Thralls’ Names in Scandinavia

Thanks to the Old Norse literature we have an large corpus of slave names to consider. When analysing these names, we arrive at the unfortunate conclusion that in many (most?) cases these names look like fictious, generative names, created to fit with the thrall topoi in the narrative. This is evident in the enumeration of thrall names in the poem Rígsþula, where all the names for male and female slaves are highly derogatory, obviously to make a statement of these unfree people being firmly at the bottom of society and to be looked upon with contempt. There are some names on slaves which have an origin in Celtic language, which are interesting, and some probably have a historical background. In the will of freed slaves, mentioned before, all former slaves have ordinary personal names that we find among free people. This raises the question if freed slaves took or were given a new, proper and Christian name at the manumission.

Thralls in Runic Inscriptions

Runes are the indigenous writing system in Viking-Age Scandinavia, and therefore a very important source for this, otherwise, oral society. There are around 3,000 runic inscriptions, but the mentioning of thralls are extremely rare. Only a handful examples can be discussed, such as the words bryti and fostri/fostra, and a couple concerning freed slaves, løysar. This should not be surprising, since there probably was no cause for commemorating a slave in a runic inscription.

Material Evidence

Slaves were central to every aspect of Roman society. However¸ they are difficult to identify in the archaeological record. Most were genetically similar to the free population. Unlike slaves in the American ante-bellum South they did not have distinctive residential systems and foodways that can be differentiated archaeologically from those of free persons. Structures related to slavery like market buildings or slave barracks are not easily identified. In contrast, freed slaves, common in ancient Rome are very visible, especially in mortuary monuments. This chapter surveys the extent to which material evidence can shed light on various aspects of the life course of slaves, from enslavement through slave life, to death or manumission.

Roman Concepts of Citizenship, and Rabbinic Approaches to the Lineage of Converts and the Integration of their Descendants into Israel

This study investigates tannaitic material and passages from the Jerusalem Talmud that address the integration of the descendants of converts into Israel. These texts focus on two main legal issues: the eligibility of converts’ daughters for marriage with priests; and, the recitation of certain liturgical formulae, which indicate Israelite lineage, by converts’ offspring. While tannaitic literature presents competing views on the incorporation of converts’ progeny into Israelite society, the Yerushalmi seems to prioritize facilitating the absorption of converts and their descendants into Israel. While scholars have often considered these sources in terms of stringency and leniency, I view these differences as major (even revolutionary) changes that are based on distinct legal models. I suggest that the Roman understanding of citizenship and the Roman framework for determining the status of freed slaves were among the factors that influenced and eventually enabled the acceptance of converts’ descendants as full members of Israel.

Slavery and the Troublesome Question

Chapter 2 establishes the background and context for the colonization movement, examines motives of supporters and opponents, and examines the establishment of the Liberian colony. For ninety-three years, the American Colonization Society supports emigration of freed slaves and freeborn black people from the United States to Liberia, ultimately transporting 16,000 people across the ocean. It is the largest out-migration in American history.

Manumission, Citizenship, and Acculturation in the Roman World

This chapter examines the manumission and acculturation of freedpersons in the Roman world, especially through the lens of citizenship and community building. It analyses how the long-standing practice of granting citizenship to freed slaves shaped the institution of manumission in general as well as the specific factors contributing to the decision to manumit individual slaves. Finally, it examines the means by which freed slaves were incorporated in the civic community. While Roman law marked freedpersons as a lesser category of citizens, denying them access to the highest echelons of Roman society, it still accorded them important rights and abilities that made them more similar to fellow citizens than distinct.

The Making of a Liverpool Community: An Elusive Narrative

Tracing the black presence in Liverpool, the oldest black community in Europe, is the subject of this chapter by Ray Costello. He begins by recounting and dispelling the ‘Windrush myth’—a misconception that the arrival of nearly 500 Jamaican workers on the SS Empire Windrush in 1948 was the beginning of the history of black settlers in Britain. Instead, black communities had existed in Britain for at least five centuries with Liverpool having the most continuous presence including enslaved black servants, freed slaves, sailors, children of African royalty attending school, and free Black Loyalists from the Americas. Costello describes the diverse backgrounds, cultures and languages of black settlers in Liverpool following each of Britain’s wars which obscured the true age of the community and perpetuated a view of local blacks as exotic foreigners. The failure to recognize the age and Britishness of an established black Liverpudlian population, Costello fears, preserves a belief in the recency of black immigration promotes the idea that assimilation and acculturation are the keys to integration and racial equity.