Slavery

   Slavery existed throughout the history of Byzantium (q.v.) as an inheritance from Roman times that the church tolerated. Prisoners of war were a common source of slaves. From the 10th century onward campaigns in the Balkan Peninsula (q.v.) were a major source of slaves, as were lands north of the Black Sea (q.v.). Slaves were used in imperial workshops and for a variety of other urban tasks. However, their use in the countryside never eclipsed free villages and a free peasantry, which remained the norm. Slavery was accepted in the West as well. The eastern shore of the Adriatic (q.v.) became Europe's "slave coast," so to speak, where Slavs (q.v.) were obtained. In west European languages "slave" became synonymous with Slavs; the term in Greek was doulos, which could also be used in reference to holy men, in the sense of being a servant of God.