Roblje u bosansko-dubrovačkim odnosima u razvijenom srednjem vijeku / Slaves in the Relations between Bosnia and Ragusa during the Late Middle Ages

Abstract

Slaves represent an important social group in medieval Bosnia with recognizable characteristics. They have been treated as such in a significant number of historical works. Apart from the usual reasons for becoming a slave, the specific religious features contributed that the population of medieval Bosnia, through buying and smuggling, became generally known throughout the Mediterranean as subjects of slave trade. This work treats the attempts of medieval Ragusans and Bosnians to stop the ilegal trade in free people. The purchasing and selling of free people was publicly condemned and harmed the reputation of both the Ragusan and Bosnian state. In that sense the intensive measures introduced in the beginning of the fifteenth century significantly decreased the trade in slaves and definitely prohibited the sale of free people.