View source for Saqaliba

 {{Short description|Slavic and European slaves in the Arab world}} [[File:Targ niewolnikow w Kordowie.jpg|thumb|Slavic and Black slaves in Córdoba; illustration from the ''[[Cantigas de Santa Maria]]'' (13th century).]]
'''Saqaliba''' ({{langx|ar|صقالبة|ṣaqāliba}}, singular {{langx|ar|صقلبي|ṣaqlabī}}) was a term used in medieval [[Arabic]] sources, initially to refer to [[Slavs]], but it also came to be used as a designation for European slaves in Muslim countries in the 10th and 11th centuries. In the Arab world, the Saqaliba served as servants, [[harem]] [[concubines]], [[eunuch]]s, craftsmen, mercenaries, [[Ghilman|slave soldiers]], and as [[Caliph]]'s guards. In the [[Iberian Peninsula]], their military role may be compared with that of [[mamluks]] in the [[Ottoman Empire]]. Many rose to prominent positions in the caliphates of the [[Maghreb]], and some became rulers of ''[[taifa]]s'' (small independent states) in [[Levante, Spain|Levante]] at the beginning of the 11th century (known as the "[[Amirids]]").

==Etymology==
The Arabic term ''ṣaqāliba'' derives from Greek ''Sklavoi'' and ''Sklavenoi'' (Σκλάβοι, Σκλαβηγοι), the [[Slavic ethnonym]] (used for the [[Sclaveni]]), entering Arabic usage in the 7th century. Due to the multitude of Slavic slaves, the term "slave" replaced Latin ''servus''.{{sfn|Korpela|2018|p=33}} The term was usually used for the Slavic peoples of central and eastern Europe.{{sfn|Jankowiak|2021|p=163}} It was variously used for Slavic peoples and countries in the 10th century; Persian polymath [[Abu Zayd al-Balkhi]] (850–934) described three main centers of the Saqaliba: [[Kuyaba]], [[Slawiya]], and [[Artania]], while traveller [[Ibrahim ibn Yaqub]] ({{floruit}} 961–62) placed the ''Saqāliba'', Slavs, west of Bulgaria and east of other Slavs, in a mountainous land ([[Western Balkans]]), and described them as violent and aggressive.<ref>{{cite book|author=H. T. Norris|title=Islam in the Balkans: Religion and Society Between Europe and the Arab World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kTcRDKnYf2cC&pg=PA12|year=1993|publisher=C. Hurst & Co. Publishers|isbn=978-1-85065-167-3|page=12}}</ref>

The word was often used to refer specifically to Slavic slaves,{{sfn|Jankowiak|2017|p=}} but it was also broadly used for Eastern European slaves traded by the Arabs, as well as all European slaves in some Muslim regions like Spain and Portugal including those abducted from [[Raid (military)|raids]] on Christian kingdoms of Spain and Portugal.{{sfn|Mishin|1998}}{{sfn|Rodriguez|1997|p=565}} According to Sudár and B. Szabó, the word ''Saqaliba'' also meant "forest dweller", regardless of ethnicity, in 10th-century Muslim usage.<ref>Sudár Balázs, B. Szabó János. [https://www.academia.edu/72317765/Gyula_n%C3%A9pe_Madzsgarok_a_10_sz%C3%A1zadi_muszlim_f%C3%B6ldrajzi_irodalomban Dentumoger II. - Tanulmányok a korai magyar történelemből – Gyula népe - Madzsgarok a 10. századi muszlim földrajzi irodalomban] (2022). ISBN 9789634163039 p. 136</ref>

