‘It is Unjust for the Law of Marriage to be Broken by the Law of Slavery’: Married Slaves and their Masters in Early Colonial Lima

Abstract

This article examines the conflicts between married slaves and their masters in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Lima. An investigation of ecclesiastical court cases shows the role that slave marriage played in limiting masters’ authority by preventing sales and forced migration of married slaves. By citing the Church's insistence on marital cohabitation, slaves had success impeding their masters’ agendas. The sacrament of marriage, however, did not guarantee absolute slave autonomy. Instead, masters could also use the courts, as well as their finances, to subvert the Church's protection of slave marriage. In the end, this article demonstrates how the ecclesiastical tribunal served as a place for meaningful redress for slaves, while still providing masters with ways to maintain control over the enslaved population.