Old page wikitext, before the edit (old_wikitext ) | '{{slavery}}
'''[[Slavery]] in early [[medieval]] [[Europe]]''' was relatively common. It was widespread at the end of [[Slavery in antiquity|antiquity]]. The etymology of the word [[slave]] comes from this period, the word ''sklabos'' meaning [[Slavic people|Slav]].<ref>{{cite |title=slave |encyclopedia=Online Etymology Dictionary |url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=slave |accessdate=26 March 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite |title=Merriam-Webster's |url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/slave |accessdate=18 August 2009}}</ref> Slavery declined in the Middle Ages in most parts of Europe as [[serfdom]] slowly rose, but it never completely disappeared. It persisted longer in [[Southern Europe|Southern]] and [[Eastern Europe]].<ref>[http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/bus/A0861124.html Slavery: History]</ref> In [[Poland]] slavery was forbidden in the 15th century; it was replaced by the second enserfment. In [[Lithuania]], slavery was formally abolished in 1588.<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/blackhistory/article-24160 Welcome to Encyclopædia Britannica's Guide to History]</ref>
Throughout this period slaves were traded openly in most cities, including cities as diverse as [[Marseilles]], [[Dublin]], [[Verdun]] and [[Prague]], and many were sold to buyers in the [[Middle East]]. The town of [[Caffa]] in the [[Crimea]] was called the capital of the medieval [[slave trade]], but an overland route to [[Caliphate of Córdoba]] took pagan and dualist Slavs from Kiev through Lviv and Prague, at that time the borderlands of Christianity, this arduous land route competing with the North-South route by river which led to the Black Sea.
==Early Middle Ages==
[[Image:Costumes of Slaves or Serfs from the Sixth to the Twelfth Centuries.png|thumb|left|Costumes of slaves or serfs, from the sixth to the twelfth centuries, collected by H. de Vielcastel, from original documents in the great libraries of Europe.]]
Chaos and [[invasion]] made the taking of slaves habitual throughout Europe in the early Middle Ages. [[St. Patrick]], himself captured and sold as a slave, protested an attack that enslaved newly baptized Christians in his [[q:Saint Patrick#Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus (c.450?)|Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus]]. In the [[Viking]] era starting c. 793, the [[Norsemen|Norse]] raiders often captured and enslaved peoples they encountered. In the [[Nordic countries]] the slaves were called ''[[Thrall]]s'' ([[Old Norse]]: ''Þræll'').<ref>[http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/thralls.shtml Slavery and Thralldom: The Unfree in Viking Scandinavia]</ref>
Germanic laws provided for the enslavement of criminals, as when the [[Visigothic Code]] prescribed enslavement for those who could not pay the financial penalty for their crime [http://libro.uca.edu/vcode/vg4-4.htm#l1], and specifically for those who committed certain crimes[http://libro.uca.edu/vcode/vg3-1.htm#l3], [http://libro.uca.edu/vcode/vg3-3.htm#l3], [http://libro.uca.edu/vcode/vg3-4.htm#l1]. They would become slaves to their victims, often with their property.
In [[Carolingian dynasty|Carolingian Europe]] 10-20% of the entire population consisted of slaves.<ref>Perry Anderson, ''Passages from antiquity to feudalism'' (1996) p 141</ref> Some people sold themselves to powerful landowners in order to receive protection, work and food; one Anglo-Saxon will has a land-owner freeing those slaves who had "given her their heads for food." [[Anglo-Saxons]] continued and expanded their slave system, sometimes in league with [[Norsemen|Norse]] traders.<ref>[http://www.regia.org/misc/earner.htm Slave Trading in Anglo-Saxon and Viking England]</ref> About 10% of [[England]]’s population entered in the [[Domesday Book]] in 1086 were slaves.<ref>[http://www.domesdaybook.net/helpfiles/hs2970.htm Domesday Book Slave]</ref> [[Chattel slavery]] of English Christians was discontinued after 1066, when [[William I of England|William of Normandy]] conquered England. The slave trade in England was abolished in 1102.<ref>[http://www.britsattheirbest.com/freedom/f_time_12th_century.htm British History Freedom – Timeline – 12th Century]</ref>
The restoration of order as the early Middle Ages passed was accompanied by the transmutation of this state into [[serfdom]], and after the earlier portions, slaves were seldom of the same country as their owner in Western Europe.
==Slave trade==
Between the 6th and 10th centuries AD, members of [[Paganism|pagan]] [[Slavic peoples|Slavonic peoples]] were taken prisoner by the [[Khazars]], [[Kypchaks]] and other steppe peoples and taken to the slave markets in [[Crimea]]. In addition, during the wars between the pagan Slavonic states and Christian states of Europe, many [[prisoners of war]] from both sides were sold as slaves. After the [[Muslim conquests]] of [[Umayyad conquest of North Africa|North Africa]] and [[Umayyad conquest of Hispania|most of the Iberian peninsula]], the [[Arab slave trade|Islamic world became a huge importer of slaves]] from Eastern Europe. The trade routes were established between slave trade centres in the pagan Slavonic countries (for example [[Prague]] and [[Wolin]]) and [[Arab]] metropoles in the [[Muslim]]-controlled regions of the [[Iberian peninsula]] ([[Al-Andalus]]). Because of religious constraints, the [[slave trade]] was monopolised by Iberian [[Jew]]s (known as [[Radhanites]]) who were able to transfer the slaves from pagan [[Central Europe]] through Christian [[Western Europe]] to Muslim countries in [[Al-Andalus]] and [[North Africa]]. However, the converted Christian ruler [[Mojmír I]] of the [[Great Moravia|Great Moravian Empire]] taxed the slave caravans that passed through his lands, providing an important source of revenue, if indirectly. This trade came to an end in the 10th century after the [[Christianisation]] of Slavic countries.
