Enemies and familiars: Muslim, eastern and black African slaves in late medieval Valencia

FAIN: FT-51422-03

Debra Blumenthal
University of Kansas Center for Research, Inc. (Lawrence, KS 66045-3101)

The fifteenth century city of Valencia boasted a slave and free population of pronounced religious and ethnic diversity. Valencia's free Muslim (Mudejar), Christian, and Jewish inhabitants encountered male and female slaves of varied origins: captive Moors and penally enslaved Mudejars, Greeks, Tartars, Russians, Circassians, and a growing number of black Africans. While the mechanics of the institution of slavery in Valencia have been delineated in the works of Vicenta Cortés and Vicente Graullera Sanz, the dynamics of the master-slave relationship have yet to be explored. Utilizing previously unexploited archival sources, this project examines what it meant to be a slave and what it meant to be a master in this pluralistic society.

Associated Products