Muslim Freedmen in León, Castile and Portugal (1100–1300)1

Abstract

This article examines the social status of manumitted Muslim slaves in the Christian kingdoms of León, Castile and Portugal between 1100 and 1300. Modern historians had largely overlooked this social group of which very little is known. Using both law codes and other surviving Latin and Arabic documents from the period, the author examines the process of manumission. Emancipation did not mean complete freedom. A freedman emancipated conditionally could continue to be bound to serve his owner, depending on the particular terms of the contract. Furthermore, according to the legal codes, even if a freedman or freedwoman was manumitted unconditionally by his or her owner, they would continue to suffer legal disabilities due to their previous condition. The end result was that freedmen formed an intermediate social and legal category, no longer servile but neither completely free. 1I am very grateful to Dr. A. Bennison of the University of Cambridge for her invaluable assistance with certain Arabic documents and for agreeing to read a draft of this article. All errors and omissions are of course my own.