3 Making slaves
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Janel M. Fontaine
Abstract
This chapter outlines the social and legal processes by which free people could become chattel slaves, with special attention to the potential for elasticity that could respond to fluctuation in demand for slaves. It examines the mechanisms that allowed for enslaving people from within a society, such as penal slavery and the direct sale of free people into slavery, and external mechanisms, such as captive taking in warfare and opportunistic kidnapping. Captive taking was the most flexible enslavement process, meaning that it could respond quickly to changes in demand by targeting specific numbers and types of people – options not always open to opportunistic kidnappers. A final section of the chapter looks at the targets of this process to understand who became slaves. Annals and chronicles indicate that victims were typically women and children of lower status, as high-status individuals more often had the resources and social networks necessary for ransom. The overall picture of enslavement provided by this chapter, therefore, is one in which insiders and outsiders alike contributed to the pool of tradeable slaves, and that, although captive taking normally targeted certain people, anyone was at risk of becoming a slave in this manner.
Abstract
This chapter outlines the social and legal processes by which free people could become chattel slaves, with special attention to the potential for elasticity that could respond to fluctuation in demand for slaves. It examines the mechanisms that allowed for enslaving people from within a society, such as penal slavery and the direct sale of free people into slavery, and external mechanisms, such as captive taking in warfare and opportunistic kidnapping. Captive taking was the most flexible enslavement process, meaning that it could respond quickly to changes in demand by targeting specific numbers and types of people – options not always open to opportunistic kidnappers. A final section of the chapter looks at the targets of this process to understand who became slaves. Annals and chronicles indicate that victims were typically women and children of lower status, as high-status individuals more often had the resources and social networks necessary for ransom. The overall picture of enslavement provided by this chapter, therefore, is one in which insiders and outsiders alike contributed to the pool of tradeable slaves, and that, although captive taking normally targeted certain people, anyone was at risk of becoming a slave in this manner.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- Acknowledgements vi
- List of abbreviations vii
- Maps ix
- Introduction 1
- I The economics of slave trading 17
- 1 Slavery within the slaving zones 19
- 2 External demand 46
- 3 Making slaves 75
- II Logistics and strategies of slaving 103
- 4 Warfare and enslavement 105
- 5 Small-scale slave trading 143
- 6 High-demand systems 165
- 7 Slaving and power 201
- Epilogue 230
- Bibliography 243
- Index 273
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- Acknowledgements vi
- List of abbreviations vii
- Maps ix
- Introduction 1
- I The economics of slave trading 17
- 1 Slavery within the slaving zones 19
- 2 External demand 46
- 3 Making slaves 75
- II Logistics and strategies of slaving 103
- 4 Warfare and enslavement 105
- 5 Small-scale slave trading 143
- 6 High-demand systems 165
- 7 Slaving and power 201
- Epilogue 230
- Bibliography 243
- Index 273
