Sep 24, 2025
11:45am - 1:00pm
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2025-09-24T00:00:00
2025-09-24T00:00:00
America/New_York
GLC@Lunch: "European Slavery from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of the Transatlantic Trade: The British Isles"
Elizabeth Griffith (independent scholar)
The enslavement of Europeans, by Europeans, is among the least known of global slaveries and is the subject of a book-in-progress by independent scholar Elizabeth Griffith. In this talk, Griffith presents her chapter on slavery in the British Isles from the definitive departure of the Romans in 410 CE to the last-documented evidence of English “bondmen” in 1617. The chaotic post-Roman period saw warfare and slave-making between Picts, Saxons, Romanized Britons and others. Anglo-Saxon slavery, with Viking raids and Danish demand for geld, was extensive, characterized by practices from various cultures and legal traditions. The Normans imposed Carolingian-inflected limitations on the slave trade in the 12th century, and slavery in the British Isles was long thought to have withered after that. However, a little-known but substantial presence of “bondmen” persisted on British demesnes, both lay and ecclesiastic, until Stuart times. Griffith cites new scholarship (historical, literary, and archaeological), recent reassessments, and little-known sources to tell the story, which includes Elizabeth I’s involvement in bondmen and her about-face on the African slave trade.
Hybrid Event:
In person | Yale University Rosenkranz Hall, Room 241, 115 Prospect Street, New Haven 06511 (Note: In-person seating is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis.)
Online | Zoom
New Haven, CT | Zoom — 115 Prospect Street
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