Slavery in the 11th century

[Musashi]

Hey, I thought I'd bounce this question off you history buffs here ;)

I'm doing research for a potential novel, and I've been stymied on one point. The protagonist is meant to be a slave in Constantinople somewhere between the 11th and 13th centuries... But while I can find references confirming that the Byzantine Empire practiced slavery well into that period, I can't find any details about the status of slaves or the slave trade with regards to the Byzantine Empire or Constantinople.

To be honest trying to look into the subject just gets me buried under a billion treatises on slavery in pre-civil war America, or the modern slave trade. Any of you guys have any recommendations to help me out?

[percy13]

You really got me thinking there as I've read a bundle on books on Byzantium but never once read anything about slavery.

I hate to quote Wikipedia but this is all I could find there anyway:

Greece
In Byzantium, there was a considerable slave population, and, up until the 12th century, "infidel" and "heathen" slaves worked for both individual families and the state. By the 12th century there, was a growing opposition to slavery, but nothing like the American Emancipation Proclamation was ever issued.

It was not uncommon in Byzantium for male slaves to be castrated. Even some important leaders of the army and navy, during various periods of Byzantine history, were castrated -- often because very high positions were available to eunuchs, as they were of no threat to the Byzantine Emperor (The Emperor was never castrated). Once Western ideas of sex, chivalry and more humane treatment became more popularized in Byzantium, however, there was a stigma attached to castration.

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This guy wrote about it but I couldn't find anything online. At least you might be able to get one of his books

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articl...56/ai_20059970

A reference here about it:

http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-slavery.html

You're right though, there seems to be very little about it at all. I couldn't even find any pointers for books dealing with the subject.

You could email some of these guys who could no doubt tell you some books/articles to get details from though. Academic types are usually pretty helpful. Or some of the links might help but there are a hell of a lot of them.

http://www.byzantium.ac.uk/frameset_byzcourses.htm

[kataphraktoi]

Byzantium had something similar, but very similar to the Ghulam/Mameluke system. They had warriors called Pharganoi, and their origins are as slaves from the Ferghana, Sogdhiana regions and formed an important bodyguard unit for the Emperors. However, they are not as pervasive as in the Muslim world.

[Musashi]

Thanks for the information guys.

Kataphraktoi, do you know where most of their slaves would have come from, and how they would have ended up as slaves?

Mostly due to pirate/bandit raiding and border conflicts in other parts of the world?

[Cangrande]

Many slaves were prisoners of war, military and civilian but slaves were also traded, e.g. the Horn of Africa, by the ancestors of those who traded with the Europeans and Americans.