==Rus and Bulgars==
The Rus made slave raids and sold slaves to Muslim merchants.{{sfn|Jankowiak|2021|p=163}} Geographer [[Ibn Khordadbeh]] (840–880) used the term ''Saqaliba'' for Eastern Slavs and called the Bulgars "kings of the Saqāliba", meaning that the ruler had held "a reservoir of potential slaves".<ref>{{cite book|author1=Abraham Ascher|author2=Tibor Halasi-Kun|author3=Béla K. Király|title=The mutual effects of the Islamic and Judeo-Christian worlds: the East European pattern|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EkMMAQAAMAAJ|year=1979|publisher=Brooklyn College Press|isbn=978-0-930888-00-8|page=7}}</ref> He called the Rus "a kind of Saqaliba".  Traveller [[Ahmad ibn Fadlan|Ibn Fadlan]] ({{floruit}} 921–22) called Almish, the ruler of [[Volga Bulgaria]], the "King of the Saqaliba" due to his involvement in Slave trade.{{sfn|Jankowiak|2021|p=163}} Fadlan visited Volga Bulgaria in 922 and noted how Rus sold slave girls, undoubtedly of Slavic origin.{{sfn|Jankowiak|2021|p=163}} Apart from Slavs, the Saqaliba slaves provided by Vikings perhaps included also Scandinavian, Baltic and Finnic slaves.{{sfn|Korpela|2018|p=35}}

==Aghlabids and Fatimids==

In the [[Aghlabid dynasty|Aghlabid caliphate]], most of the Saqaliba were Slavic slaves, captured by Franks and Germans and brought via Germany to France and Spain where traders took them to Tanger and then to Kairouan, or sold in Italy by Venetian traders, captured by Venice or Slavic pirates themselves.{{sfn|Mishin|1998|p=238}} The Saqaliba provided to the Aghlabids thus hailed from central Europe, the Baltics and the Balkans.{{sfn|Mishin|1998|p=238}} The Saqaliba trade is dated to the beginning of the 9th century.{{sfn|Mishin|1998|p=238}} Ziyad ibn al-Saqlabiyya ("son of a Saqlabi woman") raised an army revolt in 822–823 when emir [[Ziyadat Allah I]] started eliminating his enemies.{{sfn|Mishin|1998|p=238}} Most information of the Saqaliba of the Aghlabids come from the reign of [[Ibrahim II of Ifriqiya|Ibrahim II]] (875–902).{{sfn|Mishin|1998|p=239}}

In the [[Fatimid caliphate]] in the Maghreb, the Saqaliba were a distinct group of people in the 10th century. They were slaves brought mostly from Slavic lands in East Europe. Many among them rose to prominent positions, especially Ustadh Jawdhar and Qa'id Jawhar al-Siqilli. Jawdhar became the senior administrator and most trusted confidant of the Fatimid imam-caliph.<ref>{{cite book|last=Jiwa|first=Shainool|title=The Fatimids: 1 - The Rise of a Muslim Empire|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|date=2017-12-18|isbn=978-1-78672-174-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=89SLDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT34|page=34}}</ref>

==al-Andalus and Maghreb==
===Slave trade===
 {{see also|Slavery in al-Andalus}} [[File:Califato_de_Córdoba_-_1000-en.svg|thumb|[[Caliphate of Córdoba]] in 1000.]]
In Western Europe, a major slave trade route went from Prague in Central Europe via France to Moorish [[al-Andalus]], which was both a destination for slaves as well as a center of slave trade to the rest of the Muslim world in the Middle East. [[Prague]] in the [[Duchy of Bohemia]], Christianized in the early 10th century, became a major center of the European slave trade by the mid-10th century. The revenue from the [[Prague slave trade]] has been named as one of the economic foundations of the Bohemian state.{{sfn|Biermann|2021|p=165}} Bohemia was located in a religious border zone, bordering with pagan Slavic lands to the north and east. In the Middle ages, religion was the determining factor on who was considered a legitimate target for enslavement. Christians and Muslims were prohibited from enslaving their co-religionists; however, both approved enslavement of pagans, who thereby became a legitimized and lucrative target for the slave traders, dominated by Jewish [[Radhanite]] merchants.<ref>{{harvnb|Korpela|2018|pp=92, 242}}, {{harvnb|Rotman|2009|pp=73-74}}</ref> Bohemian slave raids were conducted mainly in the Slavic lands to the north and east of Prague, such as southern Poland and western Ukraine.{{sfn|Biermann|2021|p=165}}

