Piracy was a perennial hazard for merchant shipping in medieval times. Whether you were sailing in the Channel, the North Sea, or simply sticking to English coastal waters, you were never safe. Pirates could strike anywhere, even in port!
But when we think of pirates today, infamous early eighteenth century pirates typically spring to mind. The likes of Black Beard, Captain Kidd and Bartholomew Roberts from the so-called golden age of piracy. Less well remembered, however, are their medieval predecessors; the likes of the Alard family, Berenger Blanc and Paul Beneke.
So, who were the medieval pirates? How did they operate? And why was piracy in north European waters so rife throughout the Middle Ages?
Medieval Shipping
To understand how medieval pirates operated, we first need to appreciate the limitations and capabilities of ships from the period.
Most sea going ships of the high to late Middle Ages were cogs or hulks. These were big bulky merchant ships. They were resilient and capable of carrying a large cargo. However, they only had a single sail and were not especially manoeuvrable. Those that had oars as well as sails were easier to handle. However, this came at the cost of being limited to a smaller cargo in relation to their size.
Navigation at sea was primitive to say the least and it was very easy to get lost if you lost sight of the coast. Deep sea ocean voyages were therefore avoided. Coast hugging was the order of the day.
Naval warfare was crude, even when a ship was fitted out for war. Ships lacked the fire power for engagement at anything other than close quarters. Towards the end of the Middle Ages, warships started to be fitted with cannons. However, these were usually only used to fire on coastal targets rather than other ships. Naval war was therefore all about boarding actions and close quarters fighting.
Pirate Actions
To take a prize, pirates had to board a ship and somehow overpower the crew. But first they needed to find a suitable target. That was difficult far out at sea; rather like searching for a needle in a haystack. So pirates needed to hunt where quarry was more easily found.
One pirate tactic was to patrol the busiest sea lanes and well-known passage points. Another ruse was to set up an ambush in commonly used estuaries and anchorages where ships were likely to be laid up. Alternatively, a pirate might wait outside a port, observing comings and goings before selecting a target. Pirates might even strike ships in port, boarding a ship, plundering its cargo and making a quick getaway before the local authorities could react.
Interception on the high seas, away from the coast, was more difficult. Locating other shipping in open waters was a huge challenge. More typically, a pirate might pursue their quarry out to sea only after having first acquired them in coastal waters.
Not all acts of piracy were what they seemed, however. Sometimes fraudulent shenanigans were at work. Occasionally the crew of a merchant ship might steal the cargo and divide it amongst themselves. They might even claim pirates had ‘taken it’ to cover their tracks. It was not always easy to tell exactly what had really happened out at sea.
Taking a Prize
Pirates would seek to take a prize by overwhelming force, targeting ships that obviously had a smaller crew. Quite often, several pirate ships would co-operate to intercept and board a single merchant ship. They would first hail their quarry and try to persuade them to surrender their cargo without a fight. However, most merchant ship crews would offer at least token resistance to avoid being accused of colluding with the pirates.
Once pirates had taken a prize, they would often strip the ship of valuables (which might even include the anchors and cables) and be on their way. The merchant ship’s crew would often be left unharmed (aside for any that had been killed resisting the initial boarding). However, sometimes pirates would take the ship as well and either put the crew ashore or take them to a foreign port and release them there. Occasionally, they might even take wealthy passengers with them, hoping to claim a ransom.
The popular image of pirates butchering their victims was a rare occurrence in medieval times. This usually only happened if the pirates had some on-going feud with the merchant concerned, or if their countries were at war.
Mostly the merchant ship’s crew would be spared, even if they were able to identify the pirates.
Law and Punishment
It may sound surprising, but medieval pirates weren’t especially worried about being identified. This nonchalant attitude stemmed from the fact that they rarely ever faced punitive justice. There were no hard and fast laws against piracy for one thing. And, for another thing, bringing pirates to court was problematic.
