中古早期法兰克教会反对释奴举证

Some Counterexamples of the Frankish Church on Manumission in the Early Middle Ages

10—11世纪欧洲奴隶制已明显衰落。有关衰落的原因,不少学者将其归功于教会的努力,尤其是倡导释奴。此观点受19世纪废奴运动影响,多以文献中丰富的释奴倡导为依据。从中古留下的有关身份自由与否的诉讼文本中,可获悉身份存疑者的自由诉求和教会的态度。这些文本尚未引起学界重视。中古早期法兰克王国的26个案例表明,教会虽然积极倡导世俗奴隶主释奴,但却反对其属下身份存疑劳动者的自由诉求,将其中一些人贬为奴隶。因此,在危及自身利益的情况下,教会并非释奴的积极倡导者,而是阻碍者。

Slavery had evidently declined in Europe during the 10th and the 11th century.Many scholars attributed this decline to the efforts of the Church,especially in advocating for manumission.This viewpoint was influenced by the Abolitionist Movement of the 19th century,and was mostly based on the abundant advocacy of manumission in literature.The surviving medieval litigation texts regarding individual freedom,shed light on the claims made by those whose identity was in doubt and the ecclesiastical attitudes towards it.However,these texts have not yet received attention from the academic community.The twenty-six cases of the Frankish kingdom in the early Medieval Ages show that,although the Church actively advocated for the manumission of secular slave owners,it attempted to suppress its subordinate laborers with questionable identities who sought their freedom under ecclesiastical control,and even relegated some of them to the status of slaves.Therefore,the Church was not an active advocator of the manumission of slaves,but rather an obstacle when its own interests were at stake.