The Mediterranean in the Age of Global Piracy, (Episode 446) (original) (raw)
Related papers
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09518967.2021.1976992, 2022
Book Review of Piracy and law in the Ottoman Mediterranean by Joshua M. White, Stanford, Stanford University Press, 2018, 376 pp., $65.00 (hardcover), ISBN 9781503602526, Francisco Apellániz, Mediterranean Historical Review2021, Vol. 36, No. 2, 288-292 https://doi.org/10.1080/09518967.2021.1976992
Piracy and the debate about slavery and captivity situations in the Medieval Mediterranean
58th Congress of Medieval Studies, 2023
The borders of the territories in the Mediterranean were a propitious scene for the exercise of piracy. These borders varied throughout the Middle Ages. That is why I focus on the fifteenth century, specifically in the territories of the Iberian Peninsula, the Italian Republic of Genoa, Maghreb and Nasrid Granada. The choice of these geographical territories is not haphazard, it is due to the frequent political and commercial relations between these States. Thus, we find terrestrial borders, but also maritime ones where the phenomena of slavery and captivity were frequent due to the exercise of piracy and plunder. However, as the documents show, these phenomena could be abided by pacts or laws that fluctuated according to the political relations between the States. They could also occur outside the law, especially when the slave or captive had been captured by pirates. So, when did a individual legally become a slave or captive? Did conditions vary depending on the State? Is a slave and a captive the same? Did this nomenclature depend on the territory? Answer these questions will be the goal of my presentation. Thus, I am going to clarify each term, pointing out their similarities and differences, not only at a practical level but also at a philological level. This is possible thanks to the immersion in both Christian and Arabic texts that my training as an Arabist allows me, having a broad and new vision of these facts and not sectioned as studies on this subject tend to be used to. So I can establish a comparison between the different Mediterranean States to see their similarities and differences in terms of these issues. This novel vision should be known in order to better understand piracy and captivity in the Mediterranean in the 15th century. This communication deals with piracy and captivity in the Mediterranean in the fifteenth century, specifically in the Christian territories of the Iberian Peninsula, Nasrid Granada, Maghreb and Genoa, due to the frequent political and commercial relations between these States from a practical and philological perspective through Christian and Arabic texts.
G.Harlaftis-D. Dimitropoulos-D. Starkey, eds., Corsairs and Pirates in the Eastern Mediterraneaan, Fifteenth-Nineteenth Centuries, Athens 2016.
Being one of the dominant phenomena of maritime life in the Mediterranean, piracy was bound to leave its traces in Ottoman literature as well. In particular, popular literature of the seventeenth and eighteenth century, but also many works of a more learned character, contain several instances of pirates and corsairs, either as heroes and protagonists themselves or as opponents and persecutors of the heroes. This paper will analyze texts such as a pirate novel from the late seventeenth century, various adventure stories of Ottoman story-tellers (meddah) from the eighteenth century, as well as more scholarly texts of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries on piracy and attitudes against it.
The Mediterranean in the Seventeenth Century: Captives, Pirates and Ransomers
This study examines captivity emanating from piracy or violence linked to maritime hostilities, and its consequences in the Mediterranean world of the seventeenth century. It first addresses the issue of the rise of piracy in this period, discussing the various explanations that have been proffered, then proceeds to the primary subject of the study—the captivity of Jews from the Adriatic coast eastwards, the financial aspects of their ransom, and the social ramifications. Placing these in the broader Jewish context of the Mediterranean and the countries of Western Europe as a whole, it concludes with a comparison of the practices of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim ransom of captives during the period under discussion.
In planning the Sylvia Ioannou Foundation's 2nd International Conference, the Director of the Foundation and the Conference Scientific Committee identified two main aims. The first related to scholarship, for in deciding to focus on piracy and corsairing in the Eastern Mediterranean during the early modern period, it was agreed that the conference should endeavour to stimulate a fresh scientific dialogue on a largely neglected subject. Although the historiography of piracy and corsairing in most seas and oceans of the world is extensive, research on commerce-raiding in the Eastern Mediterranean is lacking. This is perhaps due to the particular difficulties in researching the topic. Given the international, or rather transnational, nature of the subject, skills in languages as diverse as Ottoman, Arabic, Greek, Italian and French are required to interpret activity that was dispersed widely over time and space. While such skills are not easily combined, significant funding is generally required to undertake research in multiple archives in Western as well as Eastern Mediterranean archives, where the documentary evidence that underpins the fascinating stories of pirates and corsairs in the Levant are held. In seeking to mitigate such practical difficulties, the conference incentivised scholars by providing them with the opportunity to present new research findings gleaned from disparate archives, thereby enhancing knowledge and understanding of maritime law, politics, economies and societies. Such broad issues were 'set on the table' and shared, triggering vibrant and exciting discussions that are reflected in the chapters that comprise this volume. The second aim of the conference was to promote the work of younger generations of historians, especially early career scholars and those in mid-career with a research base to build upon or a new line of enquiry to explore. 60% of the participants of the conference, and most of the contributors to this volume, belong to these categories. 1 1. See the conference website at: http://www.sylviaioannoufoundation.org/conferences/2nd-international-conference/papers.html. The conference 'Corsairs and Pirates in the Eastern Mediterranean, 15th-19th centuries', organised by the Sylvia Ioannou Foundation, was held at the