In the first half of the 9th century, Byzantium competed with Arabs regarding slaves and thus blocked maritime traffic in the Mediterranean; the Arabs thus imported Slavic slaves via the Caucasus and Caspian Sea, and in the west through Raffelstetten–France–Spain.{{sfn|Rotman|2009|p=74}}  [[Liutprand of Cremona]] noted in 986 that [[Verdun]] was a center for castration of slaves sent to Spain.{{sfn|Rotman|2009|p=73}} [[al-Maqdisi]] (946–991) mentioned ''saqaliba'' castrated in Spain and sent to Egypt.{{sfn|Rotman|2009|p=73}} France was a slave transit to Umayyud which had large ''saqaliba'' markets.{{sfn|Rotman|2009|p=73}} The [[Caliphate of Córdoba]] was dependent on slave soldiers.{{sfn|Biermann|2021|p=165}}

{{quote|The country [of the Saqaliba] is long and wide ... Half of their country ... is raided by the Khurasanis [Khorezm] who take prisoners from it, while its northern half is raided by the Andalusians who buy them in Galicia, in France, in Lombardy and in Calabria so as to make them eunuchs, and thereafter they ferry them over to Egypt and Africa. All the Saqaliba eunuchs in the world come from Andalusia ... They are castrated near this country. The operation is performed by Jewish merchants.|author=[[Ibn Hawqal]] (10th century){{sfn|Jankowiak|2012}} }}

In Islamic lands, the slave market had specific requirements. Female slaves were used for either domestic or [[sexual slavery]] as [[Islamic views on concubinage|concubines]]. Male slaves were used for one of two categories: either for [[military slavery]] or as [[eunuch]]s. The latter category of male slaves were subjected to castration for the market. Both Christians and Muslims were prohibited from performing castrations, but there was no such ban for Jews, which made it possible for them to meet the great demand for eunuchs in the Muslim world.{{sfn|Korpela|2018|p=92}} The nature of the market for Saqaliba slaves meant that most Saqaliba slaves would have been prepubescent children when enslaved.{{sfn|Biermann|2021|p=166}} In Moorish al-Andalus, European Saqaliba-slaves were considered as exotic display objects with their light hair, skin and eye colors.{{sfn|Biermann|2021|p=166}} Seen as luxury goods, a White European slave could be sold for as much as 1,000 ''[[dinar]]s'', a substantial price.{{sfn|Korpela|2018|p=37}}

The Prague slave trade to al-Andalus via France lost its religious legitimacy when the Slavs to the north gradually adopted [[Christianization of Poland|Christianity from the late 10th century]]. The caliphate disintegrated in 1031, corresponding to a period of instability in Bohemia in parallel with the end of the slave trade.{{sfn|Biermann|2021|p=165}}

===Saracen slave raids===
 {{See also|Saracen}}
During the Middle ages, [[Saracen]] pirates established themselves in bases in France, [[the Baleares]], southern Italy and Sicily, from where they raided the coasts of the Christian Mediterranean and exported prisoners as Saqaliba slaves to the [[history of slavery in the Muslim world|slave markets of the Muslim Middle East]].<ref>The Cambridge World History of Slavery: Volume 2, AD 500–AD 1420. (2021). (n.p.): Cambridge University Press. p. 34</ref> The [[Aghlabids]] of [[Ifriqiya]] was a base for Saracen attacks along the Spanish east coast as well as against southern Italy from the early 9th century; they attacked [[Sack of Rome (846)|Rome in 845]], [[Comacchio]] in 875–876, [[Monte Cassino]] in 882–83, and established the [[Emirate of Bari]] (847–871), the [[Emirate of Sicily]] (831–1091) and a base in [[Garigliano (disambiguation)|Garigliano]] (882–906), which became bases of slave trade.<ref name="Middle Ages 1986 p. 408">The Cambridge Illustrated History of the Middle Ages. (1986). Storbritannien: Cambridge University Press. p. 408</ref> During the warfare between Rome and the [[Byzantine Empire]] in southern Italy in the 9th century the Saracens made southern Italy a supply source for slaves to [[Maghreb]] by the mid-9th century; the Western Emperor [[Louis II of Italy|Louis II]] complained in a letter to the Byzantine Emperor that the Byzantines in [[Naples]] guided the Saracens in their raids toward south Italy and aided them in their slave trade with Italians to North Africa, an accusation noted also by the Lombard chronicler [[Erchempert]].<ref>The Heirs of the Roman West. (2009). Tyskland: De Gruyter. p. 113</ref>