Slavery in medieval Europe was so common that the Church repeatedly prohibited it—or at least the export of Christian slaves to non-Christian lands was prohibited at, for example, the [[Council of Koblenz]] in 922, the [[Council of London (1102)|Council of London]] in 1102, and the [[Council of Armagh]] in 1171.<ref>[http://scatoday.net/node/3565 Slavery, serfdom, and indenture through the Middle Ages]</ref> [[William the Conqueror]], too, banned export of [[English people|English]] slaves. The [[Middle Age|medieval]] slave trade was mainly to the East: [[Byzantine Empire]] and the [[Muslim World]] were the destinations, pagan [[Central Europe|Central]] and [[Eastern Europe]] an important source.<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/blackhistory/article-24159 Historical survey > The international slave trade]</ref><ref name="Arabs and Slave Trade">[http://www.answering-islam.org/ReachOut/slavetrade.html Arabs and Slave Trade]</ref><ref>[http://www.sfusd.edu/schwww/sch618/Ibn_Battuta/Battuta's_Trip_Five.html Battuta's Trip: Anatolia (Turkey) 1330 - 1331]</ref> The Persian traveller [[Ibn Rustah]] described how Swedish Vikings, the [[Varangians]] or [[Rus' Khaganate|Rus]], terrorized and enslaved the [[East Slavs|Slavs]].<ref>[http://www.downbound.com/Slavery_s/29.htm Slavery in Medieval Europe]</ref> So many [[Slavs]] were enslaved for so many centuries that the very name 'slave' derived from their name, not only in English and other European languages.<ref name="Arabs and Slave Trade"/><ref>[http://www.thefreedictionary.com/slaved definition of slaved]</ref>
The [[Mongol invasions]] and conquests in the 13th century made the situation worse. The Mongols enslaved skilled individuals, [[women]] and children and marched them to [[Karakorum]] or [[Sarai (city)|Sarai]], whence they were sold throughout [[Eurasia]]. Many of these slaves were shipped to the slave market in [[Novgorod Republic|Novgorod]].<ref>[http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/rubruck.html William of Rubruck's Account of the Mongols]</ref><ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20091026193520/http://geocities.com/medievalnovgorod/nov10.html Life in 13th Century Novgorod -- Women and Class Structure]</ref><ref>[http://www.sras.org/news2.phtml?m=477 The Effects of the Mongol Empire on Russia]</ref>
[[Republic of Genoa|Genoese]] and [[Republic of Venice|Venetians]] merchants in Crimea were involved in the slave trade with the [[Golden Horde]]. Between 1414 and 1423, at least 10,000 eastern European slaves were sold in Venice.<ref>[http://www.roxie.org/books/shoulders/ch02-labor.html How To Reboot Reality — Chapter 2, Labor]</ref> Genoese organized the [[slave trade]] from the Crimea to Mamluk [[Egypt]]. In 1441, [[Haci I Giray]] declared independence from the Golden Horde and established the [[Crimean Khanate]]. For a long time, until the early 18th century, the khanate maintained a massive slave trade with the [[Ottoman Empire]] and the Middle East. In a process called the "harvesting of the [[steppe]]", they enslaved many Slavic peasants.<ref>[http://www.avalanchepress.com/Soldier_Khan.php Soldier Khan]</ref>
==Slavery in law==
{{unreferencedsection|date=August 2010}}
===Secular law===
Slavery was heavily regulated in [[Roman law]], which was reorganized in the [[Byzantine Empire]] by [[Justinian I]] as the [[Corpus Iuris Civilis]]. Although the Corpus was lost to the West for centuries, it was rediscovered in the 11th and 12th centuries, and led to the foundation of law schools in Italy and France. According to the Corpus, the natural state of humanity is freedom, but the "law of nations" may supersede natural law and reduce certain people to slavery. The basic definition of slave in Romano-Byzantine law was:{{Fact|date=March 2009}}
*anyone whose mother was a slave
*anyone who has been captured in battle
*anyone who has sold himself to pay a debt
It was, however, possible to become a freedman or a full citizen; the Corpus, like Roman law, had extensive and complicated rules for [[manumission]] of slaves.
===Canon law===
Medieval [[canon law|canon lawyers]] concluded that slavery was contrary to the spirit of Christianity, and by the 11th century when almost all of Europe had been Christianized, the laws of slavery in civil law codes were now antiquated and unenforceable.{{Fact|date=March 2009}} There were a number of areas where Christians lived with non-Christians, such as [[Al-Andalus]] and [[Emirate of Sicily|Sicily]], the crusader states, and in the still-pagan areas of northeastern Europe; therefore, canon law permitted Christians to keep non-Christian slaves, as long as these slaves were treated humanely and were freed if they chose to convert to Christianity.{{Fact|date=March 2009}} In fact, there was an explicit legal justification for the enslavement of Muslims, found in the [[Decretum Gratiani]] and later expanded upon by the 14th century jurist [[Oldradus de Ponte]]: the Bible states that [[Hagar (Bible)|Hagar]], the slave girl of [[Abraham]], was beaten and cast out by Abraham's wife [[Sarah]]. A popular medieval legend held that Muslims were the descendents of Hagar, while Christians descended from the legitimate marriage of Abraham and Sarah. By extension it was therefore permitted for Christians to enslave Muslims.
The Decretum, like the Corpus, defined a slave as anyone whose mother was a slave. Otherwise, the canons were concerned with slavery only in ecclesiastical contexts: slaves were not permitted to marry or to be ordained as clergy.
==Slavery in the Crusader states==
In the [[crusade]]r [[Kingdom of Jerusalem]], founded in 1099, at most 120,000 Franks ruled over 350,000 Muslims, Jews, and native Eastern Christians.<ref>Benjamin Z. Kedar, "The Subjected Muslims of the Frankish Levant", in ''The Crusades: The Essential Readings'', ed. [[Thomas Madden|Thomas F. Madden]], Blackwell, 2002, p. 244. Originally published in ''Muslims Under Latin Rule, 1100-1300'', ed. James M. Powell, Princeton University Press, 1990. Kedar quotes his numbers from [[Joshua Prawer]], ''Histoire du royaume latin de Jérusalem'', tr. G. Nahon, Paris, 1969, vol. 1, pp. 498, 568-72.</ref> Following the initial [[list of invasions|invasion]] and conquest, sometimes accompanied by massacres or expulsions of Jews and Muslims, a peaceable co-existence between followers of the three religions prevailed.<ref> Christopher Tyerman, ''God's War, A new History of the Crusades'' pp. 226-228. quote = "Just as non-muslim communities survived under Islam, so non-Christians lived unfree but largely unmolested in Frankish outremer. After the early massacres, displacements and expulsions of Muslims and Jews from conquered cities, coexistence, rather than integration or persecution prevailed... At Acre, where the two faiths shared a converted mosque as well as a suburban shrine, Muslim visitors were treated fairly and efficiently. Mosques still operated openly in Tyre and elsewhere."</ref> The Crusader states inherited many slaves. To this may have been added some Muslims taken as captives of war. The Kingdom's largest city, [[Akko|Acre]], had a large slave market; however, the vast majority of Muslims and Jews remained free. The laws of Jerusalem declared that former Muslim slaves, if genuine converts to Christianity, must be freed.<ref> Christopher Tyerman, ''God's War, A new History of the Crusades,'' p. 230.</ref> In 1120, the [[Council of Nablus]] forbade sexual relations between crusaders and their female slaves: if a man raped his own slave, he would be castrated, but if he raped someone else's slave, he would be castrated and exiled from the kingdom.
