence. The use of Moors (and particularly their heads) as a heraldic symbol has been deprecated in modern North America. For example, the College of Arms of the Society for Creative Anachronism urges applicants to use them delicately to avoid causing offence. In popular culture The title character in William Shakespeare's play Othello, and the derived title character in Verdi's opera Otello, is a Moor. A lesser-known Moorish character, Aaron, appears in Shakespeare's earlier tragedy Titus Andronicus. The Second Spanish Republic Spanish Civil War song ¡Ay Carmela! talks about the moors fighting alongside Francisco Franco Morgan Freeman's character Azeem in the 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves is a Moor whom Robin Hood saves from prison. The 2009 documentary film Journey to Mecca follows the travels of the Moorish explorer Ibn Battuta from his native country of Morocco to Mecca for the Hajj in 1325. Notable Moors Tariq ibn Ziyad, Moorish general who defeated the Visigoths and conquered Hispania in 711 Abd ar-Rahman I, founder of the Umayyad Emirate of Córdoba in 756; along with its succeeding Caliphate of Córdoba, the dynasty ruled Islamic Iberia for three centuries. Ibn al-Qūṭiyya, Andalusian historian and grammarian. Yahya al-Laithi, Andalusian scholar who introduced the Maliki school of jurisprudence in Al-Andalus. Abbas ibn Firnas, 810–887, Berber inventor, poet, and scientist in