Moorish Saracen pirates from [[al-Andalus]] attacked [[Marseille]] and [[Arles]] and established a base in [[Camargue]], [[Fraxinetum]] or La Garde-Freinet-Les Mautes (888–972), from where they made slave raids into France;<ref name="Middle Ages 1986 p. 408"/> the population fled in fear of the slave raids, which made it difficult for the Frankish to secure their southern coast,<ref name="Middle Ages 1986 p. 408"/> and the Saracens of Fraxinetum exported the Frankish prisoners they captured as slaves to the [[Slavery in the Abbasid Caliphate|slave market of the Muslim Middle East]].<ref>Phillips, W. D. (1985). Slavery from Roman Times to the Early Transatlantic Trade. Storbritannien: Manchester University Press.{{page needed|date=October 2025}}</ref> The Saracens captured the Baleares in 903, and made slave raids also from this base toward the coasts of the Christian Mediterranean and Sicily.<ref name="Middle Ages 1986 p. 408"/> Many of the enslaved "Frankish" Saqaliba in [[Al-Andalus]] were really ethnic [[Visigoths]] and [[Romanization of Hispania|Hispano-Romans]] from the [[Spanish March|Hispanic March]] in northeastern Iberia, later to be known as the [[Catalan counties]].<ref>Al-Eidi, Ekhlas Mohammad (2017). The Saqaliba at Bani Umayyad palaces. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science. p. 1</ref>

While the Saracen bases in France was eliminated in 972 and Italy in 1091, this did not prevent the Saracen piracy slave trade of the Mediterranean; both [[Almoravid dynasty]] (1040–1147) and the [[Almohad Caliphate]] (1121–1269) approved of the slave raiding of Saracen pirates toward non-Muslim ships in Gibraltar and the Mediterranean for the purpose of slave raiding.<ref>The Cambridge World History of Slavery: Volume 2, AD 500–AD 1420. (2021). (n.p.): Cambridge University Press. p. 37</ref>

==Saqaliba taifas in the Levante==
 {{main|Amirids|Taifa}} [[File:Amirid Saqaliba.png|thumb|A map showing the extent of the [[Amirids|Amirid-Saqalabid alliance]] in 1018.]]

