Piracy in the Mediterranean: Greene's Maritime History Review

Introduction: Piracy as a Force in Mediterranean History

Piracy is often regarded as a kind of underground history, largely created by participants who operated outside the main thrust of geopolitical development. The criminal, disenfranchised, or unaffiliated parties who roved the seas — preying on vulnerable merchant ships or conducting private trade, transport, and smuggling — are rarely thought of as prime movers of history. However, the 2010 text by Molly Greene, entitled Catholic Pirates and Greek Merchants: A Maritime History of the Mediterranean, makes the case that the piracy that flourished throughout the Mediterranean in the 17th and 18th centuries had a determinant effect on the distribution of sovereign, religious, and economic power alike.

Thesis of Greene's Text

This argument is underscored by the text's primary thesis. According to the review provided by Brummett (2011), "the book advances the thesis that the 'retreat of state', meaning the Habsburg and Ottoman empires, from the Mediterranean at the end of the sixteenth century allowed piracy to flourish and prompted a reconfiguration of commercial relations. That reconfiguration involved a 'revival of Catholic power' grounded on expanded French and papal intervention in the Mediterranean" (Brummett, p. 622).

This thesis is well-supported by a narrative demonstration of how both unaffiliated piracy and the profiteering that ultimately became the province of the formerly protective Knights of Malta came to define the nature of international trade, the value of goods and services, and the distribution of wealth and power for sovereign entities such as the Ottoman Empire, Greece, and the various seafaring powers of Europe.

Main Arguments Across the Chapters

The chapters comprising Greene's text build an expanding argument for the impact of piracy on the development of the Mediterranean region. In Chapter 1, the text argues that one of the driving forces behind the expansion of piracy was the inherent contradiction created when Catholic privateers pledged allegiance to orders such as the Knights of Malta rather than to their sovereign states. Much confusion, conflict, and seizure arose from this divided loyalty.

In Chapter 2, Greene argues that religion — such as the Catholic affiliation of Malta and the Muslim affiliation of the Corsairs — was used to claim specific entitlement to seize merchant goods, thereby undermining any consistent meaning of the term "piracy." Chapter 3 describes in greater detail how the image of the pirate differed during the 17th and 18th centuries in the Mediterranean, specifically illustrating how the Knights of Malta devolved from a religious order into a network of profit-seeking individuals.

Chapter 4 underscores the complexity of the relationship between the Ottoman Empire and the Knights of Malta, as well as the manner in which this opposition came to work at cross-purposes as its members became mercenaries for other nations. Chapter 5 argues that the result was a highly unjust system in which Knights, behaving as pirates yet invoking the authority of the Catholic Church, seized goods from Turks, Muslims, and Jews on the basis of religious affiliation. Chapter 6 provides concrete evidence of the often biased legal battles that arose from the contradictions outlined in Chapter 5. Chapter 7 shows that the eventual relocation of the Knights of Malta to Rome helped to reduce the economic strain on the order and returned it to its religious and humanitarian role.