No Christian, whether Western or Eastern, was permitted by law to be sold into slavery, but this fate was as common for Muslim prisoners of war as it was for Christian prisoners taken by the Muslims.
The 13th-century [[Assizes of Jerusalem]] dealt more with fugitive slaves and the punishments ascribed to them, the prohibition of slaves testifying in court, and manumission of slaves, which could be accomplished, for example, through a will, or by conversion to Christianity. Conversion was apparently used as an excuse to escape slavery by Muslims who would then continue to practise Islam; crusader lords often refused to allow them to convert, and [[Pope Gregory IX]], contrary to both the laws of Jerusalem and the canon laws that he himself was partially responsible for compiling, allowed for Muslim slaves to remain enslaved even if they had converted.
==Slavery in Muslim Iberia==
{{main|Arab slave trade}}
The medieval [[Iberian Peninsula]] was the scene of almost constant [[warfare]] between Muslims and Christians. Periodic raiding expeditions were sent from [[Al-Andalus]] to ravage the Christian Iberian kingdoms, bringing back booty and people. For example, in a raid on [[Lisbon]] in 1189 the [[Almohad]] caliph [[Yaqub al-Mansur]] took 3,000 female and child captives, and his governor of [[Córdoba, Spain|Córdoba]] took 3,000 Christian slaves in a subsequent attack upon [[Silves Municipality, Portugal|Silves]] in 1191.<ref>[http://libro.uca.edu/rc/rc1.htm Ransoming Captives in Crusader Spain: The Order of Merced on the Christian-Islamic Frontier ]</ref>
==Slavery in Moldavia and Wallachia==
{{main|Slavery in Romania}}
Slavery ({{lang-ro|sclavie}}) existed on the territory of present-day [[Romania]] from before the founding of the principalities of [[Moldavia]] and [[Wallachia]] in 13th–14th century, until it was [[Abolitionism|abolished]] in stages during the 1840s and 1850s. Most of the slaves were of [[Roma minority in Romania|Roma]] (Gypsy) ethnicity. Particularly in Moldavia there were also slaves of [[Tatars|Tatar]] ethnicity, probably prisoners captured from the wars with the [[Nogai Tatars|Nogai]] and [[Crimean Tatars]].
The exact origins of slavery in the [[Danubian Principalities]] are not known. There is some debate over whether the Romani people came to Wallachia and Moldavia as free men or as slaves. In the [[Byzantine Empire]], they were slaves of the state and it seems the situation was the same in [[Bulgaria]] and [[Serbia]] until their social organization was destroyed by the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] conquest, which would suggest that they came as slaves who had a change of 'ownership'.
Historian [[Nicolae Iorga]] associated the Roma people's arrival with the 1241 [[Mongol invasion of Europe]] and considered their slavery as a vestige of that era, the Romanians taking the Roma from the [[Mongols]] as slaves and preserving their status. Other historians consider that they were enslaved while captured during the battles with the Tatars. The practice of enslaving prisoners may also have been taken from the Mongols. The ethnic identity of the "Tatar slaves" is unknown, they could have been captured Tatars of the [[Golden Horde]], [[Cumans]], or the slaves of Tatars and Cumans.<ref>Viorel Achim, The Roma in Romanian History, [[Central European University Press]], Budapest, 2004, ISBN 9639241849</ref>
While it is possible that some Romani people were slaves or auxiliary troops of the Mongols or Tatars, the bulk of them came from south of the [[Danube]] at the end of the 14th century, some time after the [[foundation of Wallachia]]. By then, the institution of slavery was already established in Moldavia and possibly in both principalities, but the arrival of the Roma made slavery a widespread practice. The Tatar slaves, smaller in numbers, were eventually merged into the Roma population.<ref>Ştefan Ştefănescu, ''Istoria medie a României'', Vol. I, Editura Universităţii din Bucureşti, Bucharest, 1991 {{Ro icon}}</ref>
==Slavery in the Ottoman Empire==
[[File:Kosem Sultan - Greek Ottoman cropped.JPG|right|200px|thumb|[[Kösem Sultan]] (1589–1651) originally a slave, she was the most powerful woman in Ottoman history, she achieved power and influenced the course of the Ottoman empire.<ref>{{cite book |author= Bator, Robert, - Rothero, Chris |title= Daily Life in Ancient and Modern Istanbul |publisher= Twenty-First Century Books |year= 2000 |page= 42 |isbn= 0822532174 |quote= When such a son became sultan, his slave mother would become the most powerful woman in the Ottoman Empire. The Greek slave Kosem earned this distinction }}</ref>]]
{{main|Slavery (Ottoman Empire)}}
{{see also|Arab slave trade|Sultanate of Women}}
Slavery was an important part of Ottoman society. The [[Byzantine-Ottoman wars]] and the [[Ottoman wars in Europe]] brought large numbers of Christian slaves into the [[Ottoman Empire]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Phillips, Jr.|first=William D.|title=Slavery from Roman Times to the Early Transatlantic Trade|year=1985|publisher=Manchester University Press|location=Manchester|isbn=9780719018251|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=0B8NAQAAIAAJ&lpg=PA37&ots=vl3lMnZRNH&dq=Byzantine-Ottoman%20wars%20slavery&pg=PA37#v=onepage&q&f=false|page=37}}</ref> In the middle of the 14th century, [[Murad I]] built his own personal slave army called the ''Kapıkulu''. The new force was based on the sultan's right to a fifth of the war booty, which he interpreted to include captives taken in battle. The captive slaves were converted to [[Islam]] and trained in the sultan's personal service. In the ''[[devşirme]]'' (translated "blood tax" or "child collection"), young Christian boys from [[Anatolia]] and the [[Balkans]] were taken away from their homes and families, converted to Islam and enlisted into special soldier classes of the [[Military of the Ottoman Empire|Ottoman army]]. These soldier classes were named [[Janissary|Janissaries]], the most famous branch of the ''Kapıkulu''. The Janissaries eventually became a decisive factor in the Ottoman military conquests in Europe.<ref>[http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=266205 Janissary]</ref> Most of the military commanders of the Ottoman forces, imperial administrators and ''de facto'' rulers of the Ottoman Empire, such as [[Pargalı İbrahim Pasha]] and [[Sokollu Mehmet Paşa]], were recruited in this way.<ref>[http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/med/lewis1.html Lewis. Race and Slavery in the Middle East]</ref><ref>[http://schonwalder.com/Such-n-Such/huns.htm The Turks: History and Culture]</ref> By 1609 the Sultan's ''Kapıkulu'' forces increased to about 100,000.<ref>[http://coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/~fisher/hst373/readings/inalcik6.html In the Service of the State and Military Class]</ref>
The [[Imperial Harem|concubines of the Ottoman Sultan]] consisted chiefly of purchased slaves. Because Islamic law forbade Muslims to enslave fellow Muslims, the Sultan's concubines were generally of Christian origin. The mother of a Sultan, though technically a slave, received the extremely powerful title of ''Valide Sultan'', and at times became effective ruler of the Empire (see [[Sultanate of women]]). One notable example was [[Kösem Sultan]], daughter of a Greek Christian priest, who dominated the Ottoman Empire during the early decades of the 17th century.<ref>See generally Jay Winik (2007), ''The Great Upheaval''.</ref> Another notable example was [[Roxelana]], the favourite wife of [[Suleiman the Magnificent]].