The Umayyud state of Córdoba began to crumble at the beginning of the 11th century following the death of [[Almanzor]] (d. 1002).{{sfn|Kennedy|2014|p=124}} As opposed to Almanzor, who relied on different elements of military such as Saqaliba, Berbers and [[Banu Tujib|Tujibi Arabs]], his brother [[Abd al-Rahman Sanchuelo]] relied only on Berbers, thereby alienating the other groups.{{sfn|Kennedy|2014|pp=124-125}} [[Muhammad II of Córdoba|Muhammad al-Mahdi]] took power in Córdoba in 1009, and he was supported by many military groups, including the Saqaliba leader Wadih of [[Medinaceli]].{{sfn|Kennedy|2014|p=126}} Many Saqaliba groups instead left Córdoba for the [[Levante, Spain|Levante]].{{sfn|Kennedy|2014|pp=126, 140}} The unpopular al-Mahdi, only supported by the Saqaliba and not the populace, lost their favour and was executed in June 1010.{{sfn|Kennedy|2014|p=127}} Wadih was himself executed by the Berbers in November 1011.{{sfn|Kennedy|2014|p=127}} Following the sacking of Córdoba other cities became power centres in al-Andalus following 1013.{{sfn|Kennedy|2014|p=128}} [[Ali ibn Hammud al-Nasir|Ali Hammud]] took advantage of Berber dissent to take power in 1016, but he was assassinated in 1018 by domestic slaves; his supporters summoned his brother [[Al-Qasim al-Ma'mun|Al-Qasim]] who managed to conciliate the Córdobans and had good relations with the Saqaliba leaders.{{sfn|Kennedy|2014|p=129}} He confirmed Saqaliba rulers Khaywan in Almería and Zuhayr in Jaen.{{sfn|Kennedy|2014|p=129}} Al-Qasim sought to free himself of Berber dependence and gathered Negro bodyguards, which made the Berbers support rebellion (1021) and a civil war broke out which made [[Hammudid dynasty|his dynasty]] unable to restore the caliphate.{{sfn|Kennedy|2014|p=129}}

With the disintegration of Córdoba, small states (known as ''[[taifa]]'', "factions, groups") became independent in al-Andalus.{{sfn|Kennedy|2014|p=130}} The Saqaliba came to rule Denia, Valencia and Tortosa.{{sfn|Kennedy|2014|p=131}} When the Berbers took Córdoba in 1013, the Saqaliba leaders had taken power in several Levante areas: Mujahid in Dénia and the Balearics, Khayran in Almería, Mubarak and Muzaffar in Valencia, and shortly afterwards, Muqatil in Tortosa.{{sfn|Kennedy|2014|p=140}} The Saqaliba struggled in maintaining position, probably due to them being eunuchs and the fact that no Saqaliba were purchased for increasing their number following the fall of the caliphate.{{sfn|Kennedy|2014|p=140}} Their taifas were taken over by the Arab dynasties in 1021, 1038, 1042, 1060 and 1076.{{sfn|Kennedy|2014|p=140}}

Among the "[[Amirids]]" who set up taifas in the Levante in Iberia at the beginning of the 11th century were also Saqaliba, such as:

*[[Mubarak and Muzaffar]], emirs of [[Taifa of Valencia|Valencia]] (1010–1018), 
*[[Labib al-Fata al-Saqlabi]], emir of [[Taifa of Tortosa|Tortosa]] (1010–1040) and Valencia (1019–1021)
*[[Mujahid al-Amiri]], emir of [[Taifa of Dénia|Dénia]] (1009–1018) and Valencia (1021), purchased by Almanzor
*[[Khaywan al-Amiri]] (or Khayran), emir of [[Taifa of Almería|Almería]] (1014), from Cordoba palace
*[[Zuhayr al-Saqlabi]], emir of Almería (1028), from Cordoba palace

