DOŚWIADCZENIA „WYGNAŃCZE” LUDNOŚCI JAKO SKUTEK DZIAŁAŃ MILITARNYCH NA PÓŁWYSPIE IBERYJSKIM W OKRESIE ŚREDNIOWIECZA
EXPERIENCE OF EXILE AS A CONSEQUENCE OF MILITARY ACTION ON THE IBERIAN PENINSULA IN THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD

Summary/Abstract: Military actions that took place constantly for a few centuries during Muslim dominance, and subsequently gradual regaining of the territories by the Christians, resulted in creation of militarized society (especially on the borderlands), whose everyday existence was characterized by a huge level of danger and uncertainty. Escape, exile, displacement, emigration or depopulation of the formerly inhabited places accompanied it. Rural population experienced the biggest losses – the necessity of a frequent change of place resulted in impoverishment of the arable land. Constant changes were triggered by the Reconquista. In the situation where a Christian ruler did not allow the Muslims to leave the territory they had conquered, illegal immigration was becoming widespread. On the other hand, expulsion of the Muslims from the recovered territory created a necessity to populate those towns by Christians, who were encouraged, for example, by means of privileges. However, a part of the towns became uninhabited. The exile tended to be a consequence of an invasion (the refugees sought the shelter in the mountains or in the fortresses, where they tried to put up resistance, or, relatively, they just sought for a safer place to live), of difficult life conditions or epidemic (e.g. the plague that decimated the population in the 14th c.). Another exile experience was a fate of prisoners of war, who could have been sold as slaves and deported to another country or were forced to a slavery work that was equal to ransom and created opportunities to regain freedom.

• Details
• Contents