That Most Precious Merchandise

That Most Precious Merchandise: The Mediterranean Trade in Black Sea Slaves, 1260–1500
	Book cover
Author	Hannah Barker
Language	English
Subject	Black Sea, Mediterranean, Slave trade
Genre	History, Non-fiction
Publisher	University of Pennsylvania Press
Publication date	2019 (hardback, ebook), 2022 (paperback)
Pages	328 (hardback)
ISBN	978-0812251548
Website	University of Pennsylvania Press

That Most Precious Merchandise: The Mediterranean Trade in Black Sea Slaves, 1260–1500 is a book by Hannah Barker, published by University of Pennsylvania Press in 2019.^[1]

Drawing on both Latin and Arabic sources, the author presents a study of the medieval slave trade between the Black Sea area and Italy and the Near East. The book looks into the role major Italian trading powers such as Genoa and Venice played in the slave trade, as well as the Mamluk sultanate, which held control over Egypt and the Levantine coast.^[2]^[3]

The book was awarded the Paul E. Lovejoy Prize in 2019 by the Journal of Global Slavery.^[4]

Structure

The book contains normal front material and an introduction followed by seven chapters and a conclusion, with a bibliography and index.^[1]

Introduction

Chapter 1: Slavery in the Late Medieval Mediterranean
Chapter 2: Difference and the Perception of Slave Status
Chapter 3: Societies with Slaves: Genoa, Venice, and the Mamluk Sultanate
Chapter 4: The Slave Market and the Act of Sale
Chapter 5: Making Slaves in the Black Sea
Chapter 6: Constraining Disorder: Merchants, States, and the Structure of the Slave Trade
Chapter 7: Crusade, Embargo, and the Trade in Mamluk Slaves

Conclusion, bibliography, index

Academic journal reviews

Carr, Mike (2021). "That Most Precious Merchandise: The Mediterranean Trade in Black Sea Slaves, 1260–1500. Hannah Barker (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019). Pp. 328. ISBN: 9780812251548". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 53 (3): 551–552. doi:10.1017/S0020743821000647. S2CID 239084395.
De Lucia, Lori (2021). "That Most Precious Merchandise: The Mediterranean Trade in Black Sea Slaves, 1260–1500 by Hannah Barker". Digital Philology: A Journal of Medieval Cultures. 10: 140–142. doi:10.1353/dph.2021.0007.
Fontaine, Janel, "That Most Precious Merchandise: The Mediterranean Trade in Black Sea Slaves, 1260-1500", Reviews in History, Institute of Historical Research, University of London, retrieved 27 July 2023
Hagedorn, Jan H. (2020). "Review: That Most Precious Merchandise: The Mediterranean Trade in Black Sea Slaves, 1260–1500, by Hannah Barker". Journal of Medieval Worlds. 2 (3–4): 141–143. doi:10.1525/jmw.2020.2.3-4.141. S2CID 234568078.
Strand, K. (2023), Book Review – That Most Precious Merchandise: The Mediterranean Trade in Black Sea Slaves, 1260-1500, by Hannah Barker, retrieved 27 July 2023
Weiss, Gillian (2023). "The Black Sea Slave Trade". The American Historical Review. 128 (2): 963–965. doi:10.1093/ahr/rhab505.
White, Joshua M. (2022). "That most precious merchandise: The Mediterranean trade in Black Sea slaves, 1260–1500". Mediterranean Historical Review. 37: 111–114. doi:10.1080/09518967.2022.2055929. S2CID 250025036.
Zhang, Angela (2020). "Reviewed work: That Most Precious Merchandise: The Mediterranean Trade in Black Sea Slaves, 1260–1500, Hannah Barker". Renaissance and Reformation / Renaissance et Réforme. 43 (3): 276–278. doi:10.33137/rr.v43i3.35319. JSTOR 26991328. S2CID 234449163.

Citation

Barker, Hannah (2019). That Most Precious Merchandise. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 9780812251548. JSTOR j.ctv16t6ckk.

About the author

Hannah Barker is an author, historian, and associate professor of history at Arizona State University. Their research focuses on late medieval Mediterranean and the Black Sea history. They earned their Ph.D. in history from Columbia University.^[5]^[6]

Similar or related works

References

^ ^a ^b Barker, Hannah (2019). That Most Precious Merchandise. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 9780812251548. JSTOR j.ctv16t6ckk.
^ Hagedorn, J. H. (1 December 2020). "Review: That Most Precious Merchandise: The Mediterranean Trade in Black Sea Slaves, 1260–1500, by Hannah Barker". Journal of Medieval Worlds. 2 (3–4): 141–143. doi:10.1525/jmw.2020.2.3-4.141. ISSN 2574-3988. S2CID 234568078.
^ White, Joshua M. (2022). "That most precious merchandise: The Mediterranean trade in Black Sea slaves, 1260–1500". Mediterranean Historical Review. 37: 111–114. doi:10.1080/09518967.2022.2055929. S2CID 250025036.
^ "Paul E. Lovejoy Prize". Brill. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
^ "Hannah Barker", Arizona State University, retrieved 27 July 2023
^ "Interview with Hannah Barker". Journal of Global Slavery. 5 (3). Brill: 283–286. 22 October 2020. doi:10.1163/2405836X-00503002. S2CID 242120116. Retrieved 22 July 2019.

External links

University of Pennsylvania Press: That Most Precious Merchandise: The Mediterranean Trade in Black Sea Slaves, 1260-1500, retrieved 27 July 2023
Google Books: That Most Precious Merchandise

[jj.ctv16t6ckk-1] Barker, Hannah (2019). That Most Precious Merchandise. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 9780812251548. JSTOR j.ctv16t6ckk.

[2] Hagedorn, J. H. (1 December 2020). "Review: That Most Precious Merchandise: The Mediterranean Trade in Black Sea Slaves, 1260–1500, by Hannah Barker". Journal of Medieval Worlds. 2 (3–4): 141–143. doi:10.1525/jmw.2020.2.3-4.141. ISSN 2574-3988. S2CID 234568078.

[3] White, Joshua M. (2022). "That most precious merchandise: The Mediterranean trade in Black Sea slaves, 1260–1500". Mediterranean Historical Review. 37: 111–114. doi:10.1080/09518967.2022.2055929. S2CID 250025036.

[4] "Paul E. Lovejoy Prize". Brill. Retrieved 22 July 2023.

[5] "Hannah Barker", Arizona State University, retrieved 27 July 2023

[6] "Interview with Hannah Barker". Journal of Global Slavery. 5 (3). Brill: 283–286. 22 October 2020. doi:10.1163/2405836X-00503002. S2CID 242120116. Retrieved 22 July 2019.

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