Baltic Slavic piracy

In the Baltic Sea region, groups of pirates of Slavic descent lived dating as far back as the 8th century to the 14th century.

Baltic Slavs, whose agriculture was not highly developed in early 800, were in dire need of resources, since the dry islets were the only ones capable of cultivation and cattle were scarce.^[1] Flax was able to be grown, which was turned into linen or canvas for clothes and used as a form of currency. At this time the Baltic Slavs were also known for bee-keeping, trading their honey and wax to the Germans for church candles and the sealing of documents.^[2] Once trade began, the German form of currency circulated amongst the group. After this point information on specifics of the trade between Germans and Slavs is unknown throughout the ninth century.

Attempt to Control Wendish Trade

During this time period it is known that the Slavs crossed paths with the Danes, leading to a series of fateful events. The Slavs of the Baltic had engaged in piratical activity before, while the Danes felt that trade and piracy went hand in hand, making for an interesting attempt at commercial relations.^[3] Baltic Slavs soon became interested in expanding, attempting to get a hold of the rivers in Denmark in order to control the Wendish trade. The Danes would not stand for this, causing war to arise between the two groups. With the decline of Danish power after the death of their leader in 1035 fueling the Saxon Germans to fight for the possession of the rivers the Baltic Slavs were originally fighting for, the bloodshed raged on and it was not until the Wendish Crusade of 1147 that the Slavs were finally sent beyond the point of recovery, ending their 100-year campaign and therefore fixing German domination over the Baltic rivers and Wendish trade.^[4]

Queen Margaret

Denmark and Mecklenburg

Between the years of 1375 through 1398, Queen Margaret of Denmark and the various dukes of Mecklenburg attempted to bring their countries together. This attempt instigated piratical activity since the countries would not always agree with one another. Both countries used the piracy that was present to their advantage, enabling the pirates to attack the opposing country. Pirates took this use to their advantage also, encouraging them to pillage the targeted country without the worry of possible consequence. Little did the queen and dukes know that once piracy was provoked, there was no easy way of stopping it.

Attacks on Merchant Ships

During this time the merchants of the Hanseatic League (also known as the German Hansa) objected to the practice of using piracy, where fleets of pirate ships would attack and cause their trade to suffer irreparable losses from that point on.^[5] On March 14, 1377 it was reported that 200 pirates were in the area, while a month later this number rose to 400.^[6] After this time measures were taken as an attempt to reduce the amount of piracy, resorting to equipping peace ships and making them patrol the seas from the beginning of sailing season until November 11 of that year. Trading vessels were also warned to not sail unless it was done in groups.

To prevent people from harboring a pirate it was made known that those who did harbor a pirate or any stolen good would be treated the same as the pirates themselves. Duke Albert of Mecklenburg felt that he would not be accused of doing such a thing, seeing that he believed the pirates were supporters of his and would refrain from releasing his name. The Duke was never caught while Queen Margaret was not so lucky, accused of frequently protecting and enabling the pirates. In response to the accusations against Margaret, a truce was drawn to last from September 1381 through November 11, 1383, listing the names of pirate chiefs which included Danish nobles, knights, squires, bailiffs, councilors, and vassals of the queen.^[7] These efforts proved to be useless and piracy continued, leaving the merchant Hansa to patrol the seas at a great risk.

Queen Margaret Demands Skåne

In 1384 Queen Margaret demanded that the province of Skåne would be put under her control. The Hansa wrote a list of demands in return for the providence, asking for compensation due to their great suffering at the hands of the pirates, but Queen Margaret made no commitments to these demands. Upon meeting with the Hansa in 1385 she was informed of their refusal to surrender the providence, so she took formal possession of the providence against the Hansa will.^[8] The Hansa were soon informed of this, unable to object to her actions. If they were to revolt the Hansa would be facing a war against Queen Margaret, and they were in no shape for such extreme actions. Through their cooperation the queen had no need to use her piratical partners, leading to the eventual end of piracy for that time.

Vitalienbrüder

War on Denmark

The inevitable reappearance of pirates occurred in 1389 once Mecklenburg declared war upon Denmark, where the pirates were now fully under Mecklenburg’s control. It was made known that Mecklenburg would equip war ships and issue letters of marque to freebooters, placing the pirates under full legal protection.^[9] The pirates began to carry their stolen goods to Stockholm where they became known as Vitalienbrüder, which translates to “victual brothers”.^[10] After Stockholm they captured the islands Bornholm and Gotland as their headquarters due to the location. Here the pirates recognized that all members of a crew should be treated equally, dividing shares fairly, calling themselves Likendeeler or “equal dividers”. Their motto was “Godes vrende unde al der werlt vyande” which translates to “God’s friends and the foe of all the world”.^[11] Despite being friend or foe of the Likendeeler, ships traveling through the Baltic were attacked where the crew was thrown overboard or murdered. Merchants in Strausland who claimed to have captured the pirates treated them in like manner, forcing the pirates into barrels with their heads sticking out at one end, storing them on deck as human cargo to be brought to the gallows.^[12] Piratical activity continued until the Hansa became an intermediate for Denmark and Mecklenburg where, this time, Queen Margaret had felt the effects of piracy. Her ships were captured and destroyed, Danish towns had been burnt to the ground, and a bishop on journey for her service was imprisoned in Stockholm.