Crimes at sea rarely had any witnesses aside from the ships directly involved. Thus, if anything came to a trial, it was often the word of one crew against the word of another. Also, the laws governing crime at sea were complex and fraught with diplomatic pitfalls. If different nationalities were involved, different kings could become involved. The sea was a legal no-man’s land, a place where the laws of any one king did not apply.
Instead, certain common laws of the seas applied. There was the Rôles d’Oléron, a set of customary laws dealing the relations between ships captains, the crew and the merchants who contracted them. There was also The Law Merchant which governed commercial transactions, contracts and compensation claims.
These laws primarily focused on financial redress rather than criminal punishment. Capital punishment was extremely rare, even if murder had occurred, unless, for some reason, a king had a personal interest in the case.
Who were the Pirates?
Another problem in bringing pirates to justice lay in who they often were. Pirates, of course, had to have a ship to engage in piracy. The only people who could afford larger sea-going ships were rich and powerful. Exactly the sort of people who could easily bribe officials and petition kings for pardons in exchange for favours. Almost all pirates were also merchants. They would make their living from a mix of legitimate sea trade and acts of piracy. As a result, some were respectable dignitaries in local coastal communities with powerful friends and considerable influence.
It should also be considered that, in north European waters, medieval pirates could be (and often were) of a different nationality to their victims. They fell under the authority of a different king. Pursuing them for justice was therefore highly problematic and often had significant diplomatic ramifications. Financial compensation, under such circumstances, therefore made a lot more sense than punitive actions that might provoke a war.
Pirates could, nevertheless, come from all walks of life. Most were wealthy merchants. Some were powerful noblemen. And others were humble folk using smaller boats closer to shore – less able to evade facing justice but often much harder to identify and track down.
Pirates of the Breton Raz
Once example of piracy perpetrated by those at the lower end of the social scale were the pirates of the Breton Raz.
This was a dangerous stretch of water off the tip of the Breton coast. There were many rocks on which an unskilled mariner might run aground. Avoiding the rocks meant knowing the local waters well and taking a large detour out to sea, away from the coast.
Inevitably, from time to time, a passing vessel would get into trouble, either running aground on the rocks or taking damage that required the crew to abandon ship. When this happened, the local fishermen had a notorious reputation for taking advantage of the situation. They would take to sea in their boats, draw alongside their quarry and swarm aboard to strip it of cargo. These were pirates of opportunity and, in some senses, more like wreckers than pirates.
John Le Clerk
Perhaps a more typical example of a medieval pirate was a certain John Le Clerk.
In December 1311, Bartholomew de Welle, a merchant from Lynn, anchored his ship at the Paleis de Reith to shelter from a storm. Le Clerk’s ship drew alongside; boarded de Welle’s vessel and plundered the cargo. They then wrecked de Welle’s ship (presumably to prevent him contacting the local authorities until they’d made good their escape).
Eventually, Le Clerk was tracked down in England and de Welle sought to prosecute him using the Law Merchant. Things went well at first. The local sheriff detained Le Clerk and impounded his ship. But, at this point, legal proceedings began to drag out. The sheriff kept delaying court hearings and never seemed to be available at times when de Welle sought to bring the case to trial. In the end the sheriff set the trial for a date that de Welle could not make and so the case was dismissed. Clearly, Le Clerk had bribed the sheriff to simply make the case ‘go away’.
De Welle had to wait four years and appeal directly to the king before he finally received any compensation. This is a classic example of how many medieval pirates were influential and wealthy enough to evade or delay justice.
The Alard Family
Amongst the more notorious pirates of the age were the Alard family and their associates. These were successful merchants (and pirates) operating out of Winchelsea (one of the Cinq Ports).
In 1322 a commission of oyer et terminer was formed to investigate allegations made by German merchants against several members of the Alard family and their associate, Robert Batayle. It was alleged that they had committed acts of piracy against these merchants at the port in Harwich.
