Moral Transgression and Enslavement in Early Modern Livorno (17th-18th Centuries)

Abstract

This article investigates how sodomy involving enslaved and formerly enslaved
Muslim men was perceived and prosecuted in early modern Livorno, focusing
first on the Bagno degli schiavi and then on the shops and taverns where enslaved
Muslims worked. Drawing on court records and administrative sources, it shows
that cases involving Muslims were viewed with particular suspicion, shaped by
long-standing Christian stereotypes that linked Islam to vice and moral disorder.
The first part of the article examines the Bagno and the galleys as spaces
of confinement, coercion, and close male proximity, where Capuchin reforms
introduced after 1677 increased vigilance without eliminating these practices.
The second part turns to more open urban settings, such as dockside taverns and
workshops, where the relative autonomy of enslaved Muslims facilitated interfaith
encounters, especially pederastic relations involving vulnerable, often Christian,
youths. Overall, the article argues that prosecutions for sodomy reflected
wider anxieties about religious contamination, social hierarchy, and the ambiguous
integration of enslaved Muslims into Livorno’s urban life.