A slave prevents a young child from running in front of the judge who is interrogating St. Lucy.
A slave prevents a young child from running in front of the judge who is interrogating St. Lucy. Detail from Lorenzo Lotto, Pala di Santa Lucia (1532), Pinacoteca Civica, Jesi.

The following pages, organized chronologically, present medieval sources (some available on this website, others available through different websites or in print) along with selected bibliographies of recent scholarship that give context for the history of slavery and captivity century by century within the medieval period, broadly interpreted.