==Slavery in Russia==
In [[Kievan Rus]] and [[Muscovy]], the slaves were usually classified as [[kholop]]s. A kholop's master had unlimited power over his life: he could kill him, sell him, or use him as payment upon a [[debt]]. The master, however, was responsible before the law for his kholop's actions. A person could become a kholop as a result of capture, selling himself or herself, being sold for debts or committed [[crime]]s, or marriage to a kholop. Until the late 10th century, the kholops represented a majority among the servants who worked lordly lands.
By the sixteenth century, slavery in [[Muscovy]] consisted mostly of those who sold themselves into slavery owing to poverty.<ref>Richard Hellie, ''Slavery in Russia, 1450-1725'' (1984)</ref> They worked predominantly as household servants, among the richest families, and indeed generally produced less than they consumed.<ref>Carolyn Johnston Pouncey, ''The [[Domostroy|Domostroi]]: Rules for Russian Households in the Time of Ivan the Terrible'', p15 ISBN 0-8014-9689-6</ref> Laws forbade the freeing of slaves in times of famine, to avoid feeding them, and slaves generally remained with the family a long time; the ''Domostroy'', an advice book, speaks of the need to choose slaves of good character and to provide for them properly.<ref>Carolyn Johnston Pouncey, ''The Domostroi: Rules for Russian Households in the Time of Ivan the Terrible'', p33 ISBN 0-8014-9689-6</ref> Slavery remained a major institution in [[Russia]] until 1723, when [[Peter the Great]] converted the household slaves into house [[serfs]]. Russian agricultural slaves were formally converted into [[Serfdom in Russia|serfs]] earlier in 1679.<ref>Richard Hellie, ''Slavery in Russia, 1450-1725'' (1984)</ref>
In 1382 the Golden Horde under Khan [[Tokhtamysh]] sacked [[Moscow]], burning the city and carrying off thousands of inhabitants as slaves. For years the [[Khanate of Kazan|Khanates of Kazan]] and [[Astrakhan Khanate|Astrakhan]] routinely made raids on Russian principalities for
slaves and to plunder towns. Russian chronicles record about 40 raids of [[List of Kazan khans|Kazan Khans]] on the Russian territories in the first half of the 16th century.<ref>The Full Collection of the Russian Annals, vol.13, SPb, 1904</ref> In 1521, the combined forces of Crimean Khan [[Mehmed I Giray]] and his Kazan allies attacked Moscow and captured thousands of slaves.<ref>[http://www.allempires.com/article/index.php?q=The_Crimean_Khanate The Tatar Khanate of Crimea]</ref> About 30 major Tatar raids were recorded into [[Tsardom of Russia|Muscovite]] territories between 1558-1596.<ref>[http://coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/~fisher/hst373/readings/inalcik6.html Supply of Slaves]</ref> In 1571, the Crimean Tatars attacked and sacked Moscow, burning everything but the Kremlin and taking thousands of captives as slaves.<ref>[http://www.economist.com/cities/printStory.cfm?obj_id=9141603&city_id=MCW Moscow - Historical background]</ref> In [[Crimea]], about 75% of the population consisted of slaves.<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/blackhistory/article-24157 Historical survey > Slave societies]</ref>
==Slavery in Scandinavia==
{{main|Thrall}}
The laws from 12th and 13th centuries describe the legal status of two categories. According to the Norwegian [[Gulating]] code (in about 1160), domestic slaves could not, unlike foreign slaves, be sold out of the country. This and other laws defined slaves as their master's property at the same level as cattle. It also described a procedure for giving a slave their freedom. A freed slave did not have full legal status; for example, the punishment for killing a former slave was low. A former slave's son also had a lower status, but higher than that of his parents. The Norwegian law code from [[1274]], [[Landslov]] (Land's law), does not mention slaves, but former slaves. Thus it seems like slavery was abolished in Norway by this time. In Sweden, slavery was abolished in [[1343]].
==Slavery in Gaelic regions==
Gaelic [[Ireland]] and [[Scotland]] were among the last areas of Christian Europe to give up their institution of slavery. Under Gaelic custom, prisoners of war were routinely taken as slaves. However, ironically, it was during the period that slavery was disappearing across most of western Europe that it was reaching its zenith in Ireland and Scotland; during the Viking invasions and the subsequent warring between Scandinavians and the native Irish the number of captives taken as slaves drastically increased. The Irish church was vehemently opposed to slavery, and blamed the 1169 Norman invasion on the persistence of the practice, as well as the practices of [[polygyny]] and [[divorce]].
==Serfdom compared==
The institution of [[serfdom]] in [[medieval Europe]] was separate and distinct from chattel slavery; serfs were tied to the land and obliged to work for their lord in a variety of capacities, including working the land, building or repairing structures, mining, or craftworking. But serfs were not chattel property and could not be bought or sold except as part of the land they lived on, and usually could not leave or be removed from the land to which they were bound, absent criminal or civil violations.