However, the commission was thwarted. The Alards were one step ahead of the game. They’d used their influence to obtain royal pardons just a few days before the commission convened. To rub salt into the wound, just a few weeks later, Robert Batayle was appointed an admiral in the king’s service!
By December 1323, they were up to their old tricks again. Another commission was set up. This time to investigate allegations that they had plundered the cargo of a Flemish merchant in the port of Sandwich. Since England was at peace with Flanders at the time, this was not simply piracy but a diplomatic incident.
Justice at last? Not a chance! Only a few months later, Stephen Alard was appointed an admiral in the king’s service!
Reprisal
Due process of maritime law was greatly complicated by the fact that, often, no one king necessarily had clear jurisdiction. This meant that political considerations could greatly complicate the legal process. This was understood and appreciated by north European monarchs. For these reasons, the custom of ‘reprisal’ was an accepted part of life at sea.
If you could not bring a pirate to court or otherwise gain compensation for your losses, it was considered perfectly acceptable to seek reprisal. Reprisal had a very specific legal meaning amongst mariners. It meant that you could take the law into your own hands to recover your losses. This did not mean revenge; it meant that you could resort to force to get back the money you had lost (and no more).
Stephen Alard had himself been victim of Flemish pirates in 1317. Legal process had likely dragged on, and so Stephen may well have decided to take matters into his own hands. Now, the Flemish merchant he targeted in 1322, and the Flemish pirates of 1317, were unlikely to be the same people. However, it was considered acceptable to seek reprisal against foreigners of the same nationality, even if the specific people targeted were entirely innocent.
Naturally this quirky maritime custom could easily lead to escalating acts of tit-for-tat piracy. And this could become especially intense in times of war.
In Times of War
Most north European powers did not maintain a permanent military naval force. Thus, in times of war, merchant ships and their captains were recruited and outfitted for war. France and England engaged in a significant amount of naval conflict throughout the Middle Ages, both with each other, and with other neighbouring powers. Neither typically maintained anything much by way of a standing naval force. Their fleets therefore consisted of a significant number of merchants-come-privateers, each of whom was keen to make a profit from any conflict.
It is therefore not hard to imagine that naval warfare, in medieval waters, often degenerated into escalating acts of reciprocal piracy.
War Pirates
In 1315-16 France fell into a dispute with the Flemish and sought to impose an embargo on them. The French Admiral Berenger Blanc was tasked with patrolling off the southern coast of England with a view to enforcing it. However, Blanc and his fleet soon began attacking neutral and even friendly shipping in acts of blatant piracy. His fleet even attacked English ships, despite not being at war with England. This led to a long and drawn out series of negotiations before the French and English monarchies finally agreed appropriate compensations.
Later in the C14th, the Hundred Years’ War broke out. To control the English Channel, both sides resorted to recruiting privateers. They became so reliant on them that they could not afford to act against them, even when they preyed on neutral or friendly targets. A pirate, in these times, knew that they were indispensable and that they could expect free pardons whenever a truce was signed. This was, indeed, the true golden age of piracy.
Warwick the Pirate
Warwick may be remembered as the Kingmaker in English history but as far as the French were concerned, he is remembered primarily as a pirate. Indeed, the second phase of the Wars of the Roses was incited, in no small degree, by an act of piracy perpetrated by Warwick.
In 1458 Warwick was Captain of Calais, responsible for maintaining control of the Channel. However, his fleet chose to attack the Hanseatic salt fleet, seizing 18 of Lubeck’s ships. This was a problem, since the Hanseatic League and England were not at war. Warwick claimed he had acted only to raise essential funds to maintain his fleet. Some suspected he had done it to cause trouble for the Lancastrian court. There may have been some truth in both claims, but there was also almost certainly a third reason.
For a long time, there had been significant commercial rivalry, and even active hostility, between the Hanseatic Leaguers and many English merchants. Warwick’s fleet consisted of many ships belonging to these same merchants; people whose support he might well need in any future dispute with the court. Warwick’s act of piracy may well have been designed, at least in part, to bolster his support with these powerful mercantile interests.
