Slaves in Slavic Society (Slave trading in the medieval times)

Le Brenn et sa part de butin (“Brennus and His Share of the Spoils”, also known as: “Spoils of the Battle”), by Paul Jamin, 1893.

Slavs were brutal and cruel warriors. However, the way they treated slaves was pretty “open-minded” for that time. The important thing to mention is that slave trading was very common in medieval times, so slaves were usually treated just like any other trading goods.

One of the goals of the invasions Slavs would launch was capturing their enemies alive so they could be sold. Women and physically strong males were always in demand. For instance, Kievan Rus was a famous slave center in Europe. It is important to mention that Slavs didn’t sell their own people, they only traded war prisoners. Some argue that the word “slave” came from the word “Slav,” or vice versa, which could be true since as I mention, an important part of Slavic economy was based on slave trading. On the other hand, every Slavic person was a free citizen. So one more time, to make the things clear, Slavic people couldn’t be sold as slaves from Slavs since they were free people.

We can realize how important slave trading was to Slavs by reading Procopius of Cesarea. He reported the following (perhaps in a bit exaggerated numbers):

“(…) In Illyria and Thracia, from the Ionian Gulf to the Byzantine outlying cities, where Hellas and Chersonese regions are situated, (…) the Sclavenes and the Antes, invading virtually every year since Justinian administered the Roman Empire, have inflicted irreversible damage to their inhabitants. In each invasion, I estimate 200,000 Romans were either taken prisoner or killed (…)”

And in his Book VII, XIII, describing the events of the year 545 AD, Procopius of Caesarea states: “(…) For a great throng of the barbarians, the Sclaveni, had, as it happened, recently crossed the Ister [Danube], plundering the adjoining country and had ENSLAVED a very great number of Romans. (…)”

And also this: “(…) Slavs who had defeated Asbados, later plundered in turn everything up to the sea coast, and captured in an assault the coastal city of Toperus (…) And they slaughtered 25,000 men, plundered everything, and enslaved all the children and all the women. (…)”

So how were Slavs that good at enslaving? We have to remember that Slavs were forest warriors, and that they were able to hide easily behind every single inch of rocks, woods or bush. Procopius describes one of the Slavic methods of capturing slaves:

“(…) From the nation of the Sclaveni, who are accustomed to concealing themselves behind a small rock or any bush which may happen to be near, after which they pounce upon an enemy. In fact, they are constantly practicing this in their native hunts along the river Ister, both on Romans and on the [other] barbarians as well. (…)”

You probably wonder why at the begging of this article I said that slaves were treated way more humanely by Slavs than by other people. All the things you read so far show brutal and cruel warriors, but there is something very humane and not common for that time. In the “Strategikon of Maurice,” there is a hint as to what could have facilitated Slavic demography and how Slavs treated slaves:

“(…) Slavs do not keep prisoners in perpetual slavery like other peoples, but they demarcate for them a limited period of time, after which they give them a choice: they can return home after purchasing their freedom, or stay among them as free people and friends. (…)”

As we can see, these so-called slaves were provided with a choice in a Slavic society. They could integrate into Slavic society and become free people. This was a crucial reason for Slavs being so numerous in the early medieval times and for being warriors fierce as none other: the people they enslaved were already experienced warriors (Roman, Gothic, Saxon), so Slavic manpower during the early medieval age had to be huge. Also, if the people didn’t want to be part of Slavic society, they could purchase their own freedom which allowed Slavs extra income.

So Slavic tribes consisted not only of original Slavs, but also – if not mostly – of their slaves and liberated slaves, that is, former enslaved enemy warriors who got assimilated.