==See also==
* [[Arab slave trade]]
* [[Christianity and slavery]]
* [[History of slavery]]
* [[Islam and slavery]]
* [[Slavery in ancient Greece]]
* [[Slavery in ancient Rome]]
* [[Slavery in antiquity]]
* [[The Bible and slavery]]
==References==
{{reflist|2}}
==Further reading==
* Campbell, Gwyn et al eds. ''Women and Slavery, Vol. 1: Africa, the Indian Ocean World, and the Medieval North Atlantic'' (2007)
* Dockès, Pierre. ''Medieval Slavery and Liberation'' (1989)
* Finkelman, Paul, and Joseph Miller, eds. ''Macmillan Encyclopedia of World Slavery'' (2 vol 1999)
* Frantzen, Allen J., and Douglas Moffat, eds. ''The Work of Work: Servitude, Slavery and Labor in Medieval England'' (1994)
* Karras, Ruth Mazo. ''Slavery and Society in Medieval Scandinavia'' (Yale UP, 1988)
* Phillips, William D. Slavery from Roman Times to the Early Transatlantic Trade'' (Manchester UP, 1985)
* Wyatt David R. ''Slaves and warriors in medieval Britain and Ireland, 800-1200'' (2009)
[[Category:Slavery by location|Europe]]
[[Category:Middle Ages]]
[[Category:History of slavery]]' |
New page wikitext, after the edit (new_wikitext ) | '{{slavery}}
'''[[Slavery]] in early [[medieval]] [[Europe]]''' was uncommon. It was widespread at the end of the Roman Empire. Slavery declined in the Middle Ages in most parts of Europe as [[serfdom]] slowly rose, but it never completely disappeared. It persisted in the non-germanic parts of Europe [[Southern Europe|Southern]] and [[Eastern Europe]].<ref>[http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/bus/A0861124.html Slavery: History]</ref> In [[Poland]] slavery was forbidden in the 15th century; it was replaced by the second enserfment. In [[Lithuania]], slavery was formally abolished in 1588.<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/blackhistory/article-24160 Welcome to Encyclopædia Britannica's Guide to History]</ref>
Throughout this period slaves were traded openly in most cities, including cities as diverse as [[Marseilles]], [[Dublin]], [[Verdun]] and [[Prague]], and many were sold to buyers in the [[Middle East]]. The town of [[Caffa]] in the [[Crimea]] was called the capital of the medieval [[slave trade]], but an overland route to [[Caliphate of Córdoba]] took pagan and dualist Slavs from Kiev through Lviv and Prague, at that time the borderlands of Christianity, this arduous land route competing with the North-South route by river which led to the Black Sea.
==Early Middle Ages==
[[Image:Costumes of Slaves or Serfs from the Sixth to the Twelfth Centuries.png|thumb|left|Costumes of slaves or serfs, from the sixth to the twelfth centuries, collected by H. de Vielcastel, from original documents in the great libraries of Europe.]]
Chaos and [[invasion]] made the taking of slaves habitual throughout Europe in the early Middle Ages. [[St. Patrick]], himself captured and sold as a slave, protested an attack that enslaved newly baptized Christians in his [[q:Saint Patrick#Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus (c.450?)|Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus]]. In the [[Viking]] era starting c. 793, the [[Norsemen|Norse]] raiders often captured and enslaved peoples they encountered. In the [[Nordic countries]] the slaves were called ''[[Thrall]]s'' ([[Old Norse]]: ''Þræll'').<ref>[http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/thralls.shtml Slavery and Thralldom: The Unfree in Viking Scandinavia]</ref>
Germanic laws provided for the enslavement of criminals, as when the [[Visigothic Code]] prescribed enslavement for those who could not pay the financial penalty for their crime [http://libro.uca.edu/vcode/vg4-4.htm#l1], and specifically for those who committed certain crimes[http://libro.uca.edu/vcode/vg3-1.htm#l3], [http://libro.uca.edu/vcode/vg3-3.htm#l3], [http://libro.uca.edu/vcode/vg3-4.htm#l1]. They would become slaves to their victims, often with their property.
Some people sold themselves to powerful landowners in order to receive protection, work and food. About 10% of [[England]]’s population entered in the [[Domesday Book]] in 1086 were slaves but they may have been enslaved by Celtic people who outnumbered the Germanic people of England.<ref>[http://www.domesdaybook.net/helpfiles/hs2970.htm Domesday Book Slave]</ref> [[Chattel slavery]] of English Christians was discontinued after 1066, when [[William I of England|William of Normandy]] conquered England. The slave trade in England was abolished in 1102.<ref>[http://www.britsattheirbest.com/freedom/f_time_12th_century.htm British History Freedom – Timeline – 12th Century]</ref>
The restoration of order as the early Middle Ages passed was accompanied by the transmutation of this state into [[serfdom]], and after the earlier portions, slaves were seldom of the same country as their owner in Western Europe.
==Slave trade==
Between the 6th and 10th centuries AD, members of [[Paganism|pagan]] [[Slavic peoples|Slavonic peoples]] were taken prisoner by the [[Khazars]], [[Kypchaks]] and other steppe peoples and taken to the slave markets in [[Crimea]]. In addition, during the wars between the pagan Slavonic states and Christian states of Europe, many [[prisoners of war]] from both sides were sold as slaves. After the [[Muslim conquests]] of [[Umayyad conquest of North Africa|North Africa]] and [[Umayyad conquest of Hispania|most of the Iberian peninsula]], the [[Arab slave trade|Islamic world became a huge importer of slaves]] from Eastern Europe. The trade routes were established between slave trade centres in the pagan Slavonic countries (for example [[Prague]] and [[Wolin]]) and [[Arab]] metropoles in the [[Muslim]]-controlled regions of the [[Iberian peninsula]] ([[Al-Andalus]]). Because of religious constraints, the [[slave trade]] was monopolised by Iberian [[Jew]]s (known as [[Radhanites]]) who were able to transfer the slaves from pagan [[Central Europe]] through Christian [[Western Europe]] to Muslim countries in [[Al-Andalus]] and [[North Africa]]. However, the converted Christian ruler [[Mojmír I]] of the [[Great Moravia|Great Moravian Empire]] taxed the slave caravans that passed through his lands, providing an important source of revenue, if indirectly. This trade came to an end in the 10th century after the [[Christianisation]] of Slavic countries.
