The Ragusan “Maids-of-all-Work”

Shifting Labor Relations in the Late Medieval Adriatic Sea Region

Bibliographic Data

ID13112293
AuthorsJuliane Schiel (0000-0002-9277-5887, University of Vienna, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume5
Issue2
Pages139-169
Publication date2020-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Global Slavery (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2405-8351 • E-ISSN: 2405-836X
PublisherBrill (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1163/2405836x-00502002
OpenAlexW3038213963
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited15

This article discusses bonded labor relations and their changes through the example of Slavic migrant workers in late medieval Ragusa (Dubrovnik). Over roughly 150 years, Ragusa changed from a site of localized, endemic labor exploitation to a commodified labor market with transregional implications. Based on a close examination of notary deeds and legislative acts, the article presents an empirically grounded approach to category formation and a careful reconstruction of the Ragusan grammar of coericon. While labels and classification systems for unskilled Slavic migrants changed over time, they remained the “maids-of-all-work”—a nonspecialist labor force that could be taken into service for a variety of tasks wherever they were needed

Agrarian society · Archaeology · Commodification · Economics · Economy · Grammar · Labour economics · Legislature · Linguistics · Service (business · Slavic languages · Sociology · Variety (cybernetics · Work (physics · Balkan and Eastern European Studies · Balkans: History, Politics, Society · Byzantine Studies and History · Classics · Computer Science · Engineering · History

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