Christian captives in North African Bagnos

In the last public lecture of the Saturday morning series before the summer hiatus, on Saturday 17 May at 11am, Dr Matthias Ebejer and Maria Dobos Falzon will discuss Religious Materiality: Christian Captives in North African Bagnos during the Early Modern Period.

The Mediterranean Sea was a backdrop to conflicts and convergences between North African Muslim mariners and European Christians in the early modern period. As much as the sea allowed for commercial, diplomatic, and leisurely voyages, it was also a theatre for conflict. While not all conflict was religiously motivated, in the Mediterranean, religious was a main factor behind captivity and segregation. 

Furthermore, faith was not only a distinguishing factor of the captive’s otherness in an alien society, but also as a channel of comfort and unity within the prison walls (bagnos).

Detailed accounts of religious ceremonies held by slaves during their captivity attest to the unexpectedly large quantity of religious materiality obtained by these captives, often with the assistance of their jailors. These objects served as a medium that, for a limited time, suspended the feeling of captivity and offered the captives a semblance of home. 

This materiality can be studied through both the lens of the captive, who is finding in it a conduit of solace; or the captor who extends an offering in the hope of a more docile inmate. This paper will consider examples of religious materiality connected to Christians in captivity in the bagnos of Morocco, Tripoli and Algiers. 

Rather than focusing on personal materiality that belonged to displaced individuals, this lecture seeks to concentrate on objects which were either shared with all the inmates, or tokens of remembrance offered to churches or mosques by those individuals who managed to return home.

Maria Dobos Falzon is a Collections Officer with the Archdiocese of Malta and holds an MSc in Museum Studies from Leicester, where she won the Jim Roberts Prize for her research on museums and biodiversity. Dr Matthias Ebejer is a historian and senior collections specialist with the Archdiocese, with a PhD from the European University Institute in Florence and curatorial roles across Malta.

Admission is free, but seat reservations are recommended by sending an email to events@heartofgozo.org.mt.