Heyd, W. Histoire du Commerce du Levant au Moyen-Age, Volume 2. Tr. Nathaniel Dektor. Leipzig: Furcy Raynaud, 1886.
We saw that the Mameluke sultans who had been governing Egypt since the thirteenth century, finding only insufficient resources for the recruitment of their armies in an indigenous population little accustomed to professional soldiering, had recourse to another source: the purchase of slaves native to the northern countries. On the other hand, to fill their harems and those of the great personages of their court, it was necessary to bring in female slaves and to replenish them often. So they dispatched agents to look for slaves of both sexes, anywhere they could be procured, even in Christian countries such as Little Armenia, for example. The religion to which they belonged mattered little; if they were Christians, their new masters would make them [renegades] soon enough. However, the Egyptian agents preferred to visit countries where Islam was the dominant religion, and in return merchants native to Muslim countries would steer troops of slaves to Egypt to sell them there. Thus, it was particularly the ports of Satalia and Candelore, situated in the part of Asia Minor the Seljuks ruled, that sent boys and girls off to Egypt. When Adrianople and Gallipoli had fallen to Ottoman forces, these two cities became the point of departure for Greek or Christian vessels importing slaves by the hundreds to Damietta and Alexandria. [556] But this kind of commerce achieved its highest degree of prosperity in the coastal regions of the Black Sea. The development of the Mameluke sultans' power in Egypt and the propagation of Islam in the great Kipchak Mongol empire by the khan Berke had been practically simultaneous, and these events signaled an active exchange of correspondence and ambassadors between the masters of the two countries. From this moment on, the agents charged with the purchase of slaves on the sultans' account directed their search particularly towards the northern coast of the Black Sea, and the sultan [Bibars], by dint of embassies and gifts, ended up obtaining from Michael Paleologus who, it seems, did not suspect the gravity of the concession demanded of him, the authorization to allow Egyptian commercial vessels through the Bosporus. The authorization was only given for one vessel to be allowed one voyage and return per year to the Black Sea, but instead of one they often made two, and their return cargo consisted of slaves to reinforce the sultan's troops. It is necessary to say that this region's conditions could not have favored more the development of this kind of commerce. Although the Tatars were established solidly in their Kipchak empire, there were always unsubdued tribes and, all things considered, the normal state was that of war, war of skirmishes, in which [Tcherkesses], Russians, Magyars, and Alans would kidnap [tour a tour] Tatar children that they would sell as slaves. The Tatars, moreover, reserved the same destiny for the prisoners they brought back from their adventures in the Caucasus. And then, on the part of these rude peoples, when provisions were too expensive or taxes too high, nothing was more ordinary than to see parents selling their own children, particularly their daughters. Only vigorous, healthy, and compliant individuals were exported. But, along the entire expanse of these shores, neither the Tatars nor the tribes they subjugated possessed great commercial ports: Caffa, Tana, etc. were in the Italians' hands, which resulted in the slave business's becoming concentrated in the Italian markets, and especially at Caffa. The latter city was the usual [557] destination of agents sent to purchase slaves for the sultans of Egypt; a number of them even resided there permanently.
The Genoese were quite obliged to allow the embarkation of slaves destined for Egypt in their port of Caffa; posing difficulties for the sultans' agents would have risked compromising to a great degree their own commercial relations with Egypt and the very existence of their colonies. Colonial authorities, moreover, strictly controlled this commerce. Every passing slave underwent an interrogation; they asked him if he was Muslim or Christian. If he professed Christianity or declared the intention to convert to it, the consul of Caffa bought him back and kept him in the consul's possession.; he only allowed the Muslims to leave. The slaves resolved to become Christian also found at the bishop's house an asylum the civil authorities respected. The officials, furthermore, carefully made sure that no inhabitant of Caffa was taken away into slavery. Finally, the slave trade was hit with a duty and the Republic of Genoa maintained it energetically in 43, despite the complaints of the sultan [Boursbai] who, in reprisal, imposed upon Genoese merchants established in Egypt a tax of 16,000 ducats.
