pirates-msg - 12/25/19

Pirates throughout the Middle Ages

NOTE: See also the files: pirates-lnks, ships-bib, ships-msg, Seakeeping-p1-art, med-ships-art, nav-inst-msg, Norse-msg, travel-foods-msg, ship-measure-msg.

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From: losarro at aol.com (L Osarro)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Pirates
Date: 18 Mar 1995 06:07:46 -0500

the Aquitaine was not Gascony, but Guienne.

In the period 1200-1300CE, you could easily have been an English pirate
almost anywhere in the European world. In the eastern Med, as a holdover
from a Crusade, former Saracen prisoner, or participant in the wars
involving the shattered Byzantine Empire, the Turks, Venice, and the
Frankish Morea. in the western Med, the dispute between Aragon and the HRE
over Sicily, the continuing wars between Christian and Muslim, the wars
among the Italian cities In the Atlantic, the disputes between the English
and French (cf earlier message re Eustace), the wars between England and
Scotland. and in the Baltic, the various disputes among the Hansa cities,
the Scandinavian kingdoms. Basically, whereever there was trade by sea,
there have been those who made a living by piracy or privateering. So --
choose where and when you want to be; as long as you have the sea, you
have pirates in our period


From: lsteele at mtholyoke.edu (Lisa Steele)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Pirates
Date: 19 Mar 1995 17:36:08 GMT
Organization: Mount Holyoke College

IVANOR at delphi.com wrote:
>    > Humm, I don't have much on 13C England at hand. The major problems
>    > would be (1) if based in England, ship technology in the No. Altantic
>    >was still darn primitive; (2) if based in the Med. (a former Crusader
>    > perhaps), then might well be part of an Italian or Arabic crew.
>    >Gibralta wasn't open to Christian shipping until the victory at Las
>    >Navas de Tolosa in 1212. I'll see what I can find...

> Well, to begin with, an English pirate in the 13th century would probably be
> working the North Sea and the Channel....  and perhaps the Irish Sea as
> well.  But NOT the North Atlantic, and not the Mediterranean.  (The Moslem
> lake, as it was then!)

  North Atlantic as a broad term then, encompassing the Channel and trade 
routes from Norway to southern France.

  As for the Med. there is tons of documentation that although it was 
dominated by the Muslims, Italian (esp. Venetian) merchants were busy 
trading with Egypt, Palestine, Byzantium, the Black Sea, Greece, and 
France. Check out, FREX, Lopez & Raymond's _Medieval Trade in the Med. 
World_ or, of couse, Braudel's _Med. in the Age of Philip II_ 
(technically post 13C, but ranges all over time to explain how things got 
to be where they were under Philip II).


From: dani at telerama.lm.com
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Pirates
Date: 15 Mar 1995 17:46:20 -0500
Organization: Telerama Public Access Internet, Pittsburgh, PA USA

Jerry Norris <jerryn at crl.com>:
>My good wife had in mind me, who has in mind a sea-dog from England, his
>father English, his mother French.  Current interest is in the 13th century.

The "sea-dog from England" phrase is strongly evocative of the 17th-19th
century pirates that movies and Treasure Island have made familiar.
Piracy goes way back -- it flourished in Classical times as well as through
the middle ages -- but my impression is that in most or all of our period
it was more of a summer job than a subculture.

That is, pirates weren't outlaws and semi-outlaws with distinctive dress
and customs, any more than Viking raiders were 'rogue' Norsemen.  Rather,
coastal piracy was a respectable -- if somewhat risky -- way to make a living.

This isn't to say that a pirate isn't a viable persona, so much as that,
culturally, the pirate aspect is secondary.  You don't get many people who
choose, say, being a dancer for a persona and only incidentally worry about
whether they're Italian or Moorish or German.  Similarly, your background,
your clothing, etc., is going to depend much, much more on whether you're
raiding out of Dublin or Sicily than on whether you fight on land or on sea.
-----
Dani of the Seven Wells
dani at telerama.lm.com


From: corwyn at aol.com (CORWYN)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Pirates
Date: 16 Mar 1995 03:58:24 -0500

Hmmm.  Sorry dani, but you are in fact incorrect about pirates not being a
seperate subculture in period.  Some examples: First, (elizabethan)
period: the distinct subculture was the Tudor navy-they tended to be
fulltime pirates between wars, when they werent starting them.  Also, many
of the towns along the south and Irish coasts existed primarily for piracy
and it's support institutions.  Those  pirates were full time, until they
got nooked by the navy.

Earlier, we have the "victual brother (14th century) who were set up much
like the bretheren of the coast in the carribean, except these stalwarts
terrorized the baltic.  Distinct culture, and probably dress, if a bit
warmer than in the carib.

