The
Christian Church of the time was well-aware of the evils of the
Mohammedan slave trade, but throughout the Middle Ages the slave trade
was a recognized institution, and it did denounce certain forms of the
slave traffic, prohibited Jews from dealing in Christian slaves and
condemned the sale of Christians to Moslems. Charlemagne wrote Pope
Hadrian that Rome merchants were reportedly selling slaves to the
“unspeakable Saracens,” to which Hadrian replied: “Never have we fallen
into such wickedness, nor has any such deed been done with our
permission.”
Bernhard Thuersam, Chairman
North Carolina War Between the States Sesquicentennial Commission
"The Official Website of the North Carolina WBTS Sesquicentennial"
Mediterranean Slave Cargoes and Markets:
“The
Moslem was not at first adapted to the life of the sea, but when he had
learned the art of navigation, piracy became a most profitable method
of supplying the slave market. Piracy was more profitable because of
the rich returns to be derived from payment of ransoms and the
Mediterranean sea remained unsafe for Christian travel long after the
forces of civilization had put an end to the slave trade on the European
continent.
In
the Ninth Century the Saracens were quick to take advantage of the
helpless condition of Italy. Grave fears were felt for the city of
Rome. At this time Pope John VIII wrote to Charles the Bald, “If all
the trees of the forest became tongues, they could not describe the
ravages of the impious pagans; the devoted people of God are destroyed
by continuous slaughter; he who escapes fore and sword is taken into
slavery. Cities, castles, and villages are wasted and without a single
soul; bishops wander and get their bread as beggars, and flee to Rome as
the only place of refuge.”
It
is interesting to note, that the Moslems were not the only people
engaged in the Mohammedan slave trade, but its profits went alike to
Christian, Jew and Moslem. The Jews are said to have amassed great
wealth as a result of the trade. This was especially true of the Spanish
Jews in the time of the Moorish occupation. The Moors were far more
tolerant of Jews than the Spanish Christians had been, and the rich
Spanish Jews are said to have vied with the richest Moors in
extravagance and ostentation. Much of their wealth came from this form
of trade.
Great
profits were made in Slav captives. The name Slav was at first
synonymous with slave and was applied to others than the present Slavs.
The
large profits early attracted the merchants of Italy [and the]….traffic
flourished in the Eighth Century. One of the letters of Charlemagne
inquires into the rumor that had reached him, that at Rome Christians
were being sold to the Infidel. Moslem pirates sold slaves to the
Christians and the Christians sold slaves to the Moslem.
Public
slave auctions were held in Venice, Verona, Genoa, and Pisa. Tartars,
Russians, Bosnians, Slavs, Greeks, and Teutons, came into these
markets. Here slaves of Africa and Asia were imported into Europe and
other slaves went on to the Barbary and Egyptian markets.
Henry
Hallam says, “It is a humiliating proof of the degradation of
[Christendom], that the Venetians were reduced to purchase the luxuries
of Asia by supplying the slave markets of the Saracens; the apology
would perhaps have been, that they were purchased from their heathen
neighbors, but a slave dealer was not very inquisitive as to the faith
or origin of his victim.”
Pope
John XXIII accused the Genoese before the face of the world, of
contributing to the power of the infidel through furnishing them
slaves. By the 13th century a very lucrative trade in slaves
had been built up by the merchants of Genoa. These slaves were brought
from the Black Sea region to Egypt. Beybars, the caliph of Egypt, had
established an alliance with Beraka, the Khan of the…Mongols….who
pastured in the valley of the Volga. The wars and the raid of the Khan
helped to fill the market of Caffa. The Genoese used shrewd business
methods to obtain…the right to bring the slave ships through the
Bosporus. These ships often carried many Christian captives to Egypt.
The
experience of the captive on his journey must have been horrible, for
it is estimated that only one in ten ever reached Caffa and the horror
of the sea voyage, via Constantinople became so apparent, that Genoa had
to enact strict sanitary laws for control of the ships.”
(The
Mohammedan Slave Trade, J.H. Johnson, Journal of Negro History, Vol.
XIII, No. 2, April, 1928, Carter G. Woodson, editor, excerpt, pg. 482-
485)
