Enemies and Familiars

Debra Blumenthal

Description

A prominent Mediterranean port located near Islamic territories, the city of Valencia in the late fifteenth century boasted a slave population of pronounced religious and ethnic diversity: captive Moors and penally enslaved Mudejars, Greeks, Tartars, Russians, Circassians, and a growing population of black Africans. By the end of the fifteenth century, black Africans comprised as much as 40 percent of the slave population of Valencia.Whereas previous historians of medieval slavery have focused their efforts on defining the legal status of slaves, documenting the vagaries of the Mediterranean slave trade, or examining slavery within the context of Muslim-Christian relations, Debra Blumenthal explores the social and human dimensions of slavery in this religiously and ethnically pluralistic society. Enemies and Familiars traces the varied experiences of Muslim, Eastern, and black African slaves from capture to freedom. After describing how men, women, and children were enslaved and brought to the Valencian marketplace, this book examines the substance of slaves' daily lives: how they were sold and who bought them; the positions ascribed to them within the household hierarchy; the sorts of labor they performed; and the ways in which some reclaimed their freedom. Scrutinizing a wide array of archival sources (including wills, contracts, as well as hundreds of civil and criminal court cases), Blumenthal investigates what it meant to be a slave and what it meant to be a master at a critical moment of transition.Arguing that the dynamics of the master-slave relationship both reflected and determined contemporary opinions regarding religious, ethnic, and gender differences, Blumenthal's close study of the day-to-day interactions between masters and their slaves not only reveals that slavery played a central role in identity formation in late medieval Iberia but also offers clues to the development of "racialized" slavery in the early modern Atlantic world.

Sujets

• Histoire
• Southern Europe
• Spain
• History of Europe
• Spain (groupe)
• 1500
• Portugal

Informations

• Publié par: Cornell University Press
• Date de parution: 15 juin 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780801463686
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

Enemies and Familiars

a v o l u m e i n t h e s e r i e s Conjunctions of Religion and Power in the Medieval Past Edited byBarbara H. Rosenwein

A list of titles in the series is available at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu.

ENEMIES and FAMILIARS slavery and mastery in fifteenth-century valencia

Debra Blumenthal

cornell university press Ithaca and London

This book was published with the aid of a grant from the Program for Cultural Cooperation between Spain’s Ministry of Culture and United States Universities.

Copyright © 2009 by Cornell University

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.

First published 2009 by Cornell University Press

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Blumenthal, Debra, 1969–  Enemies and familiars : slavery and mastery infifteenth- century Valencia / Debra Blumenthal.  p. cm. — (Conjunctions of religion and power in the medieval past)  Includes bibliographical references and index.  ISBN 978-0-8014-4502-6 (cloth : alk. paper)  1. Slavery—Spain—Valencia (Region)—History—To 1500. 2. Slaves—Spain—Valencia (Region)—History—To 1500. 3. Slaveholders—Spain—Valencia (Region)—History—To 1500. 4. Master and servant—Spain—Valencia (Region)—History—To 1500. I. Title. II. Series: Conjunctions of religion & power in the medieval past.

HT1219.V3B58 2009 306.3'6209467609024—dc22

2008045804

Cornell University Press strives to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the fullest extent possible in the publishing of its books. Such materials include vegetable-based, low-VOC inks and acid-free papers that are recycled, totally chlorine-free, or partly composed of nonwoodfibers. For further information, visit our website at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu.

Cloth printing

 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

This book is dedicated to my grandmothers, Hannah Bank Blumenthal and Reba Robbins Frankel

Contents

List of Maps

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Editorial Method

 Introduction 1 DefiningDe Bona Guerra 2Tools”: Slaves in the Marketplace “Talking 3 Slave Labors 4or Extended Family? Slaves in the Household Enemies 5 Sex and Swordplay: Slavery and Honor 6 Paths to Freedom 7“ Living Com a Franch”—“Like a Free Person”  Conclusion

Appendix Bibliography Index

ix xi xiii xv

1 9 46 80 122 154 194 239 267

279 281 299

M

ap

s

1. The Kingdom of Valencia and Its Vicinity 2. The Mediterranean in the Late Fifteenth Century 3. Berbería, West Africa, and the Canary Islands

xvi xvii xviii