Unfree Lives

Slaves at the Najahid and Rasulid Courts of Yemen
Erscheinungsjahr 2025
ISBN: 978-90-04-74765-4
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, 234 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 235 mm

Reihe: Studies in Global Slavery

Unfree Lives illuminates Yemen’s forgotten history of slavery, as well as the transregional dimensions of slave trading in the Red Sea and wider Indian Ocean world. By analyzing Arabic narrative and administrative sources, Magdalena Moorthy Kloss reconstructs the lives of women and men who were trafficked to Yemen as children and then placed in various subaltern positions — from domestic servant to royal concubine, from quarryman to army commander.

In this first in-depth study of unfree lives in Yemen, Moorthy Kloss argues that slaves and former slaves made significant contributions to social, economic and political processes in the medieval period. She highlights the gendered nature of slavery through a nuanced examination of the social identities of eunuchs and concubines. Unfree Lives also includes detailed information on slave trading between the Horn of Africa and Yemen in the 13th century, as well as an account of the little-known Najahid dynasty that was founded by Ethiopian slaves.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Moorthy Kloss, Magdalena

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziale Gruppen/Soziale Themen Gender Studies, Geschlechtersoziologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Europäische Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Geschichte der Sklaverei
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Europäische Länder
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziologie Allgemein
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Moderne Philosophische Disziplinen Philosophische Anthropologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgements

Preliminary Remarks

List of Maps

Introduction

1 Historical Context and Sources 1 The Najahids – a Dynasty of (Former) Slaves 2 The Rasulids

2 The Medieval Slave Trade to Yemen 1 Overview 2 The Unknown Origins of Slave Soldiers in Medieval Yemen 3 Trade Procedures to Rasulid Yemen 4 Import Taxes 5 Transport Charges and Travel Provisions 6 Trade Procedures in Yemen 7 Conclusion

3 Eunuchs 1 Eunuchs in Islamic Foundational Texts 2 The Eunuch Institution in the First Islamic Centuries 3 Terminology 4 Early Lives 5 Digression: Slave Names and the Loss of Origins 6 Beginnings in Yemen 7 Eunuchs in the Rasulid Military and Political Administration 8 Amirs 9 Governors and Representatives 10 Owners of Revenue Estates 11 Envoys 12 Treasurers and Paymasters 13 Supervisors of Mamluks 14 Eunuchs and Rasulid Women 15 Eunuchs as Educators of Royal Children 16 Scholarly and Religious Activities 17 Patronage of Pious Endowments 18 Conclusion

4 Female Slaves 1 Types of Female Slave Labour in Medieval Yemen 2 Concubines’ Biographies in al-Hakami’s Chronicle 3 Rasulid Case Studies 4 Conclusion

5 Low-Ranking Slaves 1 Nur al-ma'arif as Unique Source of Information on Low-Ranking Slaves 2 Kitchen Service 3 Employment in Palace Storage Facilities 4 Protective Services 5 Stable Duties 6 Craftsmanship and Other Specialized Work 7 Agriculture 8 Mining 9 Conclusion

Conclusions

Bibliography

Über Autor(innen)

Magdalena Moorthy Kloss is an FWF Erwin Schrödinger Fellow at the Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient in Berlin and an associate researcher at the Institute for Social Anthropology, Austrian Academy of Sciences. Her research examines slavery, dependency and social hierarchies in Yemen through an interdisciplinary lens. She has published articles in the journals History and Anthropology and Der Islam, and a chapter in The Palgrave Handbook of Global Slavery throughout History (2023).