How Jolly Roger invented the world. A global history of piracy in the early modern period - Detailseite

Leaving aside romanticising legends, Blackbeard & Co. caused real problems to early modern shipping, yet their raids were also a tried and tested expedient in geopolitical conflicts. Historians and literary scholars have recently rediscovered the phenomenon and have emphasized the global operating range of pirates, which made them protagonists of cultural encounter and transfer as well as specialists in navigation and geography. But who were the corsairs, freebooters and buccaneers? This course will focus on primary sources (most of which – like the secondary literature – are in English). Regular and active attendance includes the preparation of one (short and informal) presentation on an 'expert' topic based on previously agreed reading.

C.R. Pennell (ed.), Bandits at Sea: A Pirates Reader, New York 2001; Daniel Vitkus (ed.), Piracy, Slavery, and Redemption: Barbary Captivity Narratives from Early Modern England. New York 2001; Daniel Heller-Roazen, The Enemy of All: Piracy and the Law of Nations, New York 2009; Jowitt, Claire (ed.), Pirates? The Politics of Plunder, 1550-1650. New York etc. 2007; Rediker, Marcus, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea: Merchant Seamen, Pirates and the Anglo-American Maritime World, 1700-1750. Cambridge 1987.