La schiavitù mediterranea tra medioevo ed età moderna. Una proposta bibliografica

Un ausilio bibliografico composto da un centinaio di titoli di libri, articoli, saggi per avviare allo studio del fenomeno studenti e giovani ricercatori di storia. Indice: Introduzione, Un Mediterraneo frammentato e interconnesso; Fonti; Schiavitù pan-mediterranea; Prigionieri, schiavi, galeotti; Corsari e pirati; Le Reggenze barbaresche; Lingua franca; Il declino della corsa (la strada degli accordi diplomatici); Schiavi di musulmani e di ebrei; Santi e confraternite neri; Lunghe diacronie, ampi contesti; Osservazione ravvicinata sulla penisola iberica; Il riscatto: il commercio dei captivi; Lettere dalla schiavitù e récits d'esclavage; Abiure e conversioni: i rinnegati

Redimir y rescatar en el Mediterráneo moderno

The ransom is the price paid to free a person who has fallen into enemy hands as a prisoner (captivus) and reduced to slavery. The fixing and payment of this price are parts of a long process —redemption— that involves various subjects (both individuals and institutions) who often have different religious affiliations. Ransom is connected with privateering, a military, commercial and financial phenomenon that entails the continuous exchange of men, commodities and money. By comparison with the religious orders and secular and religious institutions specialised in ransom, it is more difficult to identify and quantify the innumerable private initiatives, whether informal or institutionalized, on the part of individuals or a group, starting with those of the captives’ relatives: all those categories of redeemers whose traces have to be sought in banal activities —buying, selling, undertaking an activity for gain, taking a risk, planning a business deal, grasping an opportunity— and do not therefore appear in institutional sources.It is an established but untenable commonplace to suppose that Muslims did not ransom their fellow believers who fell into Christian hands, but limited themselves to occasional exchanges. In as much as the Muslim world did not have organizations equivalent to those of Catholic Europe, the intensive commercial relations of a group of Moorish merchants between Palermo and Tunisi help us to understand the pervasiveness of the activity of ransom, the interconnection between commercial exchanges and redemption, and the shared profits obtained by commercial agents of different religions. More generally, they help us to reflect on the contact between neighboring or adjacent societies, even though frequently in conflict with one another

Soundless Screams: Graffiti and Drawings in the Prisons of the Holy Office in Palermo

The discovery of graffiti in the early years of the twentieth century by the folklorist Giuseppe Pitre left by prisoners of the tribunal of the Spanish Inquisition in Palermo has been followed by more extensive investigations in recent years. These images and words have added a concrete and particular dimension to Sicily's position at the crossroads of the Mediterranean. As well as images of saints and naval battles are to be found inscriptions not only in Italian, Sicilian and Latin but also in English and Hebrew. This article cross references this visual and textual evidence with the relevant archives of the tribunal in order to provide a powerful microhistory of suffering and resilience in this most inhospitable of environments. The result adds a new dimension to our understanding of the prison's organization, judicial proceedings and the impact of the inquisition on the lives and consciences of those people from all over Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, who found themselves unwilling denizens of what must have been perhaps the most international community of prisoners in the early modern Christian world

Illud quod est caput omnium: l'espulsione dei moriscos e la canonizzazione di Juan de Ribera

Ripercorrendo le tappe settecentesche del processo di canonizzazione di Juan de Ribera, un Memoriale anonimo destinato al papa e il più consistente materiale preparatorio, rintracciati entrambi presso l’Archivio del Collegio del Corpus Christi di Valencia, consento- no di vedere all’opera il Santo Uffizio romano. Interpellato sulla causa, esso produce una se- rie di obiezioni stringenti contro l’espulsione dei moriscos, soprattutto dei bambini, contro l’atteggiamento e l’operato dell’arcivescovo, la mancata consultazione della Sede apostolica e la convocazione di sinodi provinciali. Queste critiche, per quanto tocchino questioni nevralgiche e controverse, a cui i difensori della causa di Ribera danno risposte talvolta discutibili, talaltra evasive, rallentano ma non arrestano la causa. Essa sarà decisa d’imperio dal pontefice che, nel 1796, lo dichiarerà beato.As the campaign for the canonization of Juan de Ribera unfolded in the eighteenth century, an anonymous author wrote a forcefully argued summary intended for the pope. The petition, housed in the archive of the Colegio de Corpus Christi, Valencia, sheds light upon the internal workings of the Holy Office in Rome. This critique of the canonization effort raised a series of powerful objections, to Ribera’s ideas and programs as archbishop; and to his failure to consult the papacy or convene a provincial synod. These controversial criticisms struck a nerve with Ribera’s defenders, who offered debatable or evasive responses. Ultimately these objections slowed down but did not stop the campaign on Ribera’s behalf, as in 1796 the papacy declared his beatification

Rinnegati: le imbricazioni delle relazioni mediterranee.

