Cambridge University Press

978-0-521-84067-5 — The Cambridge World History of Slavery

Edited by Craig Perry , David Eltis , Stanley L. Engerman , David Richardson
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THE C AMBRIDGE WORLD HISTORY

OF SLAVERY
Volume 2: ad 500–ad 1420

Medieval slavery has received little attention relative to slavery in

ancient Greece and Rome and in the early modern Atlantic world.
This imbalance in the scholarship has led many to assume that slavery
was of minor importance in the Middle Ages. In fact, the practice of
slavery continued unabated across the globe throughout the medieval
millennium. This volume – the final volume in The Cambridge World
History of Slavery – covers the period between the fall of Rome and the
rise of the transatlantic plantation complexes by assembling twenty-
three original essays, written by scholars acknowledged as leaders in
their respective fields. The volume demonstrates the continual and
central presence of slavery in societies worldwide between 500 CE and
1420 CE. The essays analyze key concepts in the history of slavery,
including gender, trade, empire, state formation and diplomacy, labor,
childhood, social status and mobility, cultural attitudes, spectrums of
dependency and coercion, and life histories of enslaved people.

Craig Perry is Assistant Professor in the Department of Middle

Eastern and South Asian Studies and the Tam Institute for Jewish
Studies at Emory University. His research on slavery in the medieval
Middle East has been supported by fellowships from the National
Endowment for the Humanities, Oxford University, and the
Foundation for Jewish Culture.
David Eltis is Emeritus Professor of History at Emory University, and
has held visiting appointments at Harvard, Oxford, and Yale
Universities. He is author of four prize-winning books and articles
on slavery and the slave trade.
Stanley L. Engerman is Emeritus Professor of Economics and former
Professor of History at the University of Rochester. He has held
visiting appointments at Harvard, Oxford, and Cambridge
Universities, and has written over one hundred essays and co-
authored or co-edited 25 books on slavery and related subjects. He
is a recipient of the Bancroft Prize and the Guggenheim Fellowship.
David Richardson is founder and former director (2004–2012) of the
Wilberforce Institute for the study of Slavery and Emancipation, Hull
University. He has held visiting positions at Harvard and Yale
Universities. He has written extensively on transatlantic slavery and its
impacts and more recently on contemporary slavery in historical perspec-
tive. He authored (with David Eltis) the award winning Atlas of the
Transatlantic Slave Trade (2010).

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Cambridge University Press
978-0-521-84067-5 — The Cambridge World History of Slavery
Edited by Craig Perry , David Eltis , Stanley L. Engerman , David Richardson
Frontmatter
More Information

THE C AMBRIDGE WORLD HISTO R Y OF S LA VERY

General editors
David Eltis, Emory University
Stanley L. Engerman, University of Rochester
Volume I: The Ancient Mediterranean World
Edited by Keith Bradley and Paul Cartledge
Volume II: ad 500–ad 1420
Edited by Craig Perry, David Eltis, Stanley L. Engerman, and David
Richardson
Volume III: ad 1420–ad 1804
Edited by David Eltis and Stanley L. Engerman
Volume IV: ad 1804–ad 2016
Edited by David Eltis, Stanley L. Engerman,
Seymour Drescher, and David Richardson

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Cambridge University Press
978-0-521-84067-5 — The Cambridge World History of Slavery
Edited by Craig Perry , David Eltis , Stanley L. Engerman , David Richardson
Frontmatter
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THE CAMBRIDGE
WORLD HISTORY OF
SLAVERY
VOLUME 2
ad 500–ad 1420
CRAIG PERRY
Emory University

DAVID ELTIS
Emory University

STANLEY L. ENGERMAN
University of Rochester

DAVID RICHARDSON
University of Hull

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Cambridge University Press
978-0-521-84067-5 — The Cambridge World History of Slavery
Edited by Craig Perry , David Eltis , Stanley L. Engerman , David Richardson
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University Printing House, Cambridge cb2 8bs, United Kingdom

One Liberty Plaza, 20th Floor, New York, ny 10006, USA
477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, vic 3207, Australia
314–321, 3rd Floor, Plot 3, Splendor Forum, Jasola District Centre,
New Delhi – 110025, India
79 Anson Road, #06–04/06, Singapore 079906

Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge.