Even earlier the channel pirates, for instance the notorious Eustace the
monk, a defrocked (dishabited ?) monk who turned the pirate fleet into a
mercenary fleet, switching off sides between John and the Frech King
(philip?) whenever the pay was better.  

And so on.  My personal opinion is _everything_ that is cool about popular
"modern" pirates can be found in period (except maybe tricorn hats...)  
One good reference: Phillip Gosse, "The History of Piracy"
I've got tons more but the system is going down...
Corwyn, Baron, Admiral, etc.  and not at all a pirate any more...ever.  I
meant ever.  really.  


From: Jonathan Thorne <baron at sauron.hacks.arizona.edu>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: PYRATES!!! website...
Date: Thu, 08 Feb 1996 10:28:33 -0800
Organization: Barony of Tir Ysgithr, Kingdom of Atenveldt

I am posting this for a friend...

PYRATES!!!

http://sauron.hacks.arizona.edu/sca/pyrates.html


From: zjohnsto at alsvid.scu.edu.au (Zebee Johnstone)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: West Kingdom Navy (Was: Fringe Groups)
Date: 23 Mar 1996 02:10:34 GMT

Fellwalker (destry at netcom.com) wrote:
:    One of the things I definately want to do is put together information
: for people wanting to do this kind of persona...the first person I have
: very interested in the group is a friend who was told by two people who
: really should have known better (they're Vikings, fer gossakes!) that she
: couldn't do a pirate/privateer persona because it was OOP (well,
: swashbuckler types, yes, but by only a few years. Privateers, freebooters,
: VIKINGS, "The Friends of God and the Enemies of The World"? No way!)
: ...and there's no reason even for that to stop anyone from making their
: persona a sailor...everyone in the SCA (persona wise) seems to be sooo
: well traveled...well, a sailor is a natural for that.   

A possibility to look up is a group known as "the Sea Beggars".

In the late 1500s the Netherlands were fighting for independence from 
Spanish rule, led by "William the Silent".  THe independence party
were known as "The Beggars" as their symbol adopted before open
war broke out was a beggar's bowl.

During the fighting, the Spanish had to try and pay and support their
troops by Sea, as France was hostile to them, so they had no way to
do it by land.  A group of ragtag mercenaries from all countries,
paid in part with English money lurked in various ports and
raided the Spanish ships.  These pirates were known as "the Sea Beggars".

Fairly easy to research, heavily into attacking Spanish treasure ships
but not too worried about who they went for, multi-national, 
with a basic cause to fight for...

Sounds like a fun pirate/sailor persona to me.

Silfren


From: "Jo Grant" <jo_grant at crd.lotus.com>
Newsgroups: soc.history.moderated,rec.org.sca,soc.history.living,soc.history.medieval
Subject: Re: women pirates - request for info
Date: 6 Mar 1997 16:20:16 GMT
Organization: Lotus Development Corporation

Nicky Saunders <nicky at lothene.demon.co.uk> wrote in article
> Is there anyone who has come across any references, please?

About the best example of a _16th_ Century Pirate is Grace O'Malley
(Granuail). I've an essay on her on the site at
http://www.maths.tcd.ie/~jaymin/sca (Articles by members). There is a good
book about her called "Granuail" but I don't have the exact reference.
Cheers,
Capt. Seamus


From: dickeney at access.digex.net (Dick Eney)
Newsgroups: soc.history.moderated,rec.org.sca,soc.history.living,soc.history.medieval
Subject: Re: women pirates - request for info
Date: 6 Mar 1997 17:46:41 -0800
Organization: Express Access Online Communications, Greenbelt, MD USA

Catherine Hedlin  <cdh at eos.ucsd.edu> wrote:
>Nicky Saunders wrote:
> 
>> I saw an exhibition a while back on pirates, and there was one display
>> stand discussing  female pirates in the 17th Century. Unfortunately, they
>> didn't have a bibliography or anything useful with it.
>> Is there anyone who has come across any references, please?
>> I've found quite a bit of stuff in the Norse sagas, but nothing later than
>> that so far.
>> I'm interested in all periods of history.
>
>There's a children's book called "Pirate in Petticoats" (can't remember
>the author) that was written in the early 1960's. I think it's geared
>to older children, so that it might contain useful references. There
>were, apparently a number of female pirates in that era (though I
>seriously doubt they wore petticoats). If you find anything else,
>please ocntact me, I'm trying to steer my daughter along a
>non-traditional career path ;-)

Barnes and Noble is remaindering a later book about female pirates, "Bold
in Her Breeches", which does sound like they didn't use petticoats...

