One of the defining features of slavery, according to Orlando Patterson, was the use of power and coercive force by masters against slaves.[1] In legal terms in medieval Genoa, the master’s right to exert power and coercion was expressed in terms of complete ownership of the body and labor of the slave. This differed from the relationship between masters and free servants. Although free servants owed their masters certain types of labor, this labor was governed by terms set out in a witnessed contract which placed obligations on the master as well as the servant. The exact terms varied from contract to contract: some servants were paid a salary; some worked in return for food, lodging, and clothing; some worked in order to learn a skill. Additionally, although free servants owed certain types of labor to their masters, their masters did not own their bodies. Sexual abuse of free servants by their masters did occur and the difference in their social status did make it difficult to prosecute. However, free servants, unlike slaves, had the legal standing to resist sexual exploitation if they chose to do so, sometimes explicitly stating in their contracts that they would only do honorable or suitable work.[2] Finally, the contracts of free servants specified an end date for the master-servant relationship, whereas slavery was a perpetual relationship from which the slave had no legal means of exit.

[1] Orlando Patterson, Slavery and Social Death: A Comparative Study (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1982), 13 and 17-34.

[2] Christiane Klapisch-Zuber, “Women Servants in Florence during the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries,” in Women and Work in Preindustrial Europe, ed. Barbara Hanawalt (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1986), 56-80.

Document 1: Obertino promises to serve Amico de Serra

Translated from the Latin by Hannah Barker. H.C. Krueger and R.L. Reynolds, Lanfranco (1202-1226) (Genoa: Società ligure di storia patria, 1951-1952), 96, doc. 209. This translation CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

I, Obertino, son of the late Folcone Bubulco, promise you, Amico de Serra, to stay with you for ten years and to save and protect you and yours and what will have been deposited with you in good faith without fraud, and to serve you and your wife and family suitably in that which I can until the said limit. Otherwise I pledge a penalty of one hundred soldi with a guarantee to you, and thence all my goods, etc. Which I swear, having touched the gospels, to observe and not contravene everything, except so much as will stand by God’s judgement or your word. And I, Amico, promise you, Obertino, that I will keep you with me until the said limit and give you food and clothing suitably. I will not inflict trouble or unbearable oppression on you. Otherwise I pledge a penalty of one hundred soldi with a guarantee to you, and thence obligated all my goods, etc. Witnesses Buongiovanni de Campo, notary, and Guidobuono, notary. Done in the same place and day [in the house of the late Lanfranco Rossi, April 1, 1203], between Nones and Vespers.

Document 2: Enrichetto is apprenticed to serve Alberto the blacksmith

Translated from the Latin by Hannah Barker. H.C. Krueger and R.L. Reynolds, Lanfranco (1202-1226) (Genoa: Società ligure di storia patria, 1951-1952), 113, doc. 248. This translation CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

I, Guglielmus de Cabella, promise you, Alberto the blacksmith, that I will make it thus, that Enrichetto, son of the late Simon, blacksmith, will stay with you for seven years from now and serve you in your mystery[1] and in all other things that can be done suitably inside and outside the house, and he will save and protect you and yours and what will have been deposited with you in good faith without fraud. Otherwise I pledge a penalty of one hundred soldi with a guarantee to you, and in addition to restore anything stolen fraudulently from you. And thence I obligate all my goods held and holding to be pledged to you, etc. Which all I, Enrichetto, for my part swear to observe and not contravene, except so much as will stand by God’s judgement or your word or your certain messenger. And I, the abovementioned Albert, promise to you, the abovementioned Guillielmus, that I will keep the abovementioned Enrichetto with me until the said limit, I will give him food and clothing suitably, and I will teach him my mystery faithfully. I will not inflict trouble or unbearable oppression on him. At the end of the abovementioned term, indeed, I promise to give him a set of tongs, a hammer, and a club.[2] [Marginal note: He ought to give this by the will of the commune.] If I act against [this contract], I pledge a penalty of one hundred soldi with a guarantee to you, and thence all my goods, etc. Witnesses Gerardo Petro, Gerardo Marchisio, and Opizo de Deselega. Done in Genoa, in the house of the late Lanfranco Rossi, April 21 [1203], before Terce.

