Letter of a Frankish Abolitionist

Dear Peter

I trust you are doing well.

I hope Maria is doing well and that your young son is in good health.

As I am writing this letter I have barely been back from the East for a week.

Your previous letter about the progress the Abolitionist have made in the parliament was very encouraging to me. I pray continually that more people may see the evil of slavery as I have.

Mr Hans also sent me a letter telling of the Abolitionist in Shaeligheim. It seems the people's in the west are more open to eliminating slavery. To them not doing anything yourself is seen as having a lack of character.

That is possibly why they have come up with all those wonderful machines that makes farm life so much easier.

But if you want to know more then you can read Han's letter, which should be included in the package I'm sending you.

But musings like this is not why I am writing to you.

As I have mentioned I have recently returned from a trip to the East.

While I was planning on traveling all the way to China, I never got further than the Roman Empire before being forced to turn back.

A small series of wars had broken out between the Romans and the Muslims.

Some Muslim clerics had incited people to kill several bishops and priests at a church counsel. In response the Roman Emperor had the Dome of Rock torn down in Jerusalem and all clerics expelled from the Roman Empire.

I would say the reaction by the Emperor was rather rash. Now there is a war.

Unfortunately for the Muslims the Russ has decided to become involved and the Tartar now fight on two front.

Now because of the war I was unable to travel. So instead I spent my time in Constantinople trying to establish an abolitionist movement. It was while I was doing this task that I came to face a problem.

Slaves in the Roman Empire seems to be treated better than anywhere else.

While looking around the city, people I thought were slaves by their appearance turned out to be laborers earning a wage. It took me a week to finally find a slave. The man, his name was Ali, was dressed in good clothes and was a teacher. Every moment I could I would talk to him. Unlike in the Central countries and in Ethiopia, slave labor is often not unskilled labor. Slave are usually people that have useful skills like smiths, masons, and teachers. An untrained slave will often not be bought by a Roman citizen. The only time I heard of untrained slave being bought was when a noble needed to field an army quickly. Appar those men were freed they and were even granted citizenship as they had become part if the Roman army.

And the laws in the Roman Empire require slaves to be treated like family. The law almost says exactly that.

And slaves can often achieve their freedom. Once every seven years the Roman Emperor decrees that all slave are to be evaluated and those deemed to be of good standing are freed if they wish to be.

According to Ali many freed slaves often enroll in the Roman army and become Romans.

Ali himself have not been able to achieve his freedom. He was taken as a slave by slavers when a ship he was traveling on was attacked. He only heard about the Evaluations after he had been a slave for 6 years. He has yet to achieve his freedom.

Currently he is sold from one noble household to another tutoring children.

While what I have written might sounds good, not all freed slaves have good lives after being freed. As the months went on I met more freed slave that wished to return to slavery as they no longer had the ability to live the lives that their owners had afforded them. Many are now living more like slaves as freemen.

But I can give you more details when I come to visit.

I just want to end with good news. I was able to start a Abolitionist group. The leader is a man named Juluis Aaronson. He is a gold merchant and has influenced in the Emperor's Court.

Kind regards

Louise.