Date of Award
4-2009
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
History
First Advisor
Dr. Larry Simon
Second Advisor
Dr. James Palmitessa
Third Advisor
Dr. Luigi Andrea Berto
Access Setting
Masters Thesis-Campus Only
Abstract
Medieval Sicily was a region with a multi-ethnic past. There were significant Greek, Muslim, and Jewish populations living on the island in the twelfth and thir teenth centuries, but the population demographics had changed by the fourteenth century. Substantial Greek and Muslim minorities had disappeared from Palermo by this time, having been replaced by a population that was Latinzied. A new group of Greeks arrived in Palermo after 1300, which consisted of Byzantine slaves and immigrants.
This thesis uses four Palermitan notarial registers from the 1320s and 1330s, as well as royal and municipal legislation and city court records, to explore the Greek population over a variety of issues such as ethnic survival, slavery, labor, and cultural interaction. It presents a more complete history of this minority popula tion, and a better understanding of aspects of medieval Palermitan society.
Recommended Citation
Goodman, Jack, "A Study of The Greek Minority of Early Fourteenth Century Palermo" (2009). Masters Theses. 212.
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses/212