Piracy Outlawed

By 1395 piracy was officially outlawed as an attempt to create peace in the Baltic once more, which ended up being more of a form of “paper peace”. Piracy had proved to be so profitable that pirates continued their activity, using the island of Gotland as headquarters and Duke Eric of Mecklenburg as the pirate chief.^[13] From there the pirates preyed on Russia and Livonia while continuing to raid the Hansa, then pressed on to assault the Grand Master of Prussia in 1398. The Grand Master did not stand for this, equipping a large fleet and sailing to Gotland, where castles were burned and the pirates soon evacuated.^[14] King Albert of Sweden ceded Gotland to the Order as a pledge (similar to a fiefdom), with the understanding that they would eliminate the pirating Victual Brothers from this strategic island base in the Baltic Sea. An invasion force under Grand Master Konrad von Jungingen conquered the island in 1398 and drove the Victual Brothers out of Gotland and the Baltic Sea.

Footnotes

↑ Thompson, James Westfall. "Early Trade Relations Between the Germans and the Slavs." The Journal of Political Economy, 1922: 546
↑ Thompson, James Westfall. "Early Trade Relations Between the Germans and the Slavs." The Journal of Political Economy, 1922: 547
↑ Thompson, James Westfall. "Early Trade Relations Between the Germans and the Slavs." The Journal of Political Economy, 1922: 548
↑ Thompson, James Westfall. "Early Trade Relations Between the Germans and the Slavs." The Journal of Political Economy, 1922: 550-551
↑ Bjork, David K. "Piracy In The Baltic, 1375-1398." Speculum, 1943: 39
↑ Bjork, David K. "Piracy In The Baltic, 1375-1398." Speculum, 1943: 45
↑ Bjork, David K. "Piracy In The Baltic, 1375-1398." Speculum, 1943: 49
↑ Bjork, David K. "Piracy In The Baltic, 1375-1398." Speculum, 1943: 51
↑ Bjork, David K. "Piracy In The Baltic, 1375-1398." Speculum, 1943: 57
↑ Bjork, David K. "Piracy In The Baltic, 1375-1398." Speculum, 1943: 59
↑ Bjork, David K. "Piracy In The Baltic, 1375-1398." Speculum, 1943: 60
↑ Bjork, David K. "Piracy In The Baltic, 1375-1398." Speculum, 1943: 61
↑ Bjork, David K. "Piracy In The Baltic, 1375-1398." Speculum, 1943: 66
↑ Bjork, David K. "Piracy In The Baltic, 1375-1398." Speculum, 1943: 67-68

References

Bjork, David K. "Piracy In The Baltic, 1375-1398." Speculum, 1943: 39-68.
Thompson, James Westfall. "Early Trade Relations Between the Germans and the Slavs." The Journal of Political Economy, 1922: 543-558.

Piracy

Periods	Ancient Mediterranean Golden Age 21st century

Types of pirate	Pirates Privateers Buccaneers Corsairs Sindhi corsairs Timber pirate River pirate Brethren of the Coast Barbary pirates Moro pirates Wōkòu Vikings Ushkuiniks Narentines Cilician pirates Confederate privateer Baltic Slavic pirates Uskoks Cossack pirates Sea Beggars Sea Dogs Freebooters

Areas	Piracy in the Caribbean Piracy on Lake Nicaragua Piracy in the British Virgin Islands Piracy in the Strait of Malacca Piracy off the coast of Somalia Piracy in the Sulu Sea Piracy on Falcon Lake Pirates of the South China Coast Anglo-Turkish piracy Port Royal Tortuga Saint-Malo Barbary Coast Lundy Lagos Salé Spanish Main Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea Piracy in Indonesia Barataria Bay Piracy in the Persian Gulf