Slavery in medieval Europe was so common that the Church repeatedly prohibited it—or at least the export of Christian slaves to non-Christian lands was prohibited at, for example, the [[Council of Koblenz]] in 922, the [[Council of London (1102)|Council of London]] in 1102, and the [[Council of Armagh]] in 1171.<ref>[http://scatoday.net/node/3565 Slavery, serfdom, and indenture through the Middle Ages]</ref> [[William the Conqueror]], too, banned export of [[English people|English]] slaves. The [[Middle Age|medieval]] slave trade was mainly to the East: [[Byzantine Empire]] and the [[Muslim World]] were the destinations, pagan [[Central Europe|Central]] and [[Eastern Europe]] an important source.<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/blackhistory/article-24159 Historical survey > The international slave trade]</ref><ref name="Arabs and Slave Trade">[http://www.answering-islam.org/ReachOut/slavetrade.html Arabs and Slave Trade]</ref><ref>[http://www.sfusd.edu/schwww/sch618/Ibn_Battuta/Battuta's_Trip_Five.html Battuta's Trip: Anatolia (Turkey) 1330 - 1331]</ref> The Persian traveller [[Ibn Rustah]] described how Swedish Vikings, the [[Varangians]] or [[Rus' Khaganate|Rus]], terrorized and enslaved the [[East Slavs|Slavs]].<ref>[http://www.downbound.com/Slavery_s/29.htm Slavery in Medieval Europe]</ref>
The [[Mongol invasions]] and conquests in the 13th century made the situation worse. The Mongols enslaved skilled individuals, [[women]] and children and marched them to [[Karakorum]] or [[Sarai (city)|Sarai]], whence they were sold throughout [[Eurasia]]. Many of these slaves were shipped to the slave market in [[Novgorod Republic|Novgorod]].<ref>[http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/rubruck.html William of Rubruck's Account of the Mongols]</ref><ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20091026193520/http://geocities.com/medievalnovgorod/nov10.html Life in 13th Century Novgorod -- Women and Class Structure]</ref><ref>[http://www.sras.org/news2.phtml?m=477 The Effects of the Mongol Empire on Russia]</ref>
[[Republic of Genoa|Genoese]] and [[Republic of Venice|Venetians]] merchants in Crimea were involved in the slave trade with the [[Golden Horde]]. Between 1414 and 1423, at least 10,000 eastern European slaves were sold in Venice.<ref>[http://www.roxie.org/books/shoulders/ch02-labor.html How To Reboot Reality — Chapter 2, Labor]</ref> Genoese organized the [[slave trade]] from the Crimea to Mamluk [[Egypt]]. In 1441, [[Haci I Giray]] declared independence from the Golden Horde and established the [[Crimean Khanate]]. For a long time, until the early 18th century, the khanate maintained a massive slave trade with the [[Ottoman Empire]] and the Middle East. In a process called the "harvesting of the [[steppe]]", they enslaved many Slavic peasants.<ref>[http://www.avalanchepress.com/Soldier_Khan.php Soldier Khan]</ref>
==Slavery in law==
{{unreferencedsection|date=August 2010}}
===Secular law===
Slavery was heavily regulated in [[Roman law]], which was reorganized in the [[Byzantine Empire]] by [[Justinian I]] as the [[Corpus Iuris Civilis]]. Although the Corpus was lost to the West for centuries, it was rediscovered in the 11th and 12th centuries, and led to the foundation of law schools in Italy and France. According to the Corpus, the natural state of humanity is freedom, but the "law of nations" may supersede natural law and reduce certain people to slavery. The basic definition of slave in Romano-Byzantine law was:{{Fact|date=March 2009}}
*anyone whose mother was a slave
*anyone who has been captured in battle
*anyone who has sold himself to pay a debt
It was, however, possible to become a freedman or a full citizen; the Corpus, like Roman law, had extensive and complicated rules for [[manumission]] of slaves.
===Canon law===
Medieval [[canon law|canon lawyers]] concluded that slavery was contrary to the spirit of Christianity, and by the 11th century when almost all of Europe had been Christianized, the laws of slavery in civil law codes were now antiquated and unenforceable.{{Fact|date=March 2009}} There were a number of areas where Christians lived with non-Christians, such as [[Al-Andalus]] and [[Emirate of Sicily|Sicily]], the crusader states, and in the still-pagan areas of northeastern Europe; therefore, canon law permitted Christians to keep non-Christian slaves, as long as these slaves were treated humanely and were freed if they chose to convert to Christianity.{{Fact|date=March 2009}} In fact, there was an explicit legal justification for the enslavement of Muslims, found in the [[Decretum Gratiani]] and later expanded upon by the 14th century jurist [[Oldradus de Ponte]]: the Bible states that [[Hagar (Bible)|Hagar]], the slave girl of [[Abraham]], was beaten and cast out by Abraham's wife [[Sarah]]. A popular medieval legend held that Muslims were the descendents of Hagar, while Christians descended from the legitimate marriage of Abraham and Sarah. By extension it was therefore permitted for Christians to enslave Muslims.
The Decretum, like the Corpus, defined a slave as anyone whose mother was a slave. Otherwise, the canons were concerned with slavery only in ecclesiastical contexts: slaves were not permitted to marry or to be ordained as clergy.
==Slavery in the Crusader states==
In the [[crusade]]r [[Kingdom of Jerusalem]], founded in 1099, at most 120,000 Franks ruled over 350,000 Muslims, Jews, and native Eastern Christians.<ref>Benjamin Z. Kedar, "The Subjected Muslims of the Frankish Levant", in ''The Crusades: The Essential Readings'', ed. [[Thomas Madden|Thomas F. Madden]], Blackwell, 2002, p. 244. Originally published in ''Muslims Under Latin Rule, 1100-1300'', ed. James M. Powell, Princeton University Press, 1990. Kedar quotes his numbers from [[Joshua Prawer]], ''Histoire du royaume latin de Jérusalem'', tr. G. Nahon, Paris, 1969, vol. 1, pp. 498, 568-72.</ref> Following the initial [[list of invasions|invasion]] and conquest, sometimes accompanied by massacres or expulsions of Jews and Muslims, a peaceable co-existence between followers of the three religions prevailed.<ref> Christopher Tyerman, ''God's War, A new History of the Crusades'' pp. 226-228. quote = "Just as non-muslim communities survived under Islam, so non-Christians lived unfree but largely unmolested in Frankish outremer. After the early massacres, displacements and expulsions of Muslims and Jews from conquered cities, coexistence, rather than integration or persecution prevailed... At Acre, where the two faiths shared a converted mosque as well as a suburban shrine, Muslim visitors were treated fairly and efficiently. Mosques still operated openly in Tyre and elsewhere."</ref> The Crusader states inherited many slaves. To this may have been added some Muslims taken as captives of war. The Kingdom's largest city, [[Akko|Acre]], had a large slave market; however, the vast majority of Muslims and Jews remained free. The laws of Jerusalem declared that former Muslim slaves, if genuine converts to Christianity, must be freed.<ref> Christopher Tyerman, ''God's War, A new History of the Crusades,'' p. 230.</ref> In 1120, the [[Council of Nablus]] forbade sexual relations between crusaders and their female slaves: if a man raped his own slave, he would be castrated, but if he raped someone else's slave, he would be castrated and exiled from the kingdom.
No Christian, whether Western or Eastern, was permitted by law to be sold into slavery, but this fate was as common for Muslim prisoners of war as it was for Christian prisoners taken by the Muslims.