It furthers the University’s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of
education, learning, and research at the highest international levels of excellence.

www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521840675
doi: 10.1017/9781139024723
© Cambridge University Press 2021
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without the written
permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 2021
Printed in the United Kingdom by TJ Books Limited, Padstow Cornwall
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library.
isbn 978-0-521-84067-5 Hardback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of
URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication
and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain,
accurate or appropriate.

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Cambridge University Press
978-0-521-84067-5 — The Cambridge World History of Slavery
Edited by Craig Perry , David Eltis , Stanley L. Engerman , David Richardson
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CONTENTS

List of Figures, Maps, and Tables page viii

List of Contributors ix

1 Slavery in the Medieval Millennium 1

craig perry , d av id eltis, stanley l . e ngerman,
a n d d a vi d r i c h a r d s o n

part i: captivity and the slave trade 25

2 The Greater Mediterranean Slave Trade 27

jeff fynn-paul

3 Captivity, Ransom, and Manumission, 500–1420 53

hussein fancy

4 Forced Migrations and Slavery in the Mongol Empire

(1206–1368) 76
m i c h a l b i r an

5 The Trade in Slaves in the Black Sea, Russia, and Eastern

Europe 100
h a n n a h ba r k e r

6 Slavery and the Slave Trade in the Western Indian Ocean

World 123
c r a i g p e r ry

part ii: race, sex, and everyday life 153

7 Child Enslavement in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages 155

j u d i t h e v ans g r u bb s

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978-0-521-84067-5 — The Cambridge World History of Slavery
Edited by Craig Perry , David Eltis , Stanley L. Engerman , David Richardson
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vi contents
8 Intersections of Gender, Sex, and Slavery: Female Sexual Slavery 185
s h aun ma r m o n

9 Attitudes toward Blackness 214

s te v e n a. e ps t e i n

10 Slavery and Agency in the Middle Ages 240

c r ai g pe r r y

part iii: east and south asia 269

11 Slavery in Medieval China 271

don j . w yatt

12 Slavery in Medieval Korea 295

seung b . k ye

13 Slavery and Dependency in Medieval South India 313

leslie c. orr

part iv: the islamic world 335

14 Slavery in the Islamic Middle East (c. 600–1000 ce) 337

matthew s. gordon

15 Military Slavery in Medieval North India 362

ali a nooshahr

16 Slavery in the Mamluk Sultanate 383

stephan conermann

17 Slavery in the Early Modern Ottoman Empire 406

nur s obers-khan

part v: africa, the americas, and europe 429

18 Slavery in the Carolingian Empire 431

a li c e r i o

19 Slavery in the Byzantine Empire 453

noel lenski

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contents vii

20 Slavery in Northern Europe (Scandinavia and Iceland)

and the British Isles, 500–1420 482
d a v i d wy a t t

21 Slavery in Medieval Iberia 508

d e b r a b l um e n t h a l

22 Slavery in Africa c. 500–1500 ce: Archaeological

and Historical Perspectives 531
paul j. lane

23 Slavery in Precontact America 553

camilla t ownsend

Index 571

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978-0-521-84067-5 — The Cambridge World History of Slavery
Edited by Craig Perry , David Eltis , Stanley L. Engerman , David Richardson
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FIGURES

Figures
3.1 Mosaic in the church of San Tommaso in Formis, Rome
(c. 1210) page 54
9.1 Saint Maurice, Magdeburg Cathedral (thirteenth century) 222
9.2 Mosaic from Vercelli, Italy (eleventh century) 223
9.3 Mosaic in the church of San Tommaso in Formis, Rome
(c. 1210) 226
19.1 Slave prices in the Byzantine Empire, c. 300–1453
(in fourth-century solidi equivalent) 468
19.2 Attested slave sales in the Byzantine Empire by gender,
300–1400 469

