Discussion about Medieval slavery.

Gerard Cheshire Discussion

Dear H-Slavery members,

Those of you interested in Medieval slavery may be intrigued by two new papers concerning the Mediterranean in the 15th century. 

Recently, the writing system of a Medieval manuscript was revealed to be proto-Romance: i.e., the ancestor to Portuguese and the other modern Romance languages. In addition, it is written with a proto-Italic alphabet. It is the only known document of this kind and therefore has considerable linguistic and historic importance.

Two papers have been issued, which explain the writing system and translate a number of excerpts as examples. They can be freely downloaded from the LingBuzz website. 

  1. Linguistic Missing Links: http://ling.auf.net/lingbuzz/003737
  2. Linguistically Dating and Locating MS408: http://ling.auf.net/lingbuzz/003808

The second paper is of particular interest here, as it translates the story of a rescue in the Tyrrhenian Sea. Among the many illustrations is a wooden jetty for the island castle known as Castello Aragonese, attached to Ischia. The jetty is divided into three zones: for nobility, commoners and slaves. The manuscript dates from c. 1444 and seems to indicate that slavery was an everyday part of Medieval life in the Mediterranean. 

Regards,

Gerard Cheshire

University of Bristol