-- Vuong Manh


From: gothic at netaxs.com (Matt Kriebel)
Newsgroups: soc.history.moderated,rec.org.sca,soc.history.living,soc.history.medieval
Subject: Re: women pirates - request for info
Date: 7 Mar 1997 02:30:14 GMT
Organization: Philadelphia's Complete Internet Provider

The female pirates most often mentioned in pirate history books are Anne
Bonney and Mary Read. Both of whom by accident ended up on the same pirate
ship together. They are mentioned in most pirate books and operated in the
early 18th century. I've noticed them mentioned in almost every decent
book on pirates, so a reference shouldn't be too hard to find.

Matt Kriebel
gothic at netaxs.com


From: jcruden at gpu4.srv.ualberta.ca (Jeanne Cruden)
Newsgroups: soc.history.moderated,rec.org.sca,soc.history.living,soc.history.medieval
Subject: Re: women pirates - request for info
Date: Fri, 07 Mar 1997 14:38:47 -0600
Organization: University of Alberta

Anne Chambers wrote a book a little while back on Granuaile ( Grace
O'Malley ) a priate queen from the west coast of Ireland the 16th century,
and I believe there's a paper on women and piratery or crime in Mary
O'Dowd's "Women in Early Modern Ireland" published by Edinburgh university
only a few years ago now. 
Jeanne
-- 
Jeanne Cruden, University of Alberta ( hopefully for not much longer),
Canada


From: e_p at unlinfo.unl.edu (Ed. Pearlstein)
Newsgroups: soc.history.moderated,rec.org.sca,soc.history.living,soc.history.medieval
Subject: Re: women pirates - request for info
Date: Fri, 07 Mar 1997 14:37:36 -0600
Organization: University of Nebraska--Lincoln

nicky at lothene.demon.co.uk (Nicky Saunders) writes:

>I saw an exhibition a while back on pirates, and there was one display
>stand discussing  female pirates in the 17th Century. Unfortunately, they
>didn't have a bibliography or anything useful with it.
>Is there anyone who has come across any references, please?

     The latest issue of New York Review of Books, dated March 6, 1997,
has a review on page 34  of Under the Black Flag, by David Cordingly.  The 
review, and apparently also the book, has some info on female pirates.


From: "Buck Bannister" <redcoat at clynx.com>
Newsgroups: soc.history.moderated,rec.org.sca,soc.history.living,soc.history.medieval
Subject: Re: women pirates - request for info
Date: 10 Mar 1997 02:04:07 GMT
Organization: South Carolina SuperNet, Inc.

I would suggest contacting the Charleston Museum in Charleston South
Carolina.  The city was frequented by pirates and at least one woman pirate
was a citizen of the city.


From: tmalesic at concentric.net (Tony Malesic)
Newsgroups: soc.history.moderated,rec.org.sca,soc.history.living,soc.history.medieval
Subject: Re: women pirates - request for info
Date: Mon, 10 Mar 1997 10:59:57 -0600

On Wed, 05 Mar 1997 10:23:36 -0600, nicky at lothene.demon.co.uk (Nicky
Saunders) wrote:

>I saw an exhibition a while back on pirates, and there was one display
>stand discussing  female pirates in the 17th Century. Unfortunately, they
>didn't have a bibliography or anything useful with it.
>Is there anyone who has come across any references, please?
>I've found quite a bit of stuff in the Norse sagas, but nothing later than
>that so far.
>I'm interested in all periods of history.

Here are a few:

Cordingly, David; Under the Black Flag; Random House; New York, 1995
(Contains an excellent chapter entitled: Women Pirates and Pirates'
Women)

Cordingly, David (Consulting Editor); Pirates: Terror on the High Seas
- from the Caribbean to the South China Sea; Turner Publishing,
Atlanta; 1996 (Produced by Salamander Books Ltd., 129-137 York Way,
London N7 9LG, UK)

I found "Bold in her Breeches" to be a boring and difficult read.  The
author attempts to force the feminist movement viewpoint and it comes
off very badly, in my opinion.

Some female pirates:  Anne Bonny; Mary Read; Grace O'Malley; Mary Anne
Talbot; Hannah Snell; Alwilda; Chen I Sao.

Tony
Tony Malesic - tmalesic at concentric.net
Lat. 40.13N  76.49W
************************************************
 Peruser of Pyrates, Privateers, Picaroons,
 Poltroons and Other Pox-ridden Purveyors of         
 Pestilence and Perdition                  .
*************************************************


Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
From: bq676 at torfree.net (Kristine E. Maitland)
Subject: Female Pirates
Organization: Toronto Free-Net
Date: Mon, 14 Jul 1997 21:52:37 GMT

: : > Does anybody out there know of any books about Granie [sp?] a lady
: : > pirate of the Irish Sea towards the end of out period?

