ABSTRACT

The quantitative evidence for slavery in Carolingian Bavaria can be stated rather quickly. Patterson's criterion for a 'large-scale' slave society is not fundamentally quantitative. The most revealing quantitative sources have been touched upon already, particularly in the discussion of birth as a source of slaves. The broadest overview available for this period is the survey of the bishopric of Augsburg's estates, of which the Bavarian manor at Staffelsee was one, while others would have been located in neighboring Alemannia. At Lauterbach in 820/21, the servile population reached 100 per cent; only the free smith on Abbot Sigifrid's estate was excepted. The royal manor at Ingolstadt, surveyed in an 841 deed cited by Bloch, himself, had 22 servile manses, all inhabited, and the demesne held 22 male and female slaves; in addition, twelve 'sintmen', possibly privileged tenants who performed messenger services, are mentioned.