Noted pirates	Bartholomew Roberts Hendrick Lucifer Hayreddin Barbarossa Blackbeard Stede Bonnet Anne Bonny Abshir Boyah Laurens de Graaf Michel de Grammont Calico Jack Alexandre Exquemelin William Kidd Edward Low Redbeard William Dampier Black Caesar Henri Caesar Roberto Cofresí Jean Lafitte Henry Morgan Lawrence Prince François l'Olonnais Henry Strangways Charles Gibbs Benito de Soto Diabolito Pedro Gilbert Mansel Alcantra Hippolyte Bouchard Samuel Hall Lord Nathaniel Gordon Albert W. Hicks Eli Boggs Bully Hayes Rahmah ibn Jabir al-Jalahimah Louis-Michel Aury Shirahama Kenki John Newland Maffitt Joseph Baker Joseph Barss Jørgen Jørgensen Vincenzo Gambi Dominique You Pierre Lafitte John Hawkins Peter Easton Nicholas van Hoorn Moses Cohen Henriques Piet Pieterszoon Hein Charlotte de Berry Samuel Bellamy Benjamin Hornigold Samuel Mason Henry Every Roche Braziliano Gan Ning Liang Daoming Wang Zhi Limahong Zheng Zhilong Zheng Jing Cai Qian Cheung Po Tsai Ching Shih Shap Ng-tsai Chui A-poo Lai Choi San Fūma Kotarō Olivier Levasseur

Categories	Piracy Pirates By nationality Barbary pirates Female pirates Years in piracy Fictional pirates

Pirate ships	Adventure Galley Fancy Ganj-i-Sawai Queen Anne's Revenge Quedagh Merchant Saladin Whydah Gally Marquis of Havana Ambrose Light York

Pirate hunters	Pedro Menéndez de Avilés Angelo Emo Richard Avery Hornsby Robert Maynard Chaloner Ogle Pompey Woodes Rogers David Porter James Brooke Miguel Enríquez (privateer)

Pirate battles and incidents	Jiajing wokou raids Turkish Abductions Chepo Expedition Battle of Mandab Strait Blockade of Charleston Battle of Cape Fear River Battle of Ocracoke Inlet Capture of the William Sack of Campeche Attack on Veracruz Raid on Cartagena Battle of Cape Lopez Capture of the Fancy Persian Gulf Campaign Battle of New Orleans Anti-Piracy in the Aegean Anti-piracy in the West Indies Capture of the Bravo Action of 9 November 1822 Capture of the El Mosquito Battle of Doro Passage Falklands Expedition Great Lakes Patrol Balanguingui Expedition Battle of Tysami Battle of Tonkin River Battle of Nam Quan Battle of Ty-ho Bay Battle of the Leotung Antelope incident North Star affair Battle off Mukah Salvador Pirates Battle of Boca Teacapan Capture of the Ambrose Light Irene incident 1985 Lahad Datu ambush Operation Enduring Freedom – HOA Action of 18 March 2006 Action of 3 June 2007 Action of 28 October 2007 Operation Atalanta Carré d'As IV incident Action of 11 November 2008 Action of 9 April 2009 Maersk Alabama hijacking Operation Ocean Shield Action of 23 March 2010 Action of 1 April 2010 Action of 30 March 2010 Action of 5 April 2010 MV Moscow University hijacking Operation Dawn of Gulf of Aden Operation Dawn 8: Gulf of Aden Beluga Nomination incident Battle off Minicoy Island Quest incident MT Zafirah hijacking MT Orkim Harmony hijacking

Slave trade	African slave trade Atlantic slave trade Arab slave trade Barbary slave trade Blockade of Africa African Slave Trade Patrol Capture of the Providentia Capture of the Presidente Capture of the El Almirante Capture of the Marinerito Capture of the Veloz Passagera Capture of the Brillante Amistad Incident Capture of the Emanuela

Fictional pirates	Tom Ayrton Barbe Rouge Hector Barbossa Captain Blood Captain Crook Captain Flint José Gaspar Captain Hook Don Karnage Monkey D. Luffy Roronoa Zoro One Piece Captain Nemo Captain Pugwash Red Rackham Captain Sabertooth Captain Stingaree Sandokan Long John Silver Jack Sparrow

Miscellaneous	Truce of Ratisbon Piracy Act 1698 Piracy Act 1717 Piracy Act 1837 Paris Declaration Respecting Maritime Law Child pirate Golden Age of Piracy Jolly Roger Walking the plank Treasure map Buried treasure Pirate booty No purchase, no pay Marooning Pirate code Pirate utopia Victual Brothers Pirate Round Libertatia Sack of Baltimore A General History of the Pyrates Mutiny Pegleg Eyepatch Letter of marque Davy Jones' Locker Air pirate Space pirate

Lists	Pirates Privateers Timeline of piracy Pirate films Women in piracy Fictional pirates Pirates in popular culture List of ships attacked by Somali pirates

Literature	Treasure Island Facing the Flag On Stranger Tides Castaways of the Flying Dutchman The Angel's Command Voyage of Slaves Pirate Latitudes

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