In Distant Places Among Alien People: Slavery, Friendship, and Tatar-Venetian Relations in the 15th Century
Dodd Hall 275 390 Portola Plaza, Los Angeles, CA, United StatesGuest Speaker: Hannah Barker (Arizona State University) In 1455, the Venetian patrician Giosafat Barbaro encountered an old friend in surprising circumstances. As a young merchant in the Black Sea port of Tana, Barbaro had met and befriended a local Tatar notable named Chebechzi. At the end of his time in Tana, Barbaro returned home expecting never to see Chebechzi again. He certainly did not expect to find him enslaved in a Venetian wine shop ten years later. At the moment, Barbaro acted immediately to assert Chebechzi’s freedom and help him return home. Later in life, Barbaro also wrote a memoir...