For a recent book on women pirates in period you may want to check out:

_Women Pirates and the Politics of the Jolly Roger_ by Ulrike Klausmann, 
Marion Meinzerin, and Gabriel Kuhn (Buffalo: Black Rose Books, 1997)

I have my problems with the book (varying consistancy of scholarship -- 
and no index, arghhhhhhh) but for a general overview it should not be missed.

sinceremente
Inez Rosanera
Ealdormere


Date: Wed, 16 Jul 1997 08:40:43 -0600
From: pyrate at batelnet.bs
Subject: Re: Female Pirates
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

  bq676 at torfree.net (Kristine E. Maitland) wrote:
>
> : : > Does anybody out there know of any books about Granie [sp?] a lady
> : : > pirate of the Irish Sea towards the end of out period?
>
> For a recent book on women pirates in period you may want to check out:
>
> _Women Pirates and the Politics of the Jolly Roger_ by Ulrike Klausmann,
> Marion Meinzerin, and Gabriel Kuhn (Buffalo: Black Rose Books, 1997)
>
> I have my problems with the book (varying consistancy of scholarship --
> and no index, arghhhhhhh) but for a general overview it should not be missed.
>
> Inez Rosanera
> Ealdormere

"Women Pirates and the Politics of the Jolly Roger" was the biggest load
of tosh  I have ever come across on the subject of Pirates. It is a
collection of poorly researched and invented nonsense by three people who
obviously know very little about a fascinating subject. How this book
ever got published is a mystery. For a reliable work on pirate politics
see "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" by Marcus Rediker
(Cambridge Press). For an excellent overview read David Cordingly's book
"Under the Black Flag" (Random House)See the section in his book about
women pirates which will inform about Grace O'Malley or "Grany O'Malley"
who you are interested in.


Date: Wed, 23 Sep 1998 15:19:40 -0500
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
Subject: RE: SC - Subtlety Question

> 1)    There has already been *such* a hoo-hah in our group about pirates
> and not-being-period and glorification-of-violence and so on and so on,
> that I am extremely hesitant to cross any more lines;

Piracy has existed in all waters and all ages.  As soon as someone figured
out how to make a raft, someone else figured out how to take it.  Pompey led
a fleet against pirates in the Mediterranean.  Julius Caesar was captured
and ransomed by pirates.  He then went and raised a fleet and repaid the
favor by capturing and crucifying them.

Within the SCA period, we certainly have Vikings, the Irish Scotia, Arab
corsairs, and English sea-dogs.  The Buccaneers and the Red Sea men are
mostly 16th and 17th Century.

As for the glorification of violence, maybe we should ban tourneys.  In
general, most of the pirates within the SCA period were practicing freelance
warfare on behalf of their lords and masters.  They are no more or less
violent than the knightly lords who plied a similar land-based trade.

As an aside, I have autocrated two pirate events, one Elizabethan Caribbean
and one Medieval Mediterranean.  I've even tried to hustle a friend of mine
(Mongol persona) into running a Chinese pirates event.   They are a lot of
fun if you leave your hat at the door and forget about having court.

Bear


From: wiva at aol.com (WIVA)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: information on pirates!
Date: 29 Oct 1998 10:11:32 GMT

Evangeline Faulkner <dkpirate at pacbell.net> wrote:
>I am currently looking for information on pirates before the 1600's of
>course.  <snip>  What I am looking for is types of clothing that would
>probably be worn on ship and types of weapons etc.. Any help would be 
>truly appreciated!!!

Any reference about sailors in period would probably give you some ideas,
pirates and privateers being sailors when they're not on the account. I can
only speak confidently about the Elizabethan period, but a biography of Drake,
a good reference about the Armada (with pictures), and a general work on the
sailors of Devon/Bristol should get you started.

IIRC, the book _Under the Black Flag_ has some info about early pirates, as
well as info on Oriental pirates-- though it's primarily about the "Golden
Age." Also, checking through Mediterranean and Islamic history, especially c.
the Crusades, could give you some info on pirates of that era. There are works
specificaly about the Elizabethan sea rovers, but they tend to be more
sociologically oriented, and while giving attitudinal info for a pirate
character, do not get into the nitty gritty. (Actually, I seem to remember
borrowing a book from the Baltimore Public Library entitled, curiosly enough,
_The Elizabethan Sea Rovers_...)