[1] In other words, in the trade of blacksmithing. The purpose of the apprenticeship was for Enrichetto to learn the secrets of the trade.

[2] In Latin, these tools are tenaces unas, martellum unum et maciam unam.

Document 3: Giacobina promises to serve Lanzarotto de Oliva

Translated from the Latin by Hannah Barker. Luigi Tria, “La schiavitù in Liguria (ricerche e documenti),” Atti della società ligure di storia patria 70 (1947): 142, doc. 7. This translation CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

April 13, 1308. In the name of God, amen. I, Giacobina, daughter of the late Calo Ianes of Constantinople, promise and agree to stay with you, Lanzarotto de Oliva son of Pascale de Oliva, and with your wife for the next seven years, and to do every service for you inside and outside the house and to go for water and to the oven[1] and to the ditch and all other possible services that you or your wife instruct me, and not to leave you, and to save and protect you and yours in good faith and without fraud.  Otherwise I promise to give you one hundred soldi of Genoa as a penalty, and thence I obligate all my goods held and holding to be pledged to you, with the abovementioned continuing to be established, swearing to attend and observe and not contravene the above in anything, confessing myself older than fifteen years, doing the aforementioned with the advice of the witnesses written below, whom I name as my relatives and advisors.[2] Conversely I, the said Lanzarotto, promise and agree with you, Giacobina, to keep you with me and with my wife in the house and to have you taught and to furnish you food and clothing and shoes suitably, and lodging, and not to do you injury, healthy and sick, if you are present, and not to do you injury.[3] Otherwise I promise to give you one hundred soldi of Genoa as a penalty, and thence I obligate all my goods held and holding to be pledged to you, with the abovementioned continuing to be established. [Followed by the date, location, and witnesses]

[1] Bread was baked in communal ovens to reduce the risk of fire.

[2] Women were not allowed to undertake legal acts without the advice of two male relatives.

[3] This clause appears twice in the contract, probably a mistake by the notary.

Document 4: Raimondo sells Fatima as a slave

Translated from the Latin by Hannah Barker. Published in Guglielmo Cassinese (1190-1192), ed. Margaret Hall, Hilmar Krueger, and Robert Reynolds (Genoa: R. deputazione di storia patria per la Liguria, 1938), 2:66, doc. 1280. This translation CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

For Alda, wife of Oberto Guarton.

Raimondo Balbo sells to Alda, wife of Oberto Guarton, one Saracen woman, Fatima by name, as a slave [ancilla] neither stolen nor snatched away, for a price of seventy soldi, and he proclaims himself satisfied. And he confesses that he handed over possession with mastery [possessionem cum dominio] to him, so that he shall do concerning the rest whatever he may wish in his own right. He promises to defend and confirm [the sale] from every person, under penalty of double. Witnesses Oberto de Fossato the smith, Zacharias de Castello, Guglielmus de Dataro. Under the vault of the bakers, the same day [October 26, 1191].

Discussion Questions

  1. Compare the kinds of labor and service expected from free servants and from slaves. In what ways are they similar? In what ways are they different?
  2. In each of these documents, what obligations does the master have to the person serving him? What obligations does the servant or slave have to the master?
  3. Which clauses in the free servants’ contracts protect them from abuse or exploitation by the master? Are there similar clauses in the sale contract for the slave? Why or why not?
  4. Does the gender of the person serving seem to affect the terms of their contract? Why or why not?

Related Primary Sources

Related Secondary Sources

  • Klapisch-Zuber, Christiane. “Women Servants in Florence during the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries.” In Women and Work in Preindustrial Europe, ed. Barbara Hanawalt, 56-80. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1986.
  • Ruggiero, Guido. The Boundaries of Eros: Sex Crime and Sexuality in Renaissance Venice. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985.

Themes

Agency, Labor, Law, Property, Social Death