The Role of Doctors in the Slave Trade during the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries within the Kingdom of Valencia (Crown of Aragon)

Slavery had become increasingly widespread throughout the entire Mediterranean region during the late Middle Ages. At the same time, a new form of medicine (based upon the Galenism to which the universities gave voice), together with the practice thereof and its practitioners, had gained ground. Detailed evidence from the Kingdom of Valencia enables us to study these two topics, namely slavery and the new medicine. This article illustrates how doctors came to play a highly active role in the slave trade through the assistance they provided in preventing and rectifying any instances of fraud therein.