Captivity and hostage-taking in the medieval Mediterranean was the product of religious warfare, piracy, and violence between Christians and Muslims. In battle, the victors imprisoned the vanquished.  Thousands of Christians and Muslims found themselves in enemy hands in the Middle Ages as "prisoners of war."  Pirates and corsairs routinely intercepted pilgrims as they sailed eastward; others were snatched from their homeland along the shores of North Africa, Spain, Italy, or France. Even merchants conducting commercial business in foreign ports ran the risk of being seized and detained if relations between their homeland and host country soured.

The rescue and release of these Christian and Muslim captives was a flourishing, if risky, business. Dr. Miller’s talk introduces the main actors involved in captive redemption and discusses two specific case studies in the late fourteenth century. Using as a starting point the handshake or legal contract - a moment of collaboration and conflict between these groups and individuals - she asks the following questions: What can explain the alternating trust and distrust that can be traced between Christian and Muslim agents? What sort of creative mechanisms of exchange was employed by negotiators accustomed to different legal customs and judicial practices? How did Muslim and Christian middlemen read and anticipate the behavior of their counterparts and adjust their strategies accordingly?

Speakers
Kathryn Miller, Senior Humanities Research Fellow, NYUAD

Moderated by
Mahnaz Yousefzadeh, Professor of Global Liberal Studies, NYU