The Transformation of Slavery on the Ottoman Frontier in the Western Balkans, 1370-1500

Objective

This project investigates the development and functioning of ransom slavery on the Ottoman frontier in the Western Balkans in the late medieval period. It will analyze how the Ottoman advance introduced a ransom-based model of bondage that redefined a slave’s worth, shifting from the female body, commodified for domestic servitude and sexual exploitation, to the social and political capital of men. The study will provide a new analytical framework for studying premodern captivity by foregrounding the interplay of gender, politics, and commerce. Existing scholarship on Ottoman-era captivity has largely overlooked this formative period, focusing on later-period sources and military frameworks, thereby creating a significant historiographical gap concerning the South Slavic experience and the system’s origins. Focusing on the Republic of Ragusa (Dubrovnik) as the principal intermediary, this study employs a multi-faceted approach. It combines a comparative analysis of Christian and Islamic legal doctrines with a geopolitical synthesis of diplomatic and commercial networks. Methodologically, the project moves beyond traditional qualitative analysis by integrating Digital Humanities tools. A comprehensive database of raids, captives, and ransom cases will be developed to enable systematic geospatial and network analysis, mapping the full ecosystem that sustained the ransom economy. This research will demonstrate that the ransom economy structurally deepened gendered inequalities in the valuation of human life. It will reveal that the ransom system was not merely an incidental outcome of frontier violence but depended on intermediary structures that embedded raiding into wider systems of diplomacy and trade for political and commercial gain. By analyzing the system’s genesis and the crucial role of intermediaries, the project will reframe scholarly and public understanding of the transformation in European slavery practices during the late medieval period.