News of a Kidnapping
News of a Kidnapping
This chapter recreates the plight of the abbot of Cluny by interconnecting three distinct but related topics: the perils and promises of transalpine travel for merchants and pilgrims around the year 1000; the impact of the Muslims of Fraxinetum on Provencal society; and the career of Maiolus himself, who travelled repeatedly through the Alps during his tenure as abbot of Cluny (954–94). The chapter asserts that the Muslims of Fraxinetum were an entrepreneurial community that took advantage of the lawlessness of tenth-century Provence—pursuing profitable enterprises like kidnapping and slave trading. The inadvertent capture of Maiolus was not insignificant, for Christian leaders responded to this offense by organizing a military campaign that eventually eradicated the Muslims of Fraxinetum.
Keywords: Cluny, Maiolus, Muslims of Fraxinetum, Provencal society, Provence, Christian leaders
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