Dal medioevo ai primi decenni del XIX secolo schiavitù, guerra da corsa e commercio dei cattivi s’intrecciano in maniera peculiare nella storia dei paesi che si affacciano sulle sponde del Mediterraneo; in età moderna la schiavitù assume caratteristiche peculiari: la reciprocità (europei cristiani catturano e riducono in schiavitù nordafricani e “turchi” musulmani e viceversa); la temporaneità (i captivi possono essere riscattati o scambiati e, dopo un certo tempo, ritornare in patria); la reiteratività (si può cadere più di una volta in cattività, soprattutto se per mestiere si va per mare); la creazione di una rete finanziaria a maglie strette di mercanti, redentori, negoziatori, interessati a speculare sul riscatto oltre che a liberare amici e familiari. Gli strumenti di manomissione e di integrazione nel nuovo contesto passano attraverso l’abiura della rispettiva religione e l’adesione a quella del paese ospitante. Anche l’aspetto dell’abiura e della conversione conserva una forte reciprocità: schiavi cristiani si convertono all’islam e schiavi musulmani al cattolicesimo, per quanto il primo fenomeno sia finora meglio documentato del secondo. I rinnegati sono personaggi molto noti della storia del Mediterraneo moderno e i più adatti a farci approfondire la conoscenza e la qualità delle relazioni sociali “trans mediterranee”. Lontana dai personaggi più importanti e noti concentro la mia attenzione su “rinnegati qualunque”, cercando di comprendere le ragioni della abiura e il senso del fenomeno nel suo complesso. La documentazione consente di sfidare il concetto di confine, che più che una frontiera che separa, si configura come luogo elastico, aperto alle reciproche influenze, uno spazio mobile che fa da contesto a individui di molteplici appartenenze e quello di identità, concetto “avvelenato” che opera strumentalmente la riduzione ad unum di questa complessità

La schiavit\uf9 mediterranea tra medioevo e et\ue0 moderna. Una proposta bibliografica

Un ausilio bibliografico composto da un centinaio di titoli di libri, articoli, saggi per avviare allo studio del fenomeno studenti e giovani ricercatori di storia. Indice: Introduzione, Un Mediterraneo frammentato e interconnesso; Fonti; Schiavit\uf9 pan-mediterranea; Prigionieri, schiavi, galeotti; Corsari e pirati; Le Reggenze barbaresche; Lingua franca; Il declino della corsa (la strada degli accordi diplomatici); Schiavi di musulmani e di ebrei; Santi e confraternite neri; Lunghe diacronie, ampi contesti; Osservazione ravvicinata sulla penisola iberica; Il riscatto: il commercio dei captivi; Lettere dalla schiavit\uf9 e r\ue9cits d'esclavage; Abiure e conversioni: i rinnegati

The impossible redemption of Aly del Marnegro, "true Turkish"

In 1624 the corsair Aly Rais was captured by Sicilian galleys. Brought to Palermo, the Inquisition suspected that il was dealing with a renegade Christian. After gathering numerous testimonies and locating its baptismal records, they formally accused him of being the Ferrarese Francesco Guicciardino, taken by corsairs as a child and brought to Tunis, where he embraced the Muslim religion, became captain of the galleys of Biserta, and preyed on Christian shipping. Against these accusation, Aly claimed to be "Turkish" by birth and hence beyond the jurisdiction of Holy Office. By examining sources of Madrid (the inquisitorial records), from Tunis (the correspondence between the leaders of the Regency and French consular documents), and from Palermo (the letters of the Deputation for the Ransoming of Captives and of Cardinal Giannettino Doria), it is possible to reconstruct the political and diplomatic negotiations over a failed ramson, which enables us to see the complex of interests in play, beyond the commercial and financial interests typical of the "economie de la rançon"

Redimir y rescatar en el Mediterraneo moderno

The ransom is the price paid to free a person who has fallen into enemy hands as a prisoner (captivus) and reduced to slavery. The fixing and payment of this price are parts of a long process \u2014redemption\u2014 that involves various subjects (both individuals and institutions) who often have different religious affiliations. Ransom is connected with privateering, a military, commercial and financial phenomenon that entails the continuous exchange of men, commodities and money. By comparison with the religious orders and secular and religious institutions specialised in ransom, it is more difficult to identify and quantify the innumerable private initiatives, whether informal or institutionalized, on the part of individuals or a group, starting with those of the captives\u2019 relatives: all those categories of redeemers whose traces have to be sought in banal activities \u2014buying, selling, undertaking an activity for gain, taking a risk, planning a business deal, grasping an opportunity\u2014 and do not therefore appear in institutional sources. It is an established but untenable commonplace to suppose that Muslims did not ransom their fellow believers who fell into Christian hands, but limited themselves to occasional exchanges. In as much as the Muslim world did not have organizations equivalent to those of Catholic Europe, the intensive commercial relations of a group of Moorish merchants between Palermo and Tunisi help us to understand the pervasiveness of the activity of ransom, the interconnection between commercial exchanges and redemption, and the shared profits obtained by commercial agents of different religions. More generally, they help us to reflect on the contact between neighboring or adjacent societies, even though frequently in conflict with one another