The Anglo-Hanseatic War
Warwick’s actions can partly be understood within a history of escalating acts of tit-for-tat piracy involving the Hansards and English mercantile interests. However, for Warwick, it became personal. He would become a vociferous opponent of the Hansards. His actions of 1458 had sparked a confrontation with the Lancastrian court. But he was nothing if not consistent. His actions in the late 1460s would go further, leading Yorkist England into a war with the League.
In June 1468 English ships, in the Danish port of Helsinger, were surrounded and boarded by German marines. They were impounded, and their cargo confiscated and sold. According to the Danes, this was done to pay for the acts of English pirates. However, the people who’d boarded the English ships were not Danish but Germans from the Hanseatic port of Danzig. Among the ships seized was at least one belonging to Warwick.
Warwick used this as an excuse to drag a somewhat reluctant Edward IV into a full-scale war with the League. It would be a naval war and, as such, a war fought mainly by privateers. And it would bring to the fore perhaps the most successful pirate of the age – Paul Beneke.
Paul Beneke
Beneke was already a distinguished Hanseatic naval commander by the time war broke out. He had won glory in the naval battle of Bornholm against the Danes in 1455 and executed a daring raid on Anholt in 1466.
But it was during the war against Yorkist England that Beneke became the terror of the seas. He captured his first English ship on New Year’s Day 1470. Then, in 1471, he captured the mayor of Dover, tricking him into coming aboard his ship by pretending to be French. He infamously set fire to as many as 18 merchant ships anchored off the English coast in a single action. He even managed to capture the Lord Mayor of London whilst the unfortunate mayor was returning from France.
In April 1473 Beneke infamously intercepted a galley sailing out of England. It was loaded with a rich cargo of woollens, linens, tapestries and furs as well as Hans Memling’s triptych of the Last Judgement. It was one of the most spectacular and audacious acts of piracy of the age. But it would, however, also prove to be one of the last acts of the war. Not long after this, and perhaps partly because of it, Edward IV was forced to accept the Hansards’ terms for peace.
Piracy as a Way of Life
Throughout the Middle Ages, piracy remained an endemic feature of life in Europe’s northern waters. Lax law enforcement coupled with the customary practice of reprisals fuelled tit-for-tat acts of piracy between rival mercantile factions and competing kingdoms.
The truth was that the merchant-pirates of the northern seas were often too politically influential, not to say useful, to ever be brought properly to justice. They thrived by operating within legal grey areas and, even when brought to court, many were rich enough to buy their way out of trouble. As the Middle Ages came to an end, the seas of northern Europe remained a reliable hunting ground for pirates. Such entrepreneurial privateers would survive and even thrive in the Early Modern age that followed. Indeed, many of the ships in Drake’s fleet, who defeated the Spanish Amada in 1588, were simply the latest English privateers in a long-established tradition.
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If you are interested in maritime history and folklore from medieval times, you might be interested in some of my related articles…
Life at Sea in the Middle Ages
Sea Monsters in the Middle Ages
The Hansards and the Wars of the Roses
Who Killed the Duke of Suffolk? – Medieval Murder on the High Seas
References and Further Reading
Aspects of the Anglo-Hanseatic conflict in the fifteenth century, Fudge JD, McGill University, 1983
Images
Battle of Sluys, illustration from Jean Froissart’s Chronicle, C15th (via wiki commons)
Bremen Cog, photo by VollwertBIT, 2007 (via wiki commons)
Map of the Cinq Ports, illustration by Clem Rutter, 2007 (via wiki commons)
Grosse Kraweel, photo of a model reproduction by Maciej Szczepańczyk, 2006 (via wiki commons)
I am looking for information about the “Dowsing Brothers” pirates in the 1400s off the Norwegian coast. They were mentioned in a book written in Norwegian. I was told this by a captian of the Norwegian cargo ship in the City of Montreal Canada in the 1960s.