BUT, since many pirates in the period were actually opportunistic merchants,
start with general seafaring info and go from there... but don't forget to
check out Grannie O'Malley (an Irish pirate queen who met Elizabeth I) and/ or
Mary Frith (the notorious "Roaring Girl").

W.


Subject: Re: BG - Rapier Melees
Date: Tue, 16 Feb 99 19:30:51 MST
From: CADET1313 at aol.com
To: bryn-gwlad at Ansteorra.ORG

<< Did
 English, Dutch or Spanish sailors in the New World raid with rapiers in
 hand or is that more Hollywood than History.
                                Ld Colin Cumberland Bevins >>

I can not say for those Papist Spaniards or the Virgin ruled English, but I
can say that the Dutch Sea Beggers used the "new" cutlass circa 1575 and the
oldie but goodie the broadsword. Yes the Rapier was carried for some of the
sailors but if your going to Board, kill all the papists, take what you want
and then sink the ship you need a stronger blade. The use of the broadsword and
buckler was used along with pikes and hooks (there is a great picture of a two
edged sword with a simple single ring guard and crossbar on page 123 of 
"The Sword and the Centuries"). I hope that answers your question about the
Dutch. :o)

Ld Pieter Rausch
Cadet/Sea Begger/All around good guy :o)


Date: Mon, 13 Sep 1999 21:41:22 -0400
From: rmhowe <magnusm at ncsu.edu>
To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu
Subject: Letters of Marque / Privateering in the Middle Ages

The preceeding notes simply had to do with thanking various folks
for the Carnages crew attending an event. Then Gundo asked the
following question. I thought the reply was worth passing on for
the piratical personas.  Magnus

From: SWMyers at aol.com
Date: Mon, 13 Sep 1999 17:28:57 EDT
Subject: Re: On behalf of the Pirate(Privateer) ship Carnage and her crew..
To: gundobad at www.cytechcis.net, atlantia at atlantia.sca.org

gundobad at www.cytechcis.net writes:
<< No criticism here, just wondering...Are letters of Marque and Reprisal
 medieval?

 Gundo >>

Privateering is the former usage of war permitting privately owned and
operated war vessels (privateers) under commission of a belligerent
government to capture enemy shipping. Private ownership distinguished the
privateer from an ordinary warship; letters of marque and reprisal
(commission issued by a government) distinguished it from a pirate craft. The
primary object of privateering was to harass the enemy, but it was often
practiced as a retaliatory measure. Licensed privateering dates back to the
13th cent., but the great era of privateering was the period from 1589 to
1815, when privateers became auxiliaries to or substitutes for regular
navies, and when weaker naval powers used privateers as an effective method
of injuring a more powerful maritime rival.

BRAN


From: clevin at ripco.com (Craig Levin)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Black Pirates?
Date: 9 May 2001 16:07:11 GMT
Organization: Ripco Internet, Chicago

Cynthia R. Gee <goldndog at usa2net.net> wrote:
>Then Pedro, maybe you can help me too. A few years ago, a group of us down
>here (Trimaris) were invited to take part in a local Pirate Festival, in
>garb, etc. Now, my husband, Don Khalid Romanos, happens to be African
>American, and was asked several times, by well-meaning mundanes and by
>not-so-well-meaning mundane rednecks, if there were ever any black pirates.
>I'm sure that black pirates must have existed, especially post-period in the
>Caribbean, and we told the hecklers so; but how about in earlier times? Is
>there any documentation to prove their existance?

Offhand, I can't see why there wouldn't have been at least a few
black pirates in period. Blacks were out and about along the
Mediterranean Sea, sometimes as slaves, sometimes as free people.
Also, the East African cities along the Indian Ocean were part of
the vast trade network of that ocean, which did have its share of
pirates, just like all the rest of the 7 Seas, until the
development of strong national navies. 

Also, the line between "armed merchantman" and "pirate" was not
distinct. In many cases, one country's pirate was another
country's merchant seeking revenge for earlier injuries; a letter
of marque kept you safe, to some extent, from your side, but not
from the other side.

Pedro
--
http://pages.ripco.net/~clevin/index.html
clevin at rci.ripco.com
Craig Levin


From: ulftonn at aol.com (Ulftonn)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Date: 09 May 2001 23:49:45 GMT
Subject: Re: Black Pirates?

