Greek Captives and Mediterranean Slavery, 1260–1460

Alasdair C. Grant investigates the enslavement and captivity of Greeks across the eastern Mediterranean between 1260 and 1460, a period in which Byzantine political power contracted while warfare, piracy and commercial networks repeatedly exposed populations to forced movement. Greek captives are followed through markets, ransom systems and the societies into which they were absorbed.

The study draws on archival evidence for approximately 2,400 captives and enslaved people, as well as Greek letters in which clergy sought money to free prisoners. Their stories lead from the Aegean and Asia Minor towards Egypt, Cyprus and Catalonia, crossing Christian and Muslim jurisdictions. Captivity emerges not as an episode at the edge of Byzantine history, but as a shared and devastating feature of Mediterranean life.