Thus, legally the slave trade was only tolerated by Genoese colonial officials for Muslims, and on condition that merchants of their own religion, and on their own vessels, transported the slaves to the destination in Egypt. It was forbidden to the Genoese ships' captains, formally and under penalty of great fines, to embark Mamelukes of either sex for transportation to Egypt, Barbary, or to the part of Spain the [Saracens] occupied; it was not permitted to any Genoese to participate in this traffic in any manner. All the same, at the port of Tana, Venetian galleys were prohibited from taking on board Muslim or Tatar slaves [558] destined to be sent to Turkish territory. These regulations did not prevent, furthermore, certain Christians on the northern coast of the Black Sea from having slaves sent to Egypt. We saw, in 1307, the Caffa colonists become kidnappers of Tatar children to sell them to the Muslims (that is, to send them to Egypt). In 1371, a certain Niccolo di San Giorgio represented himself in Caffa as a "Slave Reseller." We do not know if he had business in Egypt, but, at the beginning of the fourteenth century, a Genoese named Segurano Salvago personally sent slaves of both sexes to the sultan of Egypt; another, named Gentile Imperiali, took on the role of the sultan's agent in Caffa for the purchase of slaves. Even Genoese, moreover, contributed indirectly to the transport of slaves to Egypt: most consisted simple of renting their vessels for this purpose to the merchants of Muslim slaves. Therefore, the complaints of pope John XXII were well-grounded when he accused the Genoese in front of the whole world of contributing to the accumulation of power of miscreants by providing slaves. Nearly a century later, in Caffa, Tana, and other places, Christians and Jews bought [Zichiens], Russians, Alans, [Mingreliens], and Abkhazians and resold them to the Saracens for a profit often approaching ten times the purchase price. These unfortunates, who had been baptized after the Greek rite, were obliged to repudiate their faith, happy to not become victims of masters who would make them service their infamous pleasures. Informed about this scandal, Martin V excommunicated all Christians guilty of this: as for the Jews, he decreed that all convicted of this would be condemned to bear particular signs upon their clothing (1425).
Thus, there arrived each year, from Damietta or Alexandria, in the great Cairo marketplace, around 2000 Mamelukes that the sultan had priced by skilled experts. The subjects fetching the highest prices were the Tatars; they were worth 130 to 140 ducats per head; for a [Tcherkesse] one still paid 1!0 to 120 ducats, for a Greek about 90, for an Albanian, a Slav, or a Serb 70 to 80. The merchants had the twin advantage of profiting greatly and receiving the stamp of approval from the sovereign for the services they rendered Islam.
The oriental slaves sent to the northern coasts of the Black Sea did not all depart from there with the large convoys to Egypt and Islamic lands in general; we know many examples of purchases and sales solely between members of the colonies. We cite among others a certain Fatima, whose name evidently betrays a Muslim origin: purchased in the first place by a Genoese named Nicoloso de Murta, she was given up by him to a priory of the church of St. [Laurent] of the Genoese and resold by the latter to a third Genoese at a price of 400 new Armenian dirhams; we have bills of sale of the same type as in Famagusta. Those who, during their journey in the colonies of the Levant had become accustomed to having foreign slaves at their disposal brought this practice back with them, by example, by encouraging others to introduce into their houses slaves purchased abroad as servants or wage laborers. There was, moreover, no law against this and the slave trained entailed no shame, provided that the merchant did not do business in Egypt. A Genoese law of 1441 makes this perfectly clear. It forbids captains of large armed galleys who went to look for merchandise in Byzantium or Syria from taking slaves on board, but for the reason that all free space had to be reserved for merchandise, and the law excepted boarded merchants bringing with them a slave for their own personal service. There were other ships for transporting slaves, and the law only applied to them insofar as measures intended to prevent a load jeopardizing the safety of [560] the cargo; thus, a vessel of one deck could not take more than 30 slaves on board, a vessel of two decks more than 45, and a vessel of three decks more than 60.
