Jarbel Rodriguez.Captives and Their Saviors in the Medieval Crown of Aragon.:Captives and Their Saviors in the Medieval Crown of Aragon

Abstract

Captivity was a very real danger in the medieval Mediterranean world, especially in eastern Spain, along the frontier zone between Muslim Granada and the Christian Crown of Aragon, in the period from the thirteenth through the fifteenth century. As its title indicates, Jarbel Rodriguez's study examines both the experiences of Christian captives in Muslim lands and the efforts of their families and others to save them from their captivity. Through this dual focus, Rodriguez seeks to place “captives in their proper context within Aragonese society at the center of a complex web of social, economic, religious, and diplomatic networks” (p. xx). The book is divided into two sections, each composed of three chapters. The first concentrates on the captives themselves, looking at how they became captives (chapter one, “Raiding and Piracy”), and their experiences while living in Muslim lands (covered both in chapter two, “Life in Captivity,” and chapter three, “Captives and Renegades”). The second half of the book examines the saviors back home in the Crown of Aragon, who worked to ransom their captive relatives and coreligionists. Chapters four and five investigate different spheres of the liberation effort, first at the level of the family and second at the level of the state and other organizations, such as the religious-military orders dedicated to ransoming captives. The final chapter, chapter six, looks at the financial aspects of ransoming captives. The volume concludes with an epilogue considering what happened to captives after their redemption and return to Aragonese society. Throughout, Rodriguez draws on a wide range of sources, including a large number of unpublished royal and notarial documents from the Barcelona archives.