Slavery in Poland existed on the territory of the Kingdom of Poland during the rule of the Piast dynasty in the Middle Ages. It continued to exist in various forms until late in the 14th century when it was supplanted by the institution of serfdom, which has often been considered a form of modified slavery.
Terminology
Polish literature refers to this group of people as "unfree people" (, ) rather than as slaves (niewolnicy).
History
The institution of slavery as practiced in the Polish territories during the Early Middle Ages played a lesser economic or cultural role than in other states such as Roman Empire where slavery played a crucial role in keeping its economy alive. It existed on the territory of Kingdom of Poland during the times of the Piast dynasty; with the number of slaves rising significantly when Polish state was established, as most of the slaves were owned by the king.
According to Samuel Augustus Mitchell, non-free people were emancipated in Poland in 1347 under the Statutes of Casimir the Great issued in Wiślica. Although there are indications that some form of slavery, in practice and law, continued at least till the end of the 14th century. Throughout the remaining history of feudal Poland, particularly in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, much of the peasantry was subject to serfdom, which was often likened to slavery. Serfdom was abolished in Poland in the 19th century during the times of the partitions of Poland.
Role in the Saqaliba slave trade
Poland and the pre-unification Polish Slavs were involved in the medieval Prague slave trade both as a slave source supply as well as an area of active slave trade by the Poles themselves.
In the Middle ages, Prague was known in all Europe as a major slave trade center.World History Encyclopedia [21 volumes]: [21 volumes] Alfred J. Andrea Ph.D. p. 199 Captives sold as slaves via Prague were supplied by several routes. The vast majority of slaves were provided from the area of what was later to become Poland.
Dukes of Bohemia
The armies of the Dukes of Bohemia captured pagan Slavs from the east in expeditions to the lands later known as Poland to supply the slave market, which brought considerable profit to the Dukes.World History Encyclopedia [21 volumes]: [21 volumes] Alfred J. Andrea Ph.D. p. 199
Several sources from the 10th century mentioned how the Dukes were involved in supplying the Prague slave market and that the slaves normally came from lands corresponding to what later corresponded to southern Poland and western Ukraine.The Archaeology of Slavery in Early Medieval Northern Europe: The Invisible Commodity. (2021). Schweiz: Springer International Publishing. p. 165
The Dukes of Bohemia, particularly Boleslaus I (r. 935–972) and Boleslaus II (r. 972–999), regularly provided the Prague slave market with new pagan captives from expeditions to the northeast.World History Encyclopedia [21 volumes]: [21 volumes] Alfred J. Andrea Ph.D. p. 199
Vikings
The Vikings acted as suppliers for slaves for the Prague slave trade in the West, as well as for the Kievan Rus' slave trade in the East.
The Vikings were known to be suppliers of slaves to the Islamic market via other routes. People taken captive during the Vikings raids in Western Europe could be sold to Moorish Spain via the Dublin slave trade or transported via the Volga trade route to Russia, where slaves were sold to Muslim merchantsThe New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume 3, C.900-c.1024. (1995). Storbritannien: Cambridge University Press. p. 91 in the Khazar Kaghanate,The World of the Khazars: New Perspectives. Selected Papers from the Jerusalem 1999 International Khazar Colloquium. (2007). Nederländerna: Brill. p. 232 and Volga Bulgaria and from there by caravan to Khwarazm and finally to the Abbasid Caliphate via the Samanid slave market in Central Asia.The New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume 3, C.900-c.1024. (1995). Storbritannien: Cambridge University Press. p. 504
While the slaves sold by the Vikings via the eastern route could be Christian Western Europeans, the slaves provided by the Vikings to the slave route of Prague-Magdeburg-Verdun were Pagan Slavs, who in contrast to Christians were legitimate for other Christians to enslave and sell as slaves to Muslims; according to Liutprand of Cremona, these slaves were trafficked to slavery in al-Andalus via Verdun, were some of them were selected to undergo castration to become eunuchs for the Muslim slave market in al-Andalus.Herman, A. (2021). The Viking Heart: How Scandinavians Conquered the World. USA: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 49
Poles Slaves were also provided by the Slavs themselves as war captives during the unification of Poland under Mieszko I. To sustain this military machine and meet other state expenses, large amounts of revenue were necessary. Greater Poland had some natural resources used for trade, such as fur, hide, honey and wax, but those surely did not provide enough income . According to Ibrahim ibn Yaqub, Prague in Bohemia, a city built of stone, was the main center for the exchange of trading commodities in this part of Europe.
From Kraków, the Slavic traders brought tin, salt, amber, and other products they had, most importantly slaves; Muslim, Jewish, Hungarian, and other traders were the buyers of the Prague slave market. The Life of St. Adalbert, written at the end of the 10th century by John Canaparius, records the fate of many Christian slaves sold in Prague as the main curse of the time. Dragging of shackled slaves is shown as a scene in the 12th-century bronze Gniezno Doors. It may well be that the territorial expansion financed itself by being the source of loot, of which the captured local people were the most valuable part. The scale of the human trade practice is arguable, however, because much of the population from the defeated tribes was resettled for agricultural work or in the near-gord settlements, where they could serve the victors in various capacities and thus contribute to the economic and demographic potential of the state. Considerable increase of population density was characteristic of the newly established states in Eastern and Central Europe. The slave trade being insufficient to meet all revenue needs, the Piast state had to look for other options.
