That Most Precious Merchandise
THE MIDDLE AGES SERIES
Ruth Mazo Karras, Series Editor
Edward Peters, Founding Editor
A complete list of books in the series is available from the publisher.
THAT MOST PRECIOUS MERCHANDISE
The Mediterranean Trade in Black Sea Slaves, 1260–1500
Hannah Barker
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA PRESS
PHILADELPHIA
Copyright © 2019 University of Pennsylvania Press
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations used for purposes of review or scholarly citation, none of this book may be reproduced in any form by any means without written permission from the publisher.
Published by
University of Pennsylvania Press
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-4112
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Barker, Hannah, author.
Title: That most precious merchandise: the Mediterranean trade in Black Sea slaves, 1260–1500 / Hannah Barker.
Other titles: Middle Ages series.
Description: 1st edition. | Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, [2019] | Series: The Middle Ages series | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019006688 | ISBN 9780812251548 (hardcover)
Subjects: LCSH: Slave trade—Mediterranean Region—History—To 1500. | Slavery—Mediterranean Region—History—To 1500.
Classification: LCC HT983.B37 2019 | DDC 306.3/6209822—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019006688
Contents
Chapter 1. Slavery in the Late Medieval Mediterranean
Chapter 2. Difference and the Perception of Slave Status
Chapter 3. Societies with Slaves: Genoa, Venice, and the Mamluk Sultanate
Chapter 4. The Slave Market and the Act of Sale
Chapter 5. Making Slaves in the Black Sea
Chapter 6. Constraining Disorder: Merchants, States, and the Structure of the Slave Trade
Chapter 7. Crusade, Embargo, and the Trade in Mamluk Slaves
Map 1. The Black Sea. Map created by Hannah Barker using data from naturalearthdata.com.
Map 2. Slave Trade Routes. Map created by Hannah Barker using a template from Daniel Dalet (d-maps.com).
Introduction
On September 19, 1363, a ten-year-old Tatar boy named Jaqmaq was sold as a slave in the Black Sea port of Tana. His first owner had probably been a Christian, as he had already been baptized with the name Antonio. His second owner was a local Muslim named Aqbughā, the son of Shams al-Dīn. Aqbughā sold Jaqmaq/Antonio to his third owner, Niccolò Baxeio of the parish of St. Patermanus in Venice, for 400 aspers. Niccolò also bought a fifteen-year-old Tatar girl from Aqbughā and a twelve-year-old Tatar boy from another local man. All three children were to be delivered to different people in Venice. Jaqmaq/Antonio was destined for Gabriel Teuri of the parish of St. Severus, who would be his fourth owner.
About twenty years later, another boy named Jaqmaq, this time a Circassian, was also sold as a slave in the Black Sea. He was purchased by a merchant named Kazlak, who brought him to Egypt. There Kazlak sold him to a military commander, the amir ‘Alī ibn Ināl, who trained him as a mamluk, a military slave. Once his education was complete, Jaqmaq accompanied ‘Alī’s mother on a pilgrimage to Mecca. Upon his return, he discovered that his older brother was also serving as a mamluk in another household, that of the sultan of Egypt. When the sultan found out, he took Jaqmaq away from ‘Alī ibn Ināl and added him to the royal household, reuniting the brothers. After some additional training, the sultan freed Jaqmaq and made him a page at court. Over the course of several decades, Jaqmaq rose through the ranks in the court and army. In 1438, he himself became sultan and enjoyed a long reign until 1453. During that period, he purchased thousands of slaves to staf his household and serve as mamluks in his army. His successor, al-Manṣūr ‘Uthmān, was his son by a Turkish slave woman named Zahrā’.
The life of the first Jaqmaq, the Tatar boy sold to Venetians, is documented only through a single entry in the register of the notary who drew up the contract for his sale.1 As a result, we know a great deal about the circumstances under which he was sold but nothing about what happened to him before or afterward. The life of the second Jaqmaq, the Circassian boy sold to Egyptians, is documented in numerous chronicles, biographical dictionaries, and other narrative sources.2 There are coins minted in his name, and the school (madrasa) that he endowed still stands in Cairo today. Yet these sources reveal more about his political career than his early life as a slave. What binds the two Jaqmaqs together, despite their radically different fates in both life and the historical record, is their involuntary participation in the Mediterranean trade in Black Sea slaves.
The history of the Black Sea as a source of Mediterranean slaves