'Per omnes partes barbarie orientis' : Maltese corsairing in the Levant during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries

Abstract

This chapter examines the actions and duties of Maltese corsairs operating in the Levant during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries within the wider framework that was created following the establishment of the Knights of St John in Malta in 1530. It considers the functioning of the corso from a different perspective than that which has been traditionally adopted. Although much has been written about the Maltese corso, particular aspects of this activity have attracted only a passing mention. Notable examples are the legal and practical functions of this economic activity as brought to us from hitherto sporadically tapped sources such as notarial acts and litigation cases held at the Tribunale degli Armamenti, a prize court set up in 1605. After introducing the Maltese context, this study probes the actions of the different stakeholders in the corsair business and shows how - despite strong traditional religious ties - people of different nationalities and religions found ways and means to interact and move along each other's shores in order to trade profitably.