The 13th-century [[Assizes of Jerusalem]] dealt more with fugitive slaves and the punishments ascribed to them, the prohibition of slaves testifying in court, and manumission of slaves, which could be accomplished, for example, through a will, or by conversion to Christianity. Conversion was apparently used as an excuse to escape slavery by Muslims who would then continue to practise Islam; crusader lords often refused to allow them to convert, and [[Pope Gregory IX]], contrary to both the laws of Jerusalem and the canon laws that he himself was partially responsible for compiling, allowed for Muslim slaves to remain enslaved even if they had converted.
==Slavery in Muslim Iberia==
{{main|Arab slave trade}}
The medieval [[Iberian Peninsula]] was the scene of almost constant [[warfare]] between Muslims and Christians. Periodic raiding expeditions were sent from [[Al-Andalus]] to ravage the Christian Iberian kingdoms, bringing back booty and people. For example, in a raid on [[Lisbon]] in 1189 the [[Almohad]] caliph [[Yaqub al-Mansur]] took 3,000 female and child captives, and his governor of [[Córdoba, Spain|Córdoba]] took 3,000 Christian slaves in a subsequent attack upon [[Silves Municipality, Portugal|Silves]] in 1191.<ref>[http://libro.uca.edu/rc/rc1.htm Ransoming Captives in Crusader Spain: The Order of Merced on the Christian-Islamic Frontier ]</ref>
==Slavery in Moldavia and Wallachia==
{{main|Slavery in Romania}}
Slavery ({{lang-ro|sclavie}}) existed on the territory of present-day [[Romania]] from before the founding of the principalities of [[Moldavia]] and [[Wallachia]] in 13th–14th century, until it was [[Abolitionism|abolished]] in stages during the 1840s and 1850s. Most of the slaves were of [[Roma minority in Romania|Roma]] (Gypsy) ethnicity. Particularly in Moldavia there were also slaves of [[Tatars|Tatar]] ethnicity, probably prisoners captured from the wars with the [[Nogai Tatars|Nogai]] and [[Crimean Tatars]].
The exact origins of slavery in the [[Danubian Principalities]] are not known. There is some debate over whether the Romani people came to Wallachia and Moldavia as free men or as slaves. In the [[Byzantine Empire]], they were slaves of the state and it seems the situation was the same in [[Bulgaria]] and [[Serbia]] until their social organization was destroyed by the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] conquest, which would suggest that they came as slaves who had a change of 'ownership'.
Historian [[Nicolae Iorga]] associated the Roma people's arrival with the 1241 [[Mongol invasion of Europe]] and considered their slavery as a vestige of that era, the Romanians taking the Roma from the [[Mongols]] as slaves and preserving their status. Other historians consider that they were enslaved while captured during the battles with the Tatars. The practice of enslaving prisoners may also have been taken from the Mongols. The ethnic identity of the "Tatar slaves" is unknown, they could have been captured Tatars of the [[Golden Horde]], [[Cumans]], or the slaves of Tatars and Cumans.<ref>Viorel Achim, The Roma in Romanian History, [[Central European University Press]], Budapest, 2004, ISBN 9639241849</ref>
While it is possible that some Romani people were slaves or auxiliary troops of the Mongols or Tatars, the bulk of them came from south of the [[Danube]] at the end of the 14th century, some time after the [[foundation of Wallachia]]. By then, the institution of slavery was already established in Moldavia and possibly in both principalities, but the arrival of the Roma made slavery a widespread practice. The Tatar slaves, smaller in numbers, were eventually merged into the Roma population.<ref>Ştefan Ştefănescu, ''Istoria medie a României'', Vol. I, Editura Universităţii din Bucureşti, Bucharest, 1991 {{Ro icon}}</ref>
==Slavery in the Ottoman Empire==
[[File:Kosem Sultan - Greek Ottoman cropped.JPG|right|200px|thumb|[[Kösem Sultan]] (1589–1651) originally a slave, she was the most powerful woman in Ottoman history, she achieved power and influenced the course of the Ottoman empire.<ref>{{cite book |author= Bator, Robert, - Rothero, Chris |title= Daily Life in Ancient and Modern Istanbul |publisher= Twenty-First Century Books |year= 2000 |page= 42 |isbn= 0822532174 |quote= When such a son became sultan, his slave mother would become the most powerful woman in the Ottoman Empire. The Greek slave Kosem earned this distinction }}</ref>]]
{{main|Slavery (Ottoman Empire)}}
{{see also|Arab slave trade|Sultanate of Women}}
Slavery was an important part of Ottoman society. The [[Byzantine-Ottoman wars]] and the [[Ottoman wars in Europe]] brought large numbers of Christian slaves into the [[Ottoman Empire]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Phillips, Jr.|first=William D.|title=Slavery from Roman Times to the Early Transatlantic Trade|year=1985|publisher=Manchester University Press|location=Manchester|isbn=9780719018251|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=0B8NAQAAIAAJ&lpg=PA37&ots=vl3lMnZRNH&dq=Byzantine-Ottoman%20wars%20slavery&pg=PA37#v=onepage&q&f=false|page=37}}</ref> In the middle of the 14th century, [[Murad I]] built his own personal slave army called the ''Kapıkulu''. The new force was based on the sultan's right to a fifth of the war booty, which he interpreted to include captives taken in battle. The captive slaves were converted to [[Islam]] and trained in the sultan's personal service. In the ''[[devşirme]]'' (translated "blood tax" or "child collection"), young Christian boys from [[Anatolia]] and the [[Balkans]] were taken away from their homes and families, converted to Islam and enlisted into special soldier classes of the [[Military of the Ottoman Empire|Ottoman army]]. These soldier classes were named [[Janissary|Janissaries]], the most famous branch of the ''Kapıkulu''. The Janissaries eventually became a decisive factor in the Ottoman military conquests in Europe.<ref>[http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=266205 Janissary]</ref> Most of the military commanders of the Ottoman forces, imperial administrators and ''de facto'' rulers of the Ottoman Empire, such as [[Pargalı İbrahim Pasha]] and [[Sokollu Mehmet Paşa]], were recruited in this way.<ref>[http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/med/lewis1.html Lewis. Race and Slavery in the Middle East]</ref><ref>[http://schonwalder.com/Such-n-Such/huns.htm The Turks: History and Culture]</ref> By 1609 the Sultan's ''Kapıkulu'' forces increased to about 100,000.<ref>[http://coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/~fisher/hst373/readings/inalcik6.html In the Service of the State and Military Class]</ref>
The [[Imperial Harem|concubines of the Ottoman Sultan]] consisted chiefly of purchased slaves. Because Islamic law forbade Muslims to enslave fellow Muslims, the Sultan's concubines were generally of Christian origin. The mother of a Sultan, though technically a slave, received the extremely powerful title of ''Valide Sultan'', and at times became effective ruler of the Empire (see [[Sultanate of women]]). One notable example was [[Kösem Sultan]], daughter of a Greek Christian priest, who dominated the Ottoman Empire during the early decades of the 17th century.<ref>See generally Jay Winik (2007), ''The Great Upheaval''.</ref> Another notable example was [[Roxelana]], the favourite wife of [[Suleiman the Magnificent]].
