Rights of Slaves in the Byzantine Empire

Slaves in the Byzantine Empire were first granted social rights beginning in the 4th century. Christianity questioned slavery for being contrary to natural and divine law.

Even though Byzantium continued the tradition of slave ownership it inherited from the Roman Empire, prosperity gradually diminished the role of slaves. New laws governing slaveholding were introduced. These improved the rights of slaves and diminished the power of slave owners.

The laws restricted the master’s right to abuse, prostitute, expose, and murder slaves and their children. Legal norms also eliminated penal servitude, paved the path to manumission, and created new structures for freeing enslaved war captives through the intercession of the Christian Church.

In the 4th century, new types of semi-servility arose as new forms of bound tenancy were introduced. This replaced the need for slaves to a large degree. Byzantines used slaves mostly for housework and as industry workers but rarely in agriculture.

Slaves in the Byzantine Empire

The rise of Christianity in the East Roman Empire in the 4th century BC brought great social changes. Constantine the Great (r. 306-337) was the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. He stopped the persecution of Christians and decriminalized Christian practice. He also founded Constantinople and made it the capital of Christianity and, subsequently, the capital of the Byzantine Empire.

The extent of human trafficking in the Middle Ages was vast. Men, women, and children were captured in war and sold in slave markets. Slaves had different political and religious beliefs. In Byzantium, they were Greek Christians, while, in Western Europe, they were Catholics. Furthermore, slaves were Islamist in the Caliphate and pagans in the Slavic world and northern Europe. Jewish slaves were scattered throughout every corner of the empire.

Enslavement included the conversion of slaves to the religion of the enslaver. In Byzantium, they converted to Christianity, which was the state religion. A series of laws and  regulations prohibited trade in Christians and the sale of slaves to Jewish and Arab slave traders.

Conversion was important not only for religious purposes but also for social integration. Religious conversion contributed to making the enslaved part of the community and were therefore deemed trustworthy. Slaves themselves wanted to rise above the status of slave and feel part of the Byzantine society. For that, two important legal customs developed: manumission in church and manumission by baptism. The first was introduced in the 5th century, and the second was attested in the 8th century. Baptism created a legal kinship between the enslaver and the freedman.

The religious identity of slaves in the Byzantine Empire empowered them and changed their legal status. Although by law they were still defined as someone’s property, the fact that they were Christians made them subjects rather than objects. Their religious identity upgraded their status, and they could marry, raise a family, become churchmen, and even act independently. They were perceived not only as subjects of their master but, most importantly, as subjects of God.

This not only benefited slaves themselves but also enslavers. A slave’s loyalty was to his/her heavenly master but also one’s Christian master in the sense that God sees all men as equal. All men, masters or slaves, were God’s subjects. Under this perspective, the legal status of the enslaved was developed.

Access to the law for slaves

One of the most interesting features of slavery in the medieval world in Europe was the development of access to the law for slaves. The roots of this approach can be traced back to the Byzantine period with the recognition of the religious identity of the slave as a believer and part of the religious community. Byzantium recognized Christian marriage between two slaves as a legal institution. The Byzantine legislator would allow Christian marriage between spouses when one of them was enslaved by a third person.

An 11th century law prohibited marriage of slave couples outside the Christian institution of marriage. The legislative application of the Christian institution of marriage in the case of slaves made marriage ties unbreakable. Furthermore, the sale of married slaves became impossible, as the religious status of the enslaved made them part of the religious society and gave them a legal status that allowed them more rights.

In essence, slaves in the Byzantine Empire acquired civil status in terms of their duties to society and their privileges. A legal definition indicates which criteria set a group of people as a civil category. The purpose of such a legal delimitation is to give special status to this group of people. We need to distinguish between legal status and civil status since the second can apply only to human beings as society members.

Byzantine law delimited the status of citizens and slaves, determining the criteria by which the enslaved was distinguished from all other members of society. Slaves in Byzantium enjoyed civil status because of their religious identity as Christians. This weakened the enslaver’s property rights. For example, during Justinian’s reign (527–565), runaway slaves could become monks or clergymen without the permission of their owner. The owner could only demand them back for a short period of time and only if they proved that they had caused damage.

Increased authority of the state

In the Byzantine Empire, legal changes regarding the status of slaves that started from the 6th century and expanded in the 10th century reflect the strengthening of public authority at the expense of restricting private authority over human property. It was not a  deliberate empowerment of the enslaved but a result of the Byzantine imperial policy to increase the authority of the state over “private subjects,” meaning Byzantines who were not under the authority of the state, such as slaves.

Slavery continued to exist. What changed was that slaves were not exclusively the private property of the enslaver. They were also subjects of authority as well as of the laws of the state and the emperor. Legal rights of slaves did not lead to abolition of slavery in Byzantium but made the enslaved men and women part of a private household and Christians who were also part of the religious society.

Although enslaved persons still had inferior legal status with restrictions and were often cruelly treated, the dependence of the family organization on them along with changes in how they were defined as members of religious society often led to their manumission.

Manumission, however, did not mean independence or freedom of movement. Manumitted slaves continued to be part of the household of their enslaver. Due to the family’s financial means and the law regarding wills, they had a degree of economic autonomy. Manumitted slaves were still dependent on their former enslaver, whom they continued to refer to as “master” (kyrios, κύριος in Greek). If they decided to be “free” and relocate where they desired, they would suffer economically and socially because they would have no financial means. In fact, the dependency of the manumitted slaves on their enslaver opened up opportunities for their socioeconomic integration.

In conclusion, slavery was not abolished in the Byzantine Empire. However, due to Christian values that were dominant in its largest territorial part, enslaved persons enjoyed rights and benefits that were unheard of in other parts of the world.