The admission of former slaves into churches and monasteries: reaching behind the sources

Religious institutions in early medieval Europe were both recipients of former slaves and instigators of manumissions. By drawing on recent work concerning the admission of former slaves into churches and monasteries, the present paper identifies dominant strands in the historiography from Marc Bloch to the present, which are then re-evaluated in light of a close examination of core sources. The paper argues that while the contention that such institutions were the primary beneficiaries of manumissions can indeed be sustained, there are also important moderating nuances to take into account. These include slaves of churches who were freed but continued to live on the churches' lands; alternatives to ‘formal' manumission; distinctions between churches and monasteries in regard to the admission of former slaves; convergences between Roman law and canon law; and, in the sixth century, the direct involvement of both the papacy and the imperial court in establishing a regulating template for admitting former slaves.