Maps
5.1 Major locations connected to the Black Sea slave trade 106
22.1 Location of key sites and places in the trans-Saharan slave
trade 537
23.1 Mesoamerican political relations, c. 1500 556

Tables
9.1 Women slaves in Genoa by ethnicity and price, 15–30 years old 235
19.1 The frequency of mentions of slaves and slavery in Byzantine
law codes 476

viii

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Edited by Craig Perry , David Eltis , Stanley L. Engerman , David Richardson
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CONTRIBUTORS

Ali Anooshahr, Department of History, University of California at Davis

Hannah Barker, School of Historical, Philosophical, and Religious
Studies, Arizona State University
Michal Biran, Department of Asian Studies and the Department of Islamic
and Middle Eastern Studies, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Debra Blumenthal, Department of History, University of California at
Santa Barbara
Stephan Conermann, Department of Near Eastern History and
Languages, University of Bonn
David Eltis, Department of History, Emory University
Stanley L. Engerman, Department of Economics, University of Rochester
Steven A. Epstein, Department of History, University of Kansas
Judith Evans Grubbs, Department of History, Emory University
Hussein Fancy, Department of History, University of Michigan
Jeff Fynn-Paul, Institute for History, Leiden University
Matthew S. Gordon, Department of History, Miami University
Seung B. Kye, Department of History, Sogang University
Paul J. Lane, Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge
Noel Lenski, Departments of Classics and History, Yale University
Shaun Marmon, Department of Religion, Princeton University
Leslie C. Orr, Department of Religions and Cultures, Concordia University
Craig Perry, Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies and
the Tam Institute for Jewish Studies, Emory University

ix

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978-0-521-84067-5 — The Cambridge World History of Slavery
Edited by Craig Perry , David Eltis , Stanley L. Engerman , David Richardson
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x list of contributors
David Richardson, Wilberforce Institute for the Study of Slavery and
Emancipation, University of Hull
Alice Rio, Department of History, King’s College London
Nur Sobers-Khan, Department of Asian and African Collections, The
British Library
Camilla Townsend, Department of History, Rutgers University
David Wyatt, School of History, Archaeology and Religion, Cardiff
University
Don J. Wyatt, Department of History, Middlebury College

© in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org

 University Printing House, Cambridge cb2 8bs, United Kingdom
One Liberty Plaza, 20th Floor, New York, ny 10006, USA
477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, vic 3207, Australia
314–321, 3rd Floor, Plot 3, Splendor Forum, Jasola District Centre,
New Delhi – 110025, India
79 Anson Road, #06–04/06, Singapore 079906

Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge.

It furthers the University’s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of
education, learning, and research at the highest international levels of excellence.

www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521840675
doi: 10.1017/9781139024723
© Cambridge University Press 2021
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without the written
permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 2021
Printed in the United Kingdom by TJ Books Limited, Padstow Cornwall
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library.
isbn 978-0-521-84067-5 Hardback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of
URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication
and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain,
accurate or appropriate.

Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Emory University, on 12 Nov 2021 at 16:07:52, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use,
available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781139024723