Mieszko thus strove to subdue Pomerania at the Baltic coast. The area was the site of wealthy trade emporia, frequently visited by traders, especially from the east, west and north. Mieszko had every reason to believe that great profits would have resulted from his ability to control the rich seaports situated on long distance trade routes such as Wolin, Szczecin, and Kołobrzeg.U źródeł Polski, pp. 150–151, Zofia Kurnatowska
The end
The saqaliba slave trade from Prague to al-Andalus via France ended when lost its religious legitimacy when the pagan Slavs of the north started to gradually adopt Christianity from the late 10th century, which made them out of bounds for Christian Bohemia to enslave and sell to Muslim al-Andalus. The Prague slave trade was not able to legitimately supply their slave pool after the Slavs gradually adopted Christianity from the late 10th century onward.World History Encyclopedia [21 volumes]: [21 volumes] Alfred J. Andrea Ph.D. p. 199
Crimean slave trade
Poland and Lithuania came to play an important role during late middle ages and the early modern period as a slave supply source for the infamous Crimean slave trade.
During the Early Modern age the Crimean Khanate (1441–1783) was a major center of the international slave trade. The Crimean slave trade was the main source of income of the Khanate, and one of the biggest supply sources to slavery in the Ottoman Empire. The Crimean slave trade in Eastern Europe, and the Barbary slave trade in West and South Europe, were the two main sources of European slaves to the Ottoman Empire.
During this period the Crimea was the base of the Crimean–Nogai slave raids in Eastern Europe, and European slaves were trafficked to the Middle East via the Crimea.Slavery in the Black Sea Region, C.900–1900: Forms of Unfreedom at the Intersection Between Christianity and Islam. (2021). Nederländerna: Brill. The Nogai Horde were vassals of the Crimean Khanate and economically dependent upon the slave trade, and performed the slave raids independently, or in collaboration with the Crimean Tatars, who were dependent on slave trade and slave labor on their estates.Dávid, Géza (2007). Ransom Slavery Along the Ottoman Borders: (Early Fifteenth – Early Eighteenth Centuries). Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-15704-0. p. 193
In this time period, Poland and Lithuania were united, and Ukraine was a part of Poland–Lithuania. The slaves were captured in southern Russia, Poland–Lithuania, Moldavia, Wallachia, and Circassia by Tatar horsemen in a trade known as the "harvesting of the steppe". Slave raids were regularly conducted by the Nogai Horde and or the Crimean Tatars toward Russia, Poland–Lithuania, and the Caucasus twice every year; during the harvest and during the winter for centuries.Dávid, Géza (2007). Ransom Slavery Along the Ottoman Borders: (Early Fifteenth – Early Eighteenth Centuries). Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-15704-0. p. 194-195 The first major Crimean–Nogai raid were conducted toward South Eastern Poland in 1468, and the last slave raid was conducted in 1769, during the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774), when 20,000 people were taken captive.
A Ukrainian folk song remembered the despair and devastation of the slave raids: "The fires are burning behind the river. The Tatars are dividing their captives. Our village is burnt and our property plundered. Old mother is sabred and my dear is taken into captivity."Peirce, L. (2017). Empress of the East: How a European Slave Girl Became Queen of the Ottoman Empire. USA: Basic Books.
The majority of the slaves captured were forced into slave caravans by land and then by sea to the city of Caffa, which was an Ottoman province in the Crimean Khanate and a major center of the Crimean slave trade.Antunes & Tagliacozzo, Cátia; Eric (2023). The Cambridge History of Global Migrations: Volume 1: Migrations, 1400–1800. The Cambridge History of Global Migrations. "1". Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-108-48754-2. Polish-Lithuanian captives were marched down to the port of Ochakiv, where they were loaded on to slave ships and trafficked to Caffa in the Crimea. There were reportedly always around 30,000 slaves in Caffa.Davies, Brian (2014). Warfare, State and Society on the Black Sea Steppe, 1500–1700. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-55283-2. p. 25 The Lithuanian Mikhalon Litvin referred to Caffa in the 16th century as: "not a town, but an abyss into which our blood is pouring".Davies, Brian (2014). Warfare, State and Society on the Black Sea Steppe, 1500–1700. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-55283-2. p. 24-25 From Caffa, the captives were distributed between the Ottomans and the Crimean Tatars, and some were distributed to the smaller slave markets in the Crimean Khanate, while the rest were sold in Caffa and trafficked to the rest of the Ottoman Empire and the Islamic Middle East.Roşu, Felicia (2021). Slavery in the Black Sea Region, c.900–1900 – Forms of Unfreedom at the Intersection Between Christianity and Islam. Studies in Global Slavery, Volume: 11. Brill. p. 173-176
It is not documented exactly how many raids were conducted, where and how, and exactly the number of people abducted between the late 15th century and the late 18th century. Between 1474 and 1569, 75 major slave raids are estimated to have been conducted toward Polish–Lithuanian territory.Davies, Brian (2014). Warfare, State and Society on the Black Sea Steppe, 1500–1700. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-55283-2. p. 17