Leonardo Da Vinci's mother was a slave

[Brian G Turner]

Interesting research suggests that Leonardo Da Vinci's mother was a slave:

Leonardo da Vinci's mother might have been a slave. Here's what the discovery reveals about Renaissance Europe

A recently discovered note, drawn up by Leonardo da Vinci's father, Piero, in November 1452, shows that he emancipated an enslaved woman named Caterina.

phys.org

Have to admit I was surprised by this, partly because I didn't think much slavery happened within Renaissance Europe itself, let alone of other Europeans (ot thereabouts).

 

[Foxbat]

Have to admit I was surprised by this, partly because I didn't think much slavery happened within Renaissance Europe itself, let alone of other Europeans (ot thereabouts).

I understood that the use of slaves was how both the Christian and Muslim Turkish regimes powered their galleys (still used in the Med even in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries) . These would be men, though. Never heard much about women slaves (unless they were taken during Christian/Muslim conflicts). After the fall of Rhodes in 1522, Italy, Sicily and Malta were more or less the frontline against Turkish expansion in the Med and this perhaps explains the possibility of slaves in this area.