During this period, it was generally accepted that a Christian could, without scruple, treat as a slave any miscreant under his power; now it was precisely, at least for the most part, miscreants, that is, pagans or Muslims, who comprised the object of this commerce. The majority of foreign slaves brought to the Occident were originally from the Kipchak empire, situated in the south of Russia, and belonging either to the Tatar race, masters of the land, or to one of the tribes under their yoke, tribes generally designated by the same name; the Circassians and the Russians were by this time less numerous; then came the Turks and Saracens, a designation applied, no doubt, to Egyptians and Syrians, and finally, but in very small numbers, Bulgars, Slavs, and Greeks. These latter were the only , in the thinking of the period, of whom it could be doubted whether one had the right to sell as slaves, since they were Christians; but in practice they were not considered too closely. As for those who did not belong to the Christian religion, they generally converted soon after their arrival in the Occident and then would exchange their barbarian name for a Christian one; moreover, despite their conversion, their masters had no scruple against treating them as slaves and even resold them.
The very origin of the great majority of these slaves makes one suppose that the nations who had colonies in the Black Sea, like the Genoese and the Venetians, must also have been those who were the most particularly devoted [561] to trafficking in slaves. Hundreds and thousands effectively arrived in Genoa and Venice, whereas they were less numerous in Pisa, Florence, [Lucques], and Barcelona. In 1368, there were so many in Venice that that quarrelsome, undisciplined throng posed a true danger to the peace of the city; Tatars were not sent there individually, but sometimes in entire families. From the sea ports, the slaves were sometimes sent inland; thus one baker of Vigevano had a [tcherkesse] slave (1463) , just as Marco Polo had a Tatar slave in Venice. Merchants from Genoa and Caffa even sent slaves of both sexes into the heart of the German empire, and the emperor Frederick III gave them permission to put them up for sale.
One of the interesting aspects of the question under study is examining the proportion of slaves of both sexes in different countries; now, one finds in this regard a notable difference between Egypt and the Occident. In Egypt, despite a considerable enough demand for female slaves for the harems, male slaves were the more sought after, because the comprised the main contingent for army recruitment; in the Occident, on the other hand, girls were preferred, and for divers reasons: given to a more mild character, they adapted better to communal life, and they were more apt than men for the domestic service demanded of them; they learned [562] manual labor with greater facility and, finally, they were for the most part meant to satisfy the pleasures of their masters. Which was the more desired?-men, slaves in Egypt, or women, slaves in Italy?-it is difficult to say. The former endured brutalities as long as they remained in the inferior ranks, but they could achieve high positions in the army, sometimes even mounting the sultans' throne; the latter were treated more softly; often, their masters freed them, while living or via a last will and testament, but they always remained of mediocre status among the general population.
Youth and good health were the two most important qualities; if the subject was also beautiful, her value naturally increased. Mr. Cibrario has summarized the slave markets of which the greatest number took place in Genoa and Venice; he has assembled 53 of them for the thirteenth century, 29 for the fourteenth and 28 for the fifteenth centuries; he has asserted that prices increased progressively from one century to the next; thus, in the thirteenth century, prices varied between 200 and 300 lira; in the following century, instances of deals completed at less than 500 lira are rare; the highest price reached about 400 lira; in the fifteenth century, the going price surpassed 800 lira; there was even, in Venice, in 1429, a young Russian woman who fetched a price of 87 ducats, or 2093 lira. In Tuscany, Mr. Bongi finds that prices varied between 50 and 75 gold crowns; the two highest fetched 85 and 32 gold crowns, and they were also paid for Russian slaves.
The most lively period of the slave trade in Genoa and Venice corresponds to the most prosperous period of Caffa and Tana. But, in 1395, Tamerlane struck a blow against the colony of Tana from which it never recovered; then Constantinople fell to [Mahomet II]; finally, this sultan prohibited Venetians, throughout his entire empire's expanse, from transporting Muslim slaves; he only authorized passage for Christian slaves; this was as far as this distressed branch of business reached; in 1459, the Venetian senate heard loud complaints of the increasing rarity of slaves. [563] However, Felix Fabri estimates that there were still in Venice, at the end of the fifteenth century, around 3000 slaves originally from north Africa and Tatar lands; he only makes mention of the Slavs, without indicating a figure."