Review: Catholic Pirates and Greek Merchants: A Maritime History of the Early Modern Mediterranean

Catholic Pirates and Greek Merchants: A Maritime History of the Early Modern Mediterranean by Molly Greene
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Greene attempts to provide a maritime history of the early modern Mediterranean according to her book's title, but the author's thesis is more narrow in focus. Greene examines the dynamics between Venetian Christian and Muslim corsairs and pirates who pillaged Greek merchants during the early modern era. Greene posits that religion played a key role in piracy as opposed to economic gains. Greek merchants were in a precarious position living as Christian citizens on the outskirts of the Ottoman Empire. Yet Christian corsairs, namely fraternal organizations like the Knights of St. John and the Knights of St. Stephan who normally would avoid other Christian merchants, pillaged at will, including the Greek merchants. Reclamation cases would play out in court through the Tribunale Degli Armamemnti, which were mainly controlled by the Knights. The Greek merchants rarely stood a chance to recover their goods.

Greene leans heavily on the mostly untapped resources of the Tribunale archives. The records of the Tribunale provide historians an opportunity to understand the effects that Christian corsairs and piracy had on trade in the Mediterranean. They had been given free rein by their religious order and political statehood to pillage at will as long as their victims weren't fellow Christians. Greek merchants attempted to hide behind Christian orthodoxy, yet were pillaged and captured anyway. Their only recourse was to look to the courts for reclamation. Greene follows several specific cases to support her thesis and this is where things become disjointed.

The court cases within Greene's book provide support for her thesis; however, they are interspersed throughout the book. Often Green introduces characters and cases early in the book then mentions that she'll pick up their stories in later chapters. This causes the storyline to become fragmented and at times a bit confusing. Had Green started with background and history, then utilized each chapter on a specific case with specific points and supporting evidence, her overall position would have been more clear. This issue should not overshadow the fact that Greene has tapped into an area of Mediterranean historiography that had, at the time, been overlooked. The book likely was originally a series of papers that were collated to be a more broad look at piracy and captivity in the Mediterranean. For the subject matter, this is a book worth examining for those interested in this area of history.

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