>Then Pedro, maybe you can help me too. A few years ago, a group of us down
>here (Trimaris) were invited to take part in a local Pirate Festival, in
>garb, etc. Now, my husband, Don Khalid Romanos, happens to be African
>American, and was asked several times, by well-meaning mundanes and by
>not-so-well-meaning mundane rednecks, if there were ever any black pirates.
>I'm sure that black pirates must have existed, especially post-period in the
>Caribbean, and we told the hecklers so; but how about in earlier times? Is
>there any documentation to prove their existance?
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Jeanne Francesca

Have not researched this to well but one place to start is in the fleet of
Dragut (Turkish pirate of the mid 1500's) the  Ottoman army and fleet where
from any Mediterranean nations.  A good place to start might be the siege of
Malta in 1565... hope this helps and if you find something post back so we can
hear about it

Ulftonn


From: David Razler <davidrazler at home.com>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Black Pirates?
Date: Sat, 12 May 2001 02:16:37 GMT

On 09 May 2001 23:49:45 GMT, ulftonn at aol.com (Ulftonn) wrote:
>>Then Pedro, maybe you can help me too. A few years ago, a group of us down
>>here (Trimaris) were invited to take part in a local Pirate Festival, in
>>garb, etc. Now, my husband, Don Khalid Romanos, happens to be African
>>American, and was asked several times, by well-meaning mundanes and by
>>not-so-well-meaning mundane rednecks, if there were ever any black pirates.
>>I'm sure that black pirates must have existed, especially post-period in the
>>Caribbean, and we told the hecklers so; but how about in earlier times? Is
>>there any documentation to prove their existance?
>>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Jeanne Francesca
>>
>
>Have not researched this to well but one place to start is in the fleet of
>Dragut (Turkish pirate of the mid 1500's) the  Ottoman army and fleet where
>from any Mediterranean nations.  A good place to start might be the siege of
>Malta in 1565... hope this helps and if you find something post back so we can
>hear about it
>
>Ulftonn

Before the Ottomans moved into what had been the old Moorish empire,
were there not Berbers who took to their sea to defend against foreign
trade (or whatever the justification was for seizing the other ship
and cargo?)

I thought the word "pirate" may be wrong, though the OED informs me it
dates back, in English, to a 1300s comment about Danish rasiders, and
has ancestry back to the Greek - Based on usage, it was the descriptor
of the victims.

"Privateer" is post-period, first used in 1664, and applies
specifically to private ships keeping the "English" shipping areas
free of other nations' cargo ships.

Now I don't know of the Islamic captains were government employees per
se, or private aids receiving whatever they catch as their reward for
their effort.

                        d/A
(searching his brain to remember *which* secondary reference on either
European or Moorish history has the reference....YMMV too)


From: ghelena661 at aol.com (Ghelena661)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Date: 17 May 2001 11:11:21 GMT
Subject: black pirates...oh yes!

     Sir Francis Drake had a navigatior named Diego.  Diego was by all accounts
African.  He was also learned since he spoke no less than Spanish, English, and
whatever his native tongue was.  From what I can remember, Diego had been owned
by the Spanish, and was a valuable asset to Drake since Diego guided Drake
through the Caribean <sp?>isles occupied by the Spanish.

     I have seen this documentation before, but I will have to dig to find it. 
Some day I would like to do a Pennsic class about little known pirates and
privateers.  I have been wool gathering documentation for a few years now for
just such an occasion.  In fact, I have a feeling that if memory serves me, the
website could probably be found using a search engine and the phrase 'pirates
and privateers'.  

     Drake also wrote some ships logs that survived, and they make for a really
cool read.  I found some stuff out about Drake that kind of took the shine off
my hero worship of him, since it had to do with the slave trade. (the lesson I
learned in  'our heros were really just people who did things right, as well as
wrong, good and bad, acted out of righteousness as well as
selfishness....."ohhh boy, I think I am almost ready for my Six Ways to Leave
Your Lover class at Pennsic...)

     I realize that there is a lot of junk on the internet, but I really liked
the pirates and privateers site.  Grace O'Malley, the Pirate Queen was in there
too.

     My college recently had a one day lecture called "the history of black
people in Britain".  Lots of people of all colors said the same thing when they
saw the class listed...."there were black people in Britain?"  Yep, there were.
 I have some cool pictures of black people wearing Elizabethan.....

     In the Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd, there is a blurb about a
needlemaker in the cheapside who would take no apprentices in order to have no
competion.  He made needles in spanishe style, and he was also a black man.  
If I get real ambitious, I might be able to tease this factiod out of that
rather large book.

     If anybody is interested, I will try to dig up more stuff about black
people and Elizabethan history.  I am afraid that will be the limit of my scope
since Elizabethan is what I do!  Sorry this does not help early period folks
much.

I would get off my big bum right now and find all this cool stuff (my interest
is all piqued), but it is 7 am and I have been up all night.