==Slavery in Russia==
In [[Kievan Rus]] and [[Muscovy]], the slaves were usually classified as [[kholop]]s. A kholop's master had unlimited power over his life: he could kill him, sell him, or use him as payment upon a [[debt]]. The master, however, was responsible before the law for his kholop's actions. A person could become a kholop as a result of capture, selling himself or herself, being sold for debts or committed [[crime]]s, or marriage to a kholop. Until the late 10th century, the kholops represented a majority among the servants who worked lordly lands.
By the sixteenth century, slavery in [[Muscovy]] consisted mostly of those who sold themselves into slavery owing to poverty.<ref>Richard Hellie, ''Slavery in Russia, 1450-1725'' (1984)</ref> They worked predominantly as household servants, among the richest families, and indeed generally produced less than they consumed.<ref>Carolyn Johnston Pouncey, ''The [[Domostroy|Domostroi]]: Rules for Russian Households in the Time of Ivan the Terrible'', p15 ISBN 0-8014-9689-6</ref> Laws forbade the freeing of slaves in times of famine, to avoid feeding them, and slaves generally remained with the family a long time; the ''Domostroy'', an advice book, speaks of the need to choose slaves of good character and to provide for them properly.<ref>Carolyn Johnston Pouncey, ''The Domostroi: Rules for Russian Households in the Time of Ivan the Terrible'', p33 ISBN 0-8014-9689-6</ref> Slavery remained a major institution in [[Russia]] until 1723, when [[Peter the Great]] converted the household slaves into house [[serfs]]. Russian agricultural slaves were formally converted into [[Serfdom in Russia|serfs]] earlier in 1679.<ref>Richard Hellie, ''Slavery in Russia, 1450-1725'' (1984)</ref>
In 1382 the Golden Horde under Khan [[Tokhtamysh]] sacked [[Moscow]], burning the city and carrying off thousands of inhabitants as slaves. For years the [[Khanate of Kazan|Khanates of Kazan]] and [[Astrakhan Khanate|Astrakhan]] routinely made raids on Russian principalities for
slaves and to plunder towns. Russian chronicles record about 40 raids of [[List of Kazan khans|Kazan Khans]] on the Russian territories in the first half of the 16th century.<ref>The Full Collection of the Russian Annals, vol.13, SPb, 1904</ref> In 1521, the combined forces of Crimean Khan [[Mehmed I Giray]] and his Kazan allies attacked Moscow and captured thousands of slaves.<ref>[http://www.allempires.com/article/index.php?q=The_Crimean_Khanate The Tatar Khanate of Crimea]</ref> About 30 major Tatar raids were recorded into [[Tsardom of Russia|Muscovite]] territories between 1558-1596.<ref>[http://coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/~fisher/hst373/readings/inalcik6.html Supply of Slaves]</ref> In 1571, the Crimean Tatars attacked and sacked Moscow, burning everything but the Kremlin and taking thousands of captives as slaves.<ref>[http://www.economist.com/cities/printStory.cfm?obj_id=9141603&city_id=MCW Moscow - Historical background]</ref> In [[Crimea]], about 75% of the population consisted of slaves.<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/blackhistory/article-24157 Historical survey > Slave societies]</ref>
==Slavery in Scandinavia==
{{main|Thrall}}
The laws from 12th and 13th centuries describe the legal status of two categories. According to the Norwegian [[Gulating]] code (in about 1160), domestic slaves could not, unlike foreign slaves, be sold out of the country. This and other laws defined slaves as their master's property at the same level as cattle. It also described a procedure for giving a slave their freedom. A freed slave did not have full legal status; for example, the punishment for killing a former slave was low. A former slave's son also had a lower status, but higher than that of his parents. The Norwegian law code from [[1274]], [[Landslov]] (Land's law), does not mention slaves, but former slaves. Thus it seems like slavery was abolished in Norway by this time. In Sweden, slavery was abolished in [[1343]].
==Slavery in Gaelic regions==
Gaelic [[Ireland]] and [[Scotland]] were among the last areas of Christian Europe to give up their institution of slavery. Under Gaelic custom, prisoners of war were routinely taken as slaves. However, ironically, it was during the period that slavery was disappearing across most of western Europe that it was reaching its zenith in Ireland and Scotland. The Irish church was vehemently opposed to slavery.
==Serfdom compared==
The institution of [[serfdom]] in [[medieval Europe]] was separate and distinct from chattel slavery; serfs were tied to the land and obliged to work for their lord in a variety of capacities, including working the land, building or repairing structures, mining, or craftworking. But serfs were not chattel property and could not be bought or sold except as part of the land they lived on, and usually could not leave or be removed from the land to which they were bound, absent criminal or civil violations.
==See also==
* [[Arab slave trade]]
* [[Christianity and slavery]]
* [[History of slavery]]
* [[Islam and slavery]]
* [[Slavery in ancient Greece]]
* [[Slavery in ancient Rome]]
* [[Slavery in antiquity]]
* [[The Bible and slavery]]
==References==
{{reflist|2}}
==Further reading==
* Campbell, Gwyn et al eds. ''Women and Slavery, Vol. 1: Africa, the Indian Ocean World, and the Medieval North Atlantic'' (2007)
* Dockès, Pierre. ''Medieval Slavery and Liberation'' (1989)
* Finkelman, Paul, and Joseph Miller, eds. ''Macmillan Encyclopedia of World Slavery'' (2 vol 1999)
* Frantzen, Allen J., and Douglas Moffat, eds. ''The Work of Work: Servitude, Slavery and Labor in Medieval England'' (1994)
* Karras, Ruth Mazo. ''Slavery and Society in Medieval Scandinavia'' (Yale UP, 1988)
* Phillips, William D. Slavery from Roman Times to the Early Transatlantic Trade'' (Manchester UP, 1985)
* Wyatt David R. ''Slaves and warriors in medieval Britain and Ireland, 800-1200'' (2009)
[[Category:Slavery by location|Europe]]
[[Category:Middle Ages]]
[[Category:History of slavery]]' |