By the early fourteenth century, the Mediterranean was approaching maturity as a commercial structure. Various arteries of exchange brought into its scope the full range of European, African and Asian commodities.
What work did Viking slaves do? New research looks at slavery in medieval Scandinavia
August 16, 2012 By
‘Slave work in general was heavy and dirty’ explains Janken Myrdal in his article ‘Milking and Grinding, Digging and Herding: Slaves and Farmwork 1000-1300′.
Black Africans’ Religious and Cultural Assimilation to, or Appropriation of, Catholicism in Italy, 1470-1520
June 14, 2012 By
Current scholarship emphasizes that the old model of conversion—of, say, Christianity being actively forced onto passive and subordinate peoples—is no longer satisfactory, and instead prefers to frame the issue around concepts of cultural interaction or cultural transmission, and selective appropriation of the host religion.
Singers and Soldiers: Slavery in Early Abbasid Society
April 11, 2012 By
Individuals of slave descent led significant households in Baghdad and Samarra, the capitals of the Abbasid caliphate, the second great empire of the Muslim world.
Was St Patrick a slave-trading Roman official who fled to Ireland?
March 17, 2012 By
With St Patrick’s Day upon us, a new study asks whether the saint fled his native Britain to escape a career as a Roman tax collector, only to arrive in Ireland and sell slaves.
Slavery and the slave trade in pre-colonial Africa
November 15, 2011 By
Slavery and the Slave Trade have been age old institutions and practices in almost every continent in the world.
The Disappearance of Ancient Slavery
November 13, 2011 By
Since access to ancient documents was unobtainable, the information in this paper is based on the writings of twentieth century historians.
When pregnancy gets you out of a bad relationship – female slaves in medieval Spain
August 31, 2011 By
Debra Blumenthal examines 33 cases found in the archives of the Spanish city between 1425 and 1520 where female slaves sued to get their freedom on the basis that they bore the children of their male masters.
A Viking Slave’s Saga
June 27, 2011 By
A Viking Slave’s Saga By Jan Fridegård, translated by Robert E. Bjork Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2007 ISBN: 978-0-86698-375-4 ACMRS Occasional Publications Series, Volume 4 A Viking Slave’s Saga is a trilogy of novels by the famous Swedish author Jan Fridegård: Land of Wooden Gods (Trägudars land, 1940), People of the Dawn […]
Slavery and Conversion of the Slaves to Islam in the Ottoman Society
June 12, 2011 By
Slavery and Conversion of the Slaves to Islam in the Ottoman Society: According to the Canonical Registers of Bursa between XVth and XVIIIth Centuries By Osman Cetin UÜ İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi, Vol.10:1 (2001) Introduction: In Bursa as well as in other cities of Anatolia, among the groups who had converted to Islam, the slaves occupied an […]
The Viking Slave Trade
June 18, 2010 By
Slavery was a feature of Irish society long before the vikings arrived. St Patrick was first brought to Ireland as a captive, and slave raiding across the Irish Sea is attested (in both directions) at the time when Roman power collapsed in Britain.
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