CR A IG PER RY is Assistant Professor in the
9 78 0 5218 4 0 675 E LT I S E T A L – T H E C A M BR I D G E WOR L D H I S T ORY OF SL AV E RY VOL . 2 JAC K E T C M Y K
Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies
and the Tam Institute for Jewish Studies at Emory
University. His research on slavery in the medieval
Middle East has been supported by fellowships from
the National Endowment for the Humanities, Oxford
University, and the Foundation for Jewish Culture.
DAV I D ELT IS is Emeritus Professor of History at
Emory University, and has held visiting appointments
at Harvard, Oxford, and Yale Universities. He is author
of four prize-winning books and articles on slavery and
the slave trade.
STA N L EY L . ENGER M A N is Emeritus Professor
of Economics and former Professor of History at
the University of Rochester. He has held visiting
appointments at Harvard, Oxford, and Cambridge
Universities, and has written over one hundred essays
and co-authored or co-edited 25 books on slavery and
related subjects. He is a recipient of the Bancroft Prize
and the Guggenheim Fellowship.
DAV I D R ICH A R DSON is founder and former
director (2004–2012) of the Wilberforce Institute
for the study of Slavery and Emancipation, Hull
University. He has held visiting positions at Harvard
and Yale Universities. He has written extensively on
transatlantic slavery and its impacts and more recently
on contemporary slavery in historical perspective. He
authored (with David Eltis) the award winning Atlas of
the Transatlantic Slave Trade (2010).
Cover image: Florence, The Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana,
ms. Med. Palat. 219, f. 242v. Reproduced with permission of
MiC. Further reproduction by any means is prohibited.
Jacket designed by Rob Lock
PRINTED IN THE UNITED KINGDOM
Richardson
Engerman
“Masterfully conceived and edited, this volume destroys the still prevailing view that slavery, Medieval slavery has received little attention relative
THE CA MBR IDGE
Perry
Eltis
somehow, disappeared between the fall of Rome and the European ‘discovery’ of the New World, to slavery in ancient Greece and Rome and in the
providing the basis for the birth of a new understanding of the continuity of slavery and racism early modern Atlantic world. This imbalance in the
throughout global history. A major contribution.”
H EN RY LOU IS GAT E S , J R ., University Professor, Harvard University
WOR LD HISTORY OF scholarship has led many to assume that slavery was
of minor importance in the Middle Ages. In fact, the
practice of slavery continued unabated across the
“Some twenty scholars present a breath-taking quantity of new information about world slavery
SLAVERY globe throughout the medieval millennium. This
SLAVERY
between 500 and 1420. A must-read for anyone interested in slavery or the medieval world.” volume – the final volume in The Cambridge World
T H E C A M BR I D GE WOR L D H I S TORY OF
VA L ER I E H A NSEN, Yale University History of Slavery – covers the period between the fall
of Rome and the rise of the transatlantic plantation
“Covering five continents and the interconnections between them, these chapters by complexes by assembling twenty-three original
distinguished scholars strike a balance between broad interpretations and local facts, and essays, written by scholars acknowledged as leaders in
present the wide range of forms of unfreedom found across regions.” VOLUME 2 their respective fields. The volume demonstrates the
RU T H K A R R A S , Trinity College Dublin
AD 500–AD 1420 continual and central presence of slavery in societies
worldwide between 500 CE and 1420 CE. The essays
“This volume covers periods that have been poorly researched until now and, fills a gap in the analyze key concepts in the history of slavery, including
existing literature. Additionally, it contains much excellent, originally researched content.”
Edited by gender, trade, empire, state formation and diplomacy,
M A RT I N K L EI N, Professor Emeritus, University of Toronto labor, childhood, social status and mobility, cultural
Craig Perry, David Eltis, attitudes, spectrums of dependency and coercion, and
“An exceptionally fine panorama of a crucial millennium of global slaving practices. The scope of life histories of enslaved people.
this work will allow readers to draw rare connections between different traditions, enriching – if Stanley L. Engerman, and David Richardson
not defining – studies of slavery for decades to come.”
K R IST I NA R ICH A R DSON, Queens College and Graduate Center, The City University of
New York
“Free of the weight imposed by Atlantic slavery upon the early modern and modern eras, this is
the most global of the monumental volumes produced in The Cambridge World History of Slavery
series.”
EH U D R . TOL E DA NO, Tel Aviv University, Israel
“As medieval history gets more global, the need for more comprehensive comparative studies is
ever clearer. This excellent book does the job for slavery far better than any previous work.”
CH R IS W ICK H A M, Chichele Professor of Medieval History Emeritus, University of Oxford
VOLUME 2