Blurb

Pirate warfare played a prominent part in Mediterranean life during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Its influence was significant both in the decline of Venice and in the shift of the economic hegemony of Europe. Professor Tenenti maintains that Venice is a fitting focus for study of this period, for the Mediterranean became increasingly a centre of European activity. On one side was Venice which, in spite of a huge navy and a still sizeable merchant fleet, observed the strictest neutrality and sought only to protect her trade. On the other were potentially or openly hostile navies, which clashed with one another and frequently also with Venetian shipping. English and Dutch navies forced their way into the area by a combination of trade and piracy and established themselves in positions of great strength.

Professor Tenenti analyzes the impact of northern piracy on the trade of the Venetian republic and her failure to resist this threat. During the early seventeenth century Venetian prosperity was irreparably damaged, not only by competition from the north, but also by a severe shipbuilding crisis. He suggests that Venice was unable to adapt the organisation, equipment and discipline of her navy to the changed conditions; for these were spheres in which her pride was particularly strong and tradition enduring.

He describes the different types of pirates from the Barbary pirates, the Knights of Malta and the English corsairs to the Uscocchi, whom even sophisticated Venetians regarded as necromancers.
The translation of this important work of Venetian economic history makes a valuable addition to the books on the period available to English readers.

AUTHOR

Professor Alberto Tenenti received a doctorate at the University of Pisa in 1946 and from 1949 to 1953 was associated with the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Paris. From 1953 to 1957 he was State Archivist to Venice and Brescia. He is now Director of Studies at1'Ecole Practique des Hautes Etudes (Sorbonne, Paris). He is the author of: Naufrages, corsaires et assurances maritimes a Venise (1592-1609) and Cristoforo Da Canal. La marine venitienne avant Lepante.

Brian Pullan is a Fellow of Queens' College, Cambridge, and is an Assistant Lecturer in History. He has worked on the history of Venice since 1959. His wife Janet Pullan has done research into the economics of the mainland provinces of the Venetian republic. Both of them have worked in the Venetian archives.

Contents

Foreword
Introduction
PART I THE PIRATES
1 The Uskoks
2 The Barbary Corsairs
3 Maltese, Florentines and Spaniards
4 The English
PART II THE ORGANIZATION OF THE VENETIAN NAVY
5 The Merchant Fleet
6 The Light Galleys
7 Galleasses and Galleon
Conclusion
Glossary
Notes
Bibliography
Index

ILLUSTRATIONS

Uskoks attacking merchantmen (from G. Rosaccio, Viaggio da Venetia a Costantinopoli, Venice, 1606)
A Venetian galley in pursuit of Uskoks off the island of Pago (from G. Rosaccio, op. cit.)
Algiers (from G. Braun, De praecipius totius universi urbibus liber secundus, Colonia, 1575)
Malta (from P. Bertelli, Theatrum urbium italicaruni, Venice, 1599)
Taranto (from P. Bertelli, op. cit.)
The northern ships called bertoni by the Venetians, which, especially in English hands, proved themselves to be formidable pirate craft (engraved by H. Cock, from a drawing by F. H. Brueghel, circa 1565)
Bertoni at sea (engraved by H. Cock from a drawing by F. H. Brueghel, circa 1565)
Typical renegade Christians, who formed the crews of Turkish pirate ships (from N. de Nicolay, Les quatre premiers livres des navigations et peregrinations orientales, Lyon, G. Roville, 1568)

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