I recently read an article by Matteo Salvadore about the contact between Europe and Ethiopia in the 14th and 15th century. The Ethiopians and Europeans (Venice, Genoa and Aragon) had a mutual enemy in the muslim rulers that seperated them and on several occasions tried to make an aliance that never really worked out. They sent many envoys to eachother most of which never made it or never returned so the contact was sparce. But the Europeans were definitely aware that there were civilisations in Africa beyond the muslims. There are acounts of those African envoys being spotted in Europe and these acounts do not describe the african men as inferior humans but as peers. Eventhough they were black they shared some things with the Europeans: christianity and 'civilisation'. So Salvadore says that they didn't see them as naturally inferior because they were christian and they were civilised. I know this is contact between southern Europeans and Africans and that it is not in the timeframe you mentioned but I still think it gives a useful insight.

Source:

Matteo Salvadore, ‘The Ethiopian Age of Exploration: Prester John’s Discovery of Europe, 1306-1458’, in: Journal of World History 21:4 (2010), 593-627.