==See also==
 {{slavery}} {{commonscat}}
*[[History of slavery in the Muslim world]]
*[[Ghilman]]
*[[Mamluk]]
*[[Devshirme]]
*[[Abbasid harem]]
*[[Zanj]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{citation|last=Biermann|first=F.|title=The Archaeology of Slavery in Early Medieval Northern Europe: The Invisible Commodity|series=Themes in Contemporary Archaeology |publisher=Springer International Publishing|publication-place=Cham|date=2021|isbn=978-3-030-73290-5|doi=10.1007/978-3-030-73291-2|doi-access=free}}
* {{cite book |last=Bosworth |first=C.E. |year=1996 |title=The New Islamic Dynasties: a chronological and genealogical manual |place=New York |publisher=Columbia University Press}}
* {{citation|last=Mishin|first=Dmitrij|title=The Saqaliba slaves in the Aghlabid state|year=1998|url=http://www.columbia.edu/itc/history/conant/mushin1998.pdf|location=Budapest|publisher=[[Central European University]]|pages=236–}}
* {{cite journal |last=Jankowiak |first=Marek |date=2017 |title=What Does the Slave Trade in the Saqaliba Tell Us about Early Islamic Slavery? |url=https://research.birmingham.ac.uk/en/publications/what-does-the-slave-trade-in-the-saqaliba-tell-us-about-early-isl |journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies |volume=49 |issue=1 |pages=169–172 |doi=10.1017/S0020743816001240 |issn=0020-7438}}
*Jankowiak, Marek. "Tracing the Saqaliba: Slave trade and the archaeology of the Slavic lands in the tenth century." The Archaeology of Slavery in Early Medieval Northern Europe: The Invisible Commodity. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2021. 161-181.
* {{cite web|last=Jankowiak|first=Marek|title=Dirhams for slaves. Investigating the Slavic slave trade in the tenth century|website=Academia.edu|date=2012|url=https://www.academia.edu/1764468|access-date=2025-10-12}}
* {{cite book|last=Kennedy|first=Hugh|title=Muslim Spain and Portugal: A Political History of al-Andalus|publisher=Routledge|date=2014|isbn=978-1-317-87041-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NFfJAwAAQBAJ}}
* {{cite book|last=Korpela|first=Jukka Jari|title=Slaves from the North: Finns and Karelians in the East European Slave Trade, 900–1600|publisher=BRILL|date=2018|isbn=978-90-04-38173-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xIN1DwAAQBAJ}}
* {{cite book|last=Rodriguez|first=Junius P.|title=The Historical Encyclopedia of World Slavery [2 Volumes]|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic|date=1997|isbn=978-0-87436-885-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ATq5_6h2AT0C&pg=PA565|access-date=2025-10-11}}
* {{cite book|last=Rotman|first=Youval|title=Byzantine Slavery and the Mediterranean World|publisher=Harvard University Press|date=2009|isbn=978-0-674-03611-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p24Z2Nz4bGsC&pg=PA73}}
*{{EI2|last=Seybold|first=C. F.|title=ʿĀmirids|volume=1|page=446}}
*Tabari Kochaksaraei, Sepide, Younes Farahmand, and Hadi Alemzadeh. "The Role of Saqaliba slaves in Weakening the Umayyad Government in Andalusia." Quartely Research Journal of Islamic History 1.43 (2021): 28-28.
*Tabari Kochaksaraei, Sepide, Younes Farahmand, and Hadi Alemzadeh. "How Saqaliba slaves were transferred to Andalusia in the Umayyad period." Quartely Research Journal of Islamic History 1.40 (2020): 29-50.
*Tofiq, Jihad Nuri, and Nariman Abdalla Ali. "The Culture and Customs of Saqaliba in Ibn Faḍlān's Siāhat-Nāme (Travel Narrative) 921." El Tarikh: Journal of History, Culture and Islamic Civilization 4.1 (2023): 1-15.
*Vorbrich, R. "Saqaliba. Słowianie w średniowiecznym Maroku. W: B. NDiaye, IA NDiaye,(red.)." Polska–Afryka. Historia relacji, stan obecny i perspektywy rozwoju (2017): 11-24.
*{{cite web|last1=Yegorov|first1=K.L.|script-title=ru:Ас-сакалиба (славяне) у Ибн Фадлана |trans-title=As-sakaliba (Slavs) by Ibn Fadlan |url=http://www.bibliotekar.ru/rusKiev/23.htm|website=www.bibliotekar.ru|access-date=2 November 2014}}

[[Category:Saqaliba]]
[[Category:Slavic history]]
[[Category:Medieval history of Serbia]]
[[Category:History of Poland during the Piast dynasty]]
[[Category:Arabic words and phrases]]
[[Category:History of slavery in the Muslim world]]
[[Category:Slavery in al-Andalus]]
[[Category:Slaves in the Abbasid Caliphate]]
[[Category:Medieval European slave trade]]