Slavery in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries was not based solely on race or practiced only in the Americas. Faith slaves, both Christian and Muslim, were everywhere in the Mediterranean, held in bondage by the thousands in places as diverse as Algiers, Tunis, Constantinople, Seville, Malta, and Naples.
Holy War and Human Bondage: Tales of Christian-Muslim Slavery in the Early-Modern Mediterranean tells a story unfamiliar to most modern readers—how this pervasive servitude involved, connected, and divided those on both sides of the Mediterranean. The work explores how men and women, Christians and Muslims, Jews and sub-Saharan Africans experienced their capture and bondage, while comparing what they went through with what black Africans endured in the Americas.
Drawing heavily on archival sources not previously available in English, Holy War and Human Bondage teems with personal and highly felt stories of Muslims and Christians who personally fell into captivity and slavery, or who struggled to free relatives and co-religionists in bondage.
In these pages, readers will discover how much race slavery and faith slavery once resembled one other and how much they overlapped in the Early-Modern mind. Each produced its share of personal suffering and social devastation—yet the whims of history have made the one virtually synonymous with human bondage while confining the other to almost complete oblivion.
Highlights
• Compares and contrasts faith-based and race-based slavery during the Early-Modern Era
• Offers extended discussions of the extent, nature, and practice of faith slavery
• Illustrated with personal stories and case studies of Muslims and Christians who fell into captivity, worked at freeing their fellow captors, or merely came to observe
• Features extensive use of primary source material (biographies, letters, etc.), including material drawn from archival sources, not before available in English
Robert C. Davis is professor of Italian Renaissance and Early-Modern Mediterranean history at Ohio State University, Columbus, OH. He is the author of six books, including Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters: White Slavery in the Mediterranean, the Barbary Coast, and Italy, 1500-1800. He was an advisor and presenter for the Discovery Channel documentary "The Lost Ship of Venice" (2005) and for the BBC documentary "White Slaves and Pirate Gold" (2003).
Reviews
"This book challenges scholars to incorporate Mediterranean slavery into their analyses, and solidifies Davis's status as the most important English-language scholar working on Mediterranean slavery."—American Historical Review
"Rather than offering an account and explanation of the phenomenon in all its temporal and geographical scope, [Davis]presents 15 narratives that reveal the actual experience of slavery from various perspectives."—Reference & Research Book News
