Slavery in Early Mediaeval England from the Reign of Alfred until the Twelfth Century

Slaves were part of the fabric of English society throughout the Anglo-Saxon era and the twelfth century, but as the base of the social pyramid, English slaves have left no known written records. However, there are extensive references to them throughout the documents and writings of the period. This important study seeks to assemble the evidence, drawn from a variety of sources in Old English and Latin, to convey a picture of slaves and slavery in England, viewed against the background of English society as a whole. From this detailed examination a composite picture emerges, showing who the slaves were and how they came to be enslaved; their rights and obligations; how they were freed and the nature of such freedom; how the institution changed; and how it related to the appearance of serfdom, which came to characterise post-Conquest English rural society. The study concludes with an extensive appendix on the vernacular terminology of slavery, revealing that the concepts of enslavement were embedded in the religious imagery of the period.DAVID PELTERET is Senior Research Fellow, Dept of History, King's College, London.