Medieval Maritime Predation. A Database Supported Analysis of Mediterranean Violence

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Nikolas Jaspert
• Subject Area: Medieval History
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 507975343

This project’s goal is to rewrite the history of what is often simplistically and misleadingly termed “piracy” by analysing maritime predation more broadly as the violent appropriation of goods at sea. In order to do so, a research tool will be fashioned that enables historians to study maritime predation on levels that transcend those of the nation-state. Furthermore, two comparative, macro-regional studies will illustrate this approach’s heuristic potential.The proposal is designed to stimulate a paradigm shift in the field of maritime history, where approaches have traditionally focused on state warfare, activities of regular fleets or long-distance trade. In contrast, this project will highlight semi-official or individual forms of maritime violence and reveal their connection with economic networks, specific groups of agents and international politics. The subject is not only highly relevant from a historical point of view, but also topical, as the many hundred cases of maritime predation perpetrated every year illustrate. The project team will situate the Mediterranean within the wider history of sub-state maritime violence and heighten sensibility for the longevity and dynamics of a topic hitherto not sufficiently considered within medieval studies.Apart from the two monographs and a collection of essays, this enterprise’s output will consist of the creation of a state-of-the-art, relational database, that will serve as a powerful and expandable tool for future research. By the year 2026, the “Database of Medieval Maritime Predation” (DMMP) will not only be programmed and made fully operational but will also have been fed with primary sources hailing from four major Mediterranean centres (regesta and selected full texts). It will review theories that have been developed based on cursory evidence. Even more importantly, it will enable historians to pose new queries and answer them by means of complex, relational data retrieval. The two envisaged monographs will illustrate these potentials and present robust, comparative case studies of medieval maritime predation in the western and eastern Mediterranean respectively. The proceedings of an international workshop will test the database’s viability, expand this project’s perspective and forge a network of experts who will guarantee the DMMP’s expansion and sustainability.The documents that form the base for this project stem from collections of edited sources and primarily from four eminent archives of the Mediterranean. They will be assembled by two early career researchers who not only possess experience in the creation and upkeep of databases but are also well-versed in the subject matter and have acquired first-hand archival experience working with these holdings. In addition, the postdoctoral researcher, who has already collected extensive source material, will analyse contemporary attitudes to maritime predation and also be responsible for setting up the database.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Spain
• Cooperation Partner: Dr. Roser Salicrú i Lluch