This is one of several dozen contracts for the sale of slaves recorded by Victor Pomino, a Venetian notary, during the 1430s. Most notaries’ registers contain heavily abbreviated versions of the legal acts that they drew up, but Pomino often recorded the full version with all the boilerplate clauses. This is a fairly typical example of a Venetian slave sale contract. The warranty against falling sickness (a generic term for any condition characterized by sudden collapse, including but not limited to epilepsy) was common in slave sale contracts drawn up in Venice but unusual in other places.

Translated from the Latin by Hannah Barker. Venice, Archivio di Stato di Venezia (ASVe), Cancellaria inferiore, Notai, b.149, protocollo 1434, fol. 1r. This translation CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

In the name of Christ, amen. In the year 1434 from his nativity, indiction 12,[1] on the third day of February, on the Rialto, at the station of me, the notary written below, with the distinguished men Sir Henrico Pauli de Sileriis and Sir Marino de Cresana de Iadra present, called and requested as witnesses to this. And there the provident man Sir Ludovicus Petri, haberdasher from the parish of St. Salvatoris, freely and with a considered spirit for himself and his heirs gave, sold in his own right and handed over under the chain of servitude (sub vinculo servitutis) to the provident man Sir Benedicto Trivisano, son of the late Sir Antonio, inhabitant of Padua, present for himself and his heirs, buying and receiving, one female slave (sclavam) of Sir Ludovicus himself, of the race (genere) of the Circassians, 14 years of age or so, called by her own name Lucia, healthy in mind and body and in all of her members both hidden and manifest, free from falling sickness according to the custom of the country and city of Venice, with every right, action, use, and requisition pertaining to her, from, or on account of her in any way. And this for the price and by name of price 58 ducats of gold of good and just weight of the city of Venice, which 58 ducats the seller confesses himself content that he has had and received from the said buyer for the price and in name of the price of the said slave, having renounced the exception of not counting the money, not having had, and not having received the price, and all other exceptions. And the said seller making an end, quit-claim, freedom, absolution, and peace for the said buyer and his heirs from all the said price and its occasion, with a special agreement not to seek concerning the last, [the seller] gives and confers to him full right and possesion for use over that slave for having, holding, possessing, giving, donating, selling, alienating, and doing his whole will as concerning his own property without a condition of the seller or his heirs, the seller promising for himself and his heirs to the said buyer present for himself and his heirs, stipulating that he would legitimately defend, guarantee, and disengage the said slave for [the buyer] and his heirs from any person, commune, office, society, guild,[2] in or out of court, under an obligation of all his goods, present and future. 

[1] A reference to the old Roman tax cycle.

[2] The term used here, universitas, could refer to the guild of students and teachers which we now call a university as well as to other types of guilds.

Discussion Questions

  1. Reread this contract carefully. What is the function of each clause? Under what circumstances might each clause become a matter of dispute? What kinds of claims or lawsuits is each clause intended to prevent? Can you find any loopholes?
  2. Which clauses do you think are unique to the sale of slaves? Which clauses would you expect to see in sale contracts for other kinds of commodities?
  3. What else do you want to know about this transaction that is not explained in the contract? How might you find out?
  4. Compare this document with another slave sale contract. Which clauses perform a similar function? Which clauses are different and why?

Related Primary Sources

Themes

Children, Law, Property, Trade