The captives in al-Andalus during the Umayyad caliphate of Cordoba. Legal, social and economic aspects

Study of the captives in al- Andalus (Muslim Spain), mostly Christians, during the period when they abounded most: the caliphate of Hish. m II (976-10092) and the government of his haib al-Mansur Ibn Abi 'Amir (977-1002). The paper focuses on the captives' origin and provenance, as well as on the process of sale and manumission once they had been enslaved, according to the andalusian books of watha' iq (notarials forms), and its economics effects. The survey shows the prevalence of natives from Galicia, a very large presence of women and one important frequency of manumissions due to a diversity of social and economic reasons which are analysed.