Greek Captives and Mediterranean Slavery, 1260–1460 (Edinburgh Byzantine Studies)

Captivity and enslavement were characteristic experiences of Greek Christians in the late medieval Mediterranean. During this time, Muslim Turks and Christian western Europeans conquered and traded at the expense of the shrinking Byzantine Empire. By bringing together literary and documentary sources spanning a geographical canvas from the Aegean to Egypt and from Cyprus to Catalonia, this book tells that story in full for the first time. It traces this crisis of captivity from its origins in thirteenth-century Asia Minor to its explosion into a Mediterranean-wide phenomenon, interrogating different types of unfreedom and forced movement and evaluating their significance for Greeks’ religious and diplomatic relationships with their neighbours, both Christian and Muslim. This book tells the story of thousands of ordinary people caught up in conflict and dispersed across the Mediterranean against their will. It is the first study to examine the social, cultural and political ramifications of this late medieval trade in Greeks. The book’s wide geographical horizons and its accessible style ensure that it will appeal to anyone interested in the medieval Mediterranean or the history of slavery. Its use of previously unpublished or little-known textual sources and its extensive synthesis of Byzantine, Latin European and Islamic sources and scholarship ensure that it will offer new perspectives and revelations for the specialist. Maps 8 Acknowledgements 10 Preface 13 Introduction: A Crisis of Captivity 16 Previous Scholarship 21 Aims, Evidence and Approaches 23 Ethnic Categories 29 Religious Categories 34 Categories of Unfreedom 37 Chapter Outline 38 Part I: Historical Contexts 40 Chapter 1: Political Changes in Asia Minor 42 The Late Medieval Romanía 42 The Collapse of Byzantine Asia Minor 45 Evidence of Crisis (1): Cyprus 49 Evidence of Crisis (2): Crete 53 Catalans in the Romanía 59 Conclusions 67 Chapter 2: Slave Trading in the Mediterranean and Black Sea 68 The Slave Trade 68 Greek Captives in Context 73 Genoa and the Trade in Greek Captives 76 Byzantine Relations with the Mamlūk Sultanate 83 Greek Captives, Cyprus and the Mamlūk Sultanate 87 Conclusion 96 Part II: Social Dynamics 98 Chapter 3: Captives, Slaves and Refugees 100 Captives or Slaves? 100 Experiences of Captivity 106 Experiences of Slavery 113 Captives or Refugees? 119 Trends in Forced Mobility 124 Conclusions 129 Chapter 4: Methods of Redemption 130 Ransom as Religious Duty 130 Captives’ Letters of Clerical Advocacy (Aichmalotika) 134 The Distribution of Testimonials 139 Further Evidence for Itinerant Alms-Seeking 141 The Individual as Ransomer 143 Prisoner Exchanges 148 Military Orders 150 Conclusion 154 Part III: Cross-Cultural Relations 156 Chapter 5: Christian Masters, Christian Slaves? 158 Religion and Slavery 158 Ethnicity and Slavery 167 Subjecthood and Captivity 175 Conclusion 179 Chapter 6: Turkish Conquests, Conquered Greeks 181 Greek Clergy and Captives under Islamic Rule 181 Greek Captives and Slaves in Islamic Asia Minor 188 Raiding and Depopulation 194 Conquest and Deportation 201 Conclusions 207 Conclusion: A Mediterranean Phenomenon 209 Bibliography 214 Index 247