May your threads never tangle,
Roxanne Greenstreet     


Date: Fri, 18 May 2001 14:58:38 -0400
From: James Koch <alchem at en.com>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: black pirates...oh yes!
Organization: EriNet Online Communications - Dayton, OH

Ghelena661 wrote:
>      Sir Francis Drake had a navigatior named Diego.  Diego was by all accounts
> African.  He was also learned since he spoke no less than Spanish, English, and
> whatever his native tongue was.  From what I can remember, Diego had been owned
> by the Spanish, and was a valuable asset to Drake since Diego guided Drake
> through the Caribean <sp?>isles occupied by the Spanish.

A large percentage of pirates were African.  When pirates captured
ships, they usually encouraged crew members to join them, including
slaves whom they freed in abundance.

An excellent book on the subject is "Expedition Whydah" by Barry
Clifford. Clifford salvaged the Bellamy fleet from the sands of Cape
Cod.  When he tried to open his pirate museum in Boston he was blocked
by African American organizations who objected to the fact that he was
depicting pirates as being African!  He tried several other cities in
Florida and along the East coast but was picketed everywhere.  The
museum was eventually opened at Provincetown on the tip of Cape Cod.  No
strong NAACP presence there.

But this is nothing new.  History has been grossly simplified over the
ages.  Some of Cortez's conquistodors were of African descent.  Many
more though were Jews (conversos), who left Spain to avoid the watchful
eye of the Church.  One of Cortez's most famous fighters was a woman
(one of many on the expedition) named Maria Estrada.

Jim Koch (Gladius The Alchemist)


From: clevin at ripco.com (Craig Levin)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Black Pirates?
Date: 14 May 2001 16:55:12 GMT
Organization: Ripco Internet, Chicago

David Razler  <david.razler at home.com> wrote:
>Before the Ottomans moved into what had been the old Moorish empire,
>were there not Berbers who took to their sea to defend against foreign
>trade (or whatever the justification was for seizing the other ship
>and cargo?)

Oh, sure. One of the justifications the Portuguese used in taking
over their Maghribi enclaves like Tangier and Ceuta (now the
property of Spain) was that the cities were preying on ships.
However, Berber!=sub-Saharan African, though the trade in sub-
Saharan Africans did have termini along the Maghrib.

>I thought the word "pirate" may be wrong, though the OED informs me it
>dates back, in English, to a 1300s comment about Danish rasiders, and
>has ancestry back to the Greek - Based on usage, it was the descriptor
>of the victims.

Interesting. I'd have to look in Casson's _The Ancient Mariners_
to see what the Latin term is, because my recollection of Casson
is that piracy was endemic to the Med. for about as long as there
were people sailing on it.

>"Privateer" is post-period, first used in 1664, and applies
>specifically to private ships keeping the "English" shipping areas
>free of other nations' cargo ships.

Er? Privateering was used by most nations and the Hansards.

>Now I don't know of the Islamic captains were government employees per
>se, or private aids receiving whatever they catch as their reward for
>their effort.

My recollection of Braudel's _The Mediterranean_ is that they
were private individuals trawling through shipping-infested
waters, who were expected to grease the palms of TPTB every so
often. Since they grew rich, these folks often effectively ran
the ports.

Pedro
--
http://pages.ripco.net/~clevin/index.html
clevin at rci.ripco.com
Craig Levin


From: Robert Huff <roberthuff at rcn.com>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Black Pirates?
Date: Mon, 14 May 2001 22:14:18 -0400

Craig Levin wrote:
> Interesting. I'd have to look in Casson's _The Ancient Mariners_
> to see what the Latin term is, because my recollection of Casson
> is that piracy was endemic to the Med. for about as long as there
> were people sailing on it.

        "Pirata, -ae", memorable for being one of the rare masculine first
conjugation verbs.

                                Diego Mundoz


From: fairwynd011 at comcast.net (Belle Fisher)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Girls with Short Hair - My take
Date: 4 Sep 2003 15:13:50 -0700

>>So I was wondering if anyone knew of any reason a girl would have
>>short hair? The only things I've found so far is that someone in a
>>cloister would probably have short hair, and it seems viable that a
>>female pirate could have short hair.

>Someone who knows more about pirates than me can tell you whether
>there are any female pirates recorded for the SCA period.

I just joined this group and was reading the posts when this subject
caught my eye.  Although I am getting into the topic a bit late I just
wanted to address two points.

