The Mercenary Mediterranean_ Sovereignty, Religion, and Violence in the Medieval Crown of Aragon - Hussein Fancy

94 chapter four

and ornamental function of these soldiers also outlasted the military and

practical one.

There is, however, one important distinction between these intertwined

histories. Unlike the jenets, a large number of Christian troops in North

Africa were, in fact, slaves or converts of slave origin. Although earlier

studies have tended to emphasize the presence of mercenaries and war-

lords, men who were attracted by the prospect of making their fortunes

or seeking political refuge, these free men were also employed alongside

slave soldiers.^141 Indeed, there were large Christian slave populations in

North Africa serving in a variety of roles. Eva Lapiedra has argued that

Arabic texts were intentionally ambiguous in distinguishing between free

and slave soldiers. Chronicles refer to Christian militias sometimes spe-

cifically as slaves (‘abīd or mamālīk) and other times more generically as

barbarians (‘ulūj) or simply Christians (rūm or naṣārā).^142 If one wanted

to generalize, then the term “slave” does appear more frequently to de-

scribe members of the royal entourage (biṭāna, dā’ira, ḥāshiya, khāṣṣa,

‘abīd al- dār, or sanī‘a).^143 But for Lapiedra, this ambiguity reflected the

fact that these distinctions in status were essentially irrelevant to Islamic

rulers.^144 From the perspective of the royal court, all foreign Christian sol-

diers, whether they were free or not, were still thought of as slaves, as royal

possessions.^145 This perspective not only resonates strongly with the Sicil-

ian and Aragonese tradition of the servi camerae regis but also points us

toward an even earlier precedent for the employment of “infidel” soldiers

in western Mediterranean courts.

Military Slaves

Although armed slaves can be found in numerous contexts from ancient

Greece and Rome to Revolutionary America, the scope and significance

of military slavery in the Islamic world is unparalleled.^146 Beginning at least

with al- Mahdī (r. 775 – 785 ) and more fully under al- Mu‘taṣim (r. 833 – 842 ),

the ‘Abbāsid caliphs imported Turkic slaves to serve in their armies, trans-

forming the nature of Islamic military forces for centuries to come.^147 As

young boys, these soldiers were trained in both martial and courtly arts.

Although they continued to be called slaves (‘abīd, ghilmān, or mamālīk),

they were usually at least nominally converted to Islam and manumitted.^148

Occasionally, these soldiers became part of the ruling elite, enjoying ex-

traordinary wealth and power. This military servitude, in other words, was