In Ports, Piracy, and Maritime War Thomas K. Heeboll-Holm presents a study of maritime predation in English and French waters around the year 1300. Following Cicero, pirates have traditionally been cast as especially depraved robbers and the enemy of all, but Heeboll-Holm shows that piracy was often part of private wars between English, French, and Gascon ports and mariners, occupying a liminal space between crime and warfare. Furthermore he shows how piracy was an integral part of maritime commerce and how the adjudication of piracy followed the legal procedure of the march. Heeboll-Holm convincingly demonstrates how piracy influenced the policies of the English and the French kings and he contributes to our understanding of Anglo-French relations on the eve of the Hundred Years' War.

Preface ... ix Abbreviations ... xiii A Note on Currency ... xv 1 Introduction ... 1 Cicero and Saint Augustine ... 2 Preliminary Defijinitions ... 9 Pirate Terminology ... 13 Outline of the Argument ... 23 Method and Sources ... 25 2 The Anatomy of Medieval Piracy ... 33 The Vessels of Trade and War ... 33 The Pirate Assault ... 38 The Fate of Plundered Goods and the Victims of Piracy ... 48 3 Ports and Wine ... 55 Bayonne ... 55 The Cinque Ports ... 62 Normandy ... 69 Wine Trade ... 77 4 Guerra Maritima ... 83 The Cinque Ports' Account of the Norman Piracies ... 84 Philippe le Bel's Citation of Edward I to Appear in Court in 1293 ... 88 The Chroniclers' Portrayal of Maritime War and Its Causes 90 The Breton Context ... 97 Dogs, Baucens and a Raid Up the Charente ... 98 The Hanging of Mariners with Dogs ... 98 The Baucens ... 106 A Raid Up the Charente ... 113 Guerra ... 118 5 The Laws of the Sea and the Principles of Reprisal ... 127 The Law Merchant ... 127 The Roles d'Oleron ... 130 The Principles of Reprisal ... 134 Arrest and Seizure ... 140 Debt ... 142 Henry de Oreford of Ipswich and the Procedure of Restitution ... 146 Reprisals and Letters of Marque ... 149 The Bayonnais Letters of Marque ... 155 6 The Sea, The March and Sovereignty ... 161 Terrestrial Marches ... 163 A Maritime March ... 172 The Process of Montreuil, 1306 ... 174 Sovereignty: The Duke of Gascony, the King of England and the King of France ... 183 7 Peace and Piracy Containment ... 191 Peace and Order in the Middle Ages ... 192 Bayonne, the Cinque Ports and Great Yarmouth ... 195 Incidents of Piracy and the Non-application of the Treaty ... 198 Flanders and Portugal ... 200 Castile-The Change of a Procedure ... 204 1306-1311 ... 206 Aftermath ... 213 Bayonne-Normandy ... 215 1282 ... 215 1316-1318 ... 217 Piracy and the War of Saint-Sardos ... 221 Lex Talionis and the English Reform of Punishment ... 224 8 Crime and Lack of Punishment? ... 229 Violence and Killing ... 229 Robbery and Theft ... 234 Imprisonment as Punishment ... 237 Punishment and Piracy ... 238 9 Conclusion ... 245 Appendix 1: Chronology ... 249 Appendix 2: Maps ... 251 Normandy ... 251 Bayonne and the Castilian Ports ... 252 The Cinque Ports' Primary Members and Calais ... 253 The West Coast of Brittany ... 254 The English East Coast ... 255 The English Southwest Coast ... 256 The Cinque Ports, Calais and the Flemish Ports ... 257 Bordeaux and the Charente Area ... 258 Appendix 3: The Seneschal Rostand de Soler's Report to Edward I on the Norman Depredations in Saintonge in 1293 ... 259 Appendix 4: Answer of the Men of the Cinque Ports and Bayonne to Charges of Piracy during the Maritime War of 1292-93 ... 269 Bibliography ... 277 Index ... 287