First, yes, there were women pirates in period, Grainne O'Malley comes
to mind.  As an Irish woman it is quite possible that she had red
hair, and both Mary Queen of Scots and Elizabeth I are often depicted
in portraiture as having red hair (as I myself do).  When I joined the
SCA many years ago I had short red hair and I bought myself a wig in a
long curly style which suited my persona.  Over the years I added to
my collection of wigs until I had about five in different styles, but
now my hair is long and I never wear them!

Second other than wigs almost every period has some kind of head
covering or another.  I am sure there is some very good advice from
the garb people on what would be appropriate for your time and
location.

Just my two cents ;-)

'Belle


From: bronwynmgn at aol.comnospam (Bronwynmgn)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Date: 29 Feb 2004 12:50:45 GMT
Subject: Re: Garb for a Corsair?

>I have searched the archives for info on 
>Corsairs/Turkish pirate garb unsuccessfully.
>Could someone point me in the right direction?

You might try this link - there seems to be a tremendous number of links for
pirate information here, and it's part of a pirate webring.
As always when looking for information on this subject, be careful to check the
dates of the information given, since so much pirate info is usually 17 or 18th
century rather than within the SCA timeframe.

http://www.applink.net/wolfpack/pirate.html

Brangwayna Morgan


Date: Sat, 28 Feb 2004 21:10:44 -0500
From: Cynthia Virtue <cvirtue at thibault.org>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Garb for a Corsair?

Elizabeth wrote:
> I have searched the archives for info on 
> Corsairs/Turkish pirate garb unsuccessfully.
> Could someone point me in the right direction?
> I appreciate it.  Thank you
> Elizabeth

I think this is exactly what you're looking for -- real pictures, not 
fantasy, although this is Europe (not sure if you want Europe...):

http://ilaria.veltri.tripod.com/sailorboys.html

Happy sewing!


Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2007 09:19:22 -0600
From: "Terry Decker" <t.d.decker at worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] A roast for a feast...
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

> Part of what I'm trying to do is drag my end of it kicking and
> screaming towards the more period parts of things- Avraham agrees. One
> reason for wanting hard tack is to give the folks an appreciation of
> what their imaginary pirates might actually have dealt with. There
> really wasn't a pirate culture in period- rather there were crimes of
> opportunity by seafarers of opposing nations, sometimes, or by
> normally legitimate traders and the like who figured they could get
> away with something. With that in mind, I'm conceiving of a tavern,
> where the patrons will get both foods they're familiar with, as well
> as foods they'd have been missing while they were at sea.
>
> -- 
> Saint Phlip

I think you are confusing operational doctrine with culture.  Period
European piracy was imbedded in the culture where it was usually a  family
affair or the silently sponsored extension of "politics by other means."
The 17th Century "Brethren of the Coast" had a more complex set of rules
than most pirates due to their national diversity.  Still, they were largely
a subset of national policies.  In my opinion, the closest thing to a true
pirate culture was among the Red Sea pirates (Europeans for the most part)
of Madgascar, where they founded a short-lived nation.

As pirate "cultures" go, I would say that the Barbary Corsairs, who  
got their start in the early 16th Century, would meet your criteria.

Bear


Subject: For all you privateers and pirates out there
Posted by: "Rebecca Lovingood" doty3689 at bellsouth.net 
Date: Tue Jul 24, 2012 11:08 am ((PDT))

I was just reading my Smithsonian magazine (Oct. 2011) and they had a link to 
their website about Anne & Mary both pirates.  The website is 
www.Smithsonian.com/womanpirates .  These two women are after our period, but in 
the article they did mention Grace O'Malley who was an Irish female pirate in 
the late 1500's who even corresponded with Queen Elizabeth and had a meeting 
with her.  The link to information on Grace O'Malley is 
http://www.thepirateking.com/bios/omalley_grace.htm .  So if you want to read up 
on a woman of spunk check her out.

Beware men, we ladies may not always be the retiring, quiet ones you may think 
we are!

YIS, Rebecca with the Greyhound


Date: Sun, 02 Aug 2015 05:43:27 -0400
From: Garth Groff via Atlantia <atlantia at seahorse.atlantia.sca.org>
To: Merry Rose <atlantia at seahorse.atlantia.sca.org>
Subject: [MR] Wikipedia: Jeanne de Clisson Lady Pirate

On this date in 1343 Olivier de Clisson was found guilty of treason and 
beheaded at Les Halles in Paris. As a result, his wife, Jeanne de 
Clisson, sold their holding, bought a fleet of ships, and took to the 
sea as a pirate to seek revenge against King Philip VI of France and the 
nobility: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_2 . What a woman! Someone 
definitely not to be messed with.

Lord Mungo Napier, That Crazy Scot

<the end>
Edited by Mark S. Harris	pirates-msg	Page 2 of 17