Captive Women: The social history of female captives of war in the former Roman Empire. Late antiquity to the early middle ages, 400-1000 AD

The project investigates the personal fates, legal and social status, and cultural impact of female captives of war in late antiquity and the early middle ages (400-1000 AD) in the post-Roman societies of the Mediterranean basin, with a special focus on the East Roman/Byzantine empre and her neighbors. As opposed to those who were born into slavery and were socialized into a pre-existing cultural environment, captives crossed boundaries between cultures that could be very different in language, religion and socio-economic organization. Wars in this period often produced immense numbers of captives, whose impact on the conquering society could be profound, e.g. in the transmission of technological knowledge and social organization. In the monograph «Siege Warfare and Military Organization in the Successor States» I have investigated how male captives formed new social structures as slaves, clients or full members of their new societies, and were thus fundamental to the transmission of advanced military technology and organization from the Romans to e.g. Huns, Slavs, Avars, Persians and Arabs. Similar mechanisms apply to women, since in late antique society women actively participated in economic activity, often on an industrial scale in women's workshops (gynaecia) that produced clothing for the Roman state and army, or in private enterprise such as olive oil and silk production. In addition their cultural and religious impact was significant. When taken as concubines or wives by conquerors (e.g., under the Umayyads in Syria-Egypt and the Avars, Slavs and Bulgars in the Balkans), they often preserved their language, religion and cultural forms, which they could pass on to their children. Furthermore, conquering societies took captives from populations culturally related to those that ended up under their political control, for example Roman citizens from Cyprus, Sicily, Anatolia who ended up in the Umayyad empire. This produced a situation where female captives could still maintain contact with their cultural origins, while reinforcing ties and influences between conquering elite and subject populations. The project's first results has been the successful conference "Common Men and Women at War, 300-1500 AD", at NTNU, Trondheim, 2-4 June 2014. The conference convened leading international experts in the field of military history with the objective of examining the role of lower-status population segments as both actors and victims of warfare, thus providing a wider context for understanding the role of women as captives within the larger framework of social history in conditions of warfare. For details on participants and subjects covered, as well as forthcoming publications, see the website www.commonmenandwomenatwar.com. The contributions will soon be ready for submission to Brill publishers for peer review and are expected to be published in early 2016. Since then a successful stay at Rome (the Norwegian Institute and American Academy in Rome, with lectures given at La Sapienza and Università Europea di Roma) and associated travels in Sicily, the western Balkans (Greece to Slovenia) and northern Italy have greatly increased the project's scholarly network and dramatically improved familiarity with sites associated with warfare in the period. The results are still being analyzed and will be incorporated in the project's final publication(s). Finally, Syriac manuscripts most relevant to the project have been examined at the British Library, revealing new and hitherto unknown information on the early Islamic conquests, although no details can be revealed before the results have been accepted for publication.

The project will investigate the personal fates, legal and social status, and cultural impact of female captives of war in late antiquity and the early middle ages (400-1000 AD) in the societies of the Mediterranean basin. As opposed to those who were bor n into slavery and were socialized into a pre-existing cultural environment, captives crossed boundaries between cultures that could be very different in language, religion and socio-economic organization. Wars in this period often produced immense number s of captives, whose impact on the conquering society was profound, e.g. in the transmission of technological knowledge and social organization. In my Ph.D. project I have worked on how male captives formed new social structures as slaves, clients or full members of their new societies, and were thus fundamental to the transmission of advanced military technology and organization from the Romans to e.g. Huns, Slavs, Avars, Persians and Arabs. The same must apply to women, since in late antique society wom en actively participated in economic activity, often on an industrial scale in women's workshops (gynaecia) that produced clothing for the Roman state and army, or in private enterprise such as olive oil and silk production. In addition their cultural and religious impact must have been significant. Even if taken as concubines or wives by conquerors, they often preserved their language, religion and cultural forms, which they could pass on to their children. Furthermore, conquering societies took captives from populations that ended up under their political control. This produced a situation where female captives could still maintain contact with their cultural origins, reinforcing ties and influences. In contrast, deportation to new lands would lead to a ll loss of contact. A main focus will therefore be the long-term cultural effects of their household experience and cultural influences in daily life, language and rituals.