Survie et extinction du régime esclavagiste dans l'Occident du haut moyen âge (IVe-XIe s.)

Abstract

Slavery survived the fall of the Roman Empire. Assimilated to livestock, slaves remained numerous in Europe from the VIth to the VlIIth centuries. Canon Law justified slavery which was meticulously regulated by the "Barbarous Laws". Its late extinction was the result of various factors which were partly religious and technical but mainly economic and social, and only came about at the end of a series of evermore serious crisises which extended from the middle of the IIIrd to the beginning of the XIth century.