182 clifford r. backman
century. Mediterranean piracy, in sum, showed all the fluidity, pragmatism, and at
times contradiction of other forms of Mediterranean life. It was markedly less violent
than piracy in the Caribbean and the South China Sea, and it thrived on many of the
same elements of cross-cultural adaptation as did Mediterranean trade and intellectual
exchange. In most cases and at most times, after Rome, it was widely regarded as a risk
of doing business, a problem to be regulated and managed rather than solved. As with
crusading and the mercenary opportunism it fostered, piracy appealed to all ethnici-
ties and all faiths and it provided a venue for their controlled interaction. We need to
be careful not to make light of the real suffering it caused, but Mediterranean piracy
differed significantly from the better-known Atlantic and Caribbean piracy of the early
modern era.
AppendixAuthor’s translation of: Barcelona, Arxiu de la Corona d’Aragó, Chancery: Cartes
diplomaticas de Jaume II, no. 9939, dated July 7, 1308.
To the most serene and renowned prince, Lord James, by God’s grace the illustri-
ous King of Aragon, Valencia, Corsica, and Sardinia, the Count of Barcelona, and the
Standard-Bearer, Admiral, and Captain-General of the Holy Roman Church, and my
most dear and reverend brother, King Frederick III, by that same grace, sends greet-
ings and hope for your ever continued prosperity, with all brotherly affection.
Just in this last month of June, sixth indiction, Mateu Oliverdar (a merchant from
Barcelona, Your subject, and Our friend), sailing from Alexandria to Sicily while under
our safe-passage with a cargo of goods destined for conducting business here, arrived
at the port of Siracusa in a ship that carried his own goods as well as those of a number
of other Catalan merchants. Hearing of this arrival, D. Bernat de Sarrià (Your Lord
Admiral and subject, and Our friend) immediately raced to Siracusa in the two galleys
that You recently dispatched when You sent D. Bernat to Our court to serve as Your
ambassador and nuncio. When he found the said merchant ship, but its cargo had
already been unloaded and its captain and crew already ashore and hidden in the city,
since they feared the admiral. D. Bernat thereupon seized the trade ship, in violation
of Our peace and security, and demanded of the bailiff and judges of Siracusa that they
should impound the missing cargo and hand it all over to him. The officials took
possession of the goods in question but refused to give them to the admiral, offering
any number of reasons for their refusal but especially the fact that they had received
no order from Our court to do so.
But Mateu, the merchant, not wanting to be the cause of trouble, petitioned to
have the goods restored to him, and then he himself handed them over to D.
Bernat, who promptly brought the trade ship with him back to Messina, placing
it and himself under Our protection, so that We might decree whatever We think
should happen according to the agreement initially made between the contending
parties and forwarded to Us by the aforesaid bailiff and judges. The said admiral,
currently retaining possession of the ship and its goods on Our authority, but may
not dispose of them to anyone, to the loss or detriment of the said Mateu and the
other merchants. All of this matter We have patiently borne and put up with out
of Our sense of honor and reverence for You—but there has indeed been grave