Time frames question: 1400-1600 - Writers Forum

The Duke · 05-10-2008, 01:01 AM

Can anyone give me a basic time frame of when pirating was just coming into it's own? I of course mean before they became privateers and whatnot. Beyond that, I'd also appreciate it if you could outline the other organized criminal activities of that time frame. If you could point me in the direction of some good historical fiction that would provide me with an accurate outline of the times that'd be wonderful.

Thanks in advanced,

Andrew

astralis · 05-10-2008, 01:15 AM

Unless someone studied criminal and pirating activities during that period, most will go to Wikipedia and look up pirating. When you do that, you'll see a bibliography and links that will be useful.

As for other criminal activities during that period, that's going to depend on what you want. I studied the years in the first millenium (1000-1100) and to understand the criminal element, you need to understand the daily life of the people. From 1400-1600, depending on the country, many of those records are still available and also online. London, England, recently put up their criminal records online that go all the way back to 1300. Finding the important keywords will also be helpful because you can use Wikipedia to start your research.

This link will take you to 1674.

Also, try some of these links.

These archives are also very useful.

Your research will require sleuthing and also require the sense of a historian and anthropologist. You've asked the right question, but I'm afraid you're going to be the one that will have to do the research for it.

lin · 05-10-2008, 01:37 AM

Oh, sure, like they had internet back in the 1400 hundred hundreds.

*Angel · 05-10-2008, 04:09 PM

weren't pirates privateers before they were pirates??? then the various treaties or what not between Spain and England that pretty much killed privateering create piracy????

nacreous · 05-11-2008, 08:37 AM

well, it depends on what you mean by pirates. in terms of the peak of piracy, it was probably 1712 to 1870 or so.
the first pirates were not organized bands, just cut-throat thieves in small boats going back as far as 1650.
It is very impostant to discuss the type of boats they used. as a general rule, the pirates' boats were fast and could point into the wind further than the slow transports they attacked. any good story about pirates should probably mention this point.
good luck.
by the way, there are many excellent books on te subject. some of these are: robert lewis stevenson's Kidnapped, some of hermann melville's short stories, and of course the entire hornblower series by forrester.
two good reference books would be: pirates of the west indies, clinton black, and under the black flag, by david cordingly
have fun researching this wonderful phase of history.
cheers.

Rowan Hart · 05-11-2008, 10:18 AM

There have been some form or other of pirates since antiquity. In terms of your time frame, 1400 to 1600 there is a dramatic change in piracy following 1492 when the Americas were discovered. 1400 - 1500ish, European piracy was either centred on the trade routes across the North sea, Baltic, Channel or the black sea and med. The northern Hanseatic league provided rich pickings for pirates in terms of wine, wool, lace etc. The Byzantine Empire, Holy Roman Empre, the Italian states and the Arabic world provided loot of a more exotic kind - pepper, spices, silks etc. Nothing as lucrative as the later pickings from America though.

Location of ports changed after 1500. Great east coast ports such as Boston and Ipswich declined in favour of western ports - shortening the time needed to unload goods from the Americas. Piracy also declined in the East as the Hanseatic league became a less lucratve target. Why loot wool when there is gold and silver comming in from the Atlantic?

Ships varied in the north east and the med; the former were largely coast hugging cogs and holks, the latter lanterns and other oared vessels. Consequently naval encounters played by sepperate rules in the North sea and the med.

Well, there's something about the earlier period. Others have given you advice about the later pirates. Elizabeth 1 was a supporter of prvateers if that helps any - Francis Drake, Melville, Moore and others come to mind. The Spaniards, Portuguese, French and Dutch also advocated privateers.

Port Royale ( The computer game ) has some basic ideas about piracy in the later period if that's your cup of tea. There's an ok documentary series narrated by Vik Reeves which looks at piracy around the British Isles and in the Indies. Other than that, look at the literature and links suggested by others.

Good luck and hope you enjoy your research!