Black Africans’ Freedom Litigation Suits to Define Just War and Just Slavery in the Early Spanish Empire

This article explores how some enslaved Black Africans litigated for their freedom in Spanish royal courts in the sixteenth century on the basis that—as Christians—they had been unjustly enslaved in Africa. With a focus on the port cities of Seville and Cartagena, I explore how freedom litigation su...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inRenaissance quarterly Vol. 73; no. 4; pp. 1277 - 1319
Main Author IRETON, CHLOE L.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Cambridge Cambridge University Press 01.12.2020
Subjects
16th century
17th century
African history
Blacks
Christianity
Christians
Cristianos
Epistemology
Epistemología
Esclavitud
Freedom
Historia de España
History of Spain
Imperio español
Jesuitas
Jesuits
Justice
Justicia
Legitimacy
Libertad
Litigation
Negros
Paganism & animism
Ports
Siglo XVI
Siglo XVII
Slavery
Spanish Empire
Theologians
Theology
Spanish Empire
Cartagena Spain
Central Africa
Seville Spain
Africa
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Summary:This article explores how some enslaved Black Africans litigated for their freedom in Spanish royal courts in the sixteenth century on the basis that—as Christians—they had been unjustly enslaved in Africa. With a focus on the port cities of Seville and Cartagena, I explore how freedom litigation suits illuminate how individuals from starkly different social worlds and intellectual milieus—who inhabited the same urban sites—affected and shaped one another’s intellectual landscapes. I trace how enslaved Africans’ epistemologies of just slavery shaped broader discourses on the just enslavement of Africans in the Spanish Empire.
ISSN:0034-4338
1935-0236
DOI:10.1017/rqx.2020.219