Abstract
The famous written account by the Sephardi Jew Ibrahim ibn Yakub from 960s describe Prague as a tow through which merchant caravan pass, a place where Jewish and Muslim merchants buy not only furs and tin but also slaves. A slave trade in Bohemia is also mentioned in an older source, the Raffelstetten custom regulations from the beginning of tjhe 10th century.
It also mentions Jewish merchants in connenction with slaves. Other sources from the 9th and 10th centuries hint at Jews trading in slaves as well.
Such trade appears in the legend of Methodius' pupil St. Naum, Benedictine monk John Canaparius writes about Jews owning slaves in his legend of St.
Adalbert. This chapter analyses the mentioned sources, upon which a new interpretation of Jewish slave trade can be made in light of the research abroad.
A critical evaluation of the mentions referenced in these reports gives us the opportunity to reconsider the common idea that slaves comprised a dominant commodity of the Jewish merchants that passed through Bohemia.