Address: VU University Amsterdam Faculty of Law, De Boelenlaan 1105, 1081 HV Amsterdam
Leiden University, Department of History. Postbus 9515, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
Being a rather marginal topic for a long time, the field of premodern maritime conflict and marit... more Being a rather marginal topic for a long time, the field of premodern maritime conflict and maritime violence has raised the attention of scholars in the past years. New approaches, influenced from cultural and economic history, have studied the practices of conflict management and the dynamic perception of licit and illicit practices in the maritime realm. As such, these micro-studies of maritime conflict management open new perspectives to understand economic and social structures at sea and on land and its dynamics in a broader sense. In this context, the conference organized by Louis Sicking (Amsterdam/Leiden) and Philipp Höhn (Halle) was the final in a series of conferences and workshops, which were part of the NWO funded project „Maritime Conflict Management in Atlantic Europe, 1200–1600“ led by Sicking. The aim of the conference was to bring together scholars working on the Baltic and the Atlantic in order to compare and to combine the growing field of conflict management studies with new approaches focusing on the semantics of maritime violence.
Piracy holds a special place within the field of international law because of the universal juris... more Piracy holds a special place within the field of international law because of the universal jurisdiction that applies: any state may seize a pirate ship on the high seas and decide upon the penalties to be imposed, as is currently the case with Somali and West African pirates. Unlike today, piracy was the norm in pre-modern times. Maritime trade and piracy went hand in hand. At the same time, kings and emperors recruited their admirals from among pirates. This raises the question of how princes, states and cities distinguished between legal and illegal violence at sea. How did they deal with maritime conflict among themselves and among their respective subjects and citizens? This article puts maritime conflict management in a European, global and long term perspective while avoiding anachronistic and teleological approaches. Finally, it argues that pre-modern conflict management is relevant to understand maritime security in the twenty-first century.
From the late Middle Ages onwards, maritime conflict has developed hand in hand with internationa... more From the late Middle Ages onwards, maritime conflict has developed hand in hand with international trade. Over time, specific institutions were established to address disputes arising from violence or mishap at sea and in coastal areas. Conflict resolution at sea has mostly been studied through the lens of the history of diplomacy and international law. Of late the emphasis has shifted to the process of conflict resolution itself. . Conflict management has a wider meaning than conflict resolution, as the concept includes alternative modes of dealing with conflicts that do not necessarily involve resolving them. Beyond classical issues such as naval warfare, piracy and privateering, medievalists and early modernists exploring the worlds of the Atlantic, the North Sea and the Baltic have increasingly devoted attention to processes of conflict settlement and conflict avoidance. As a result, the vast diversity of formal judicial procedures and informal or private paths of settlements has come to light. As research on conflict management continues to flourish, its maritime dimension still deserves more attention. The current conference aims at focusing on the maritime perspective, and proposes an actor and dispute-centered approach. How did maritime violent actors justify their acts (for example feuding or war) and how did they negotiate property rights? How did victims of maritime conflicts claim compensation or reparation? How and to what extent did they get support from authorities and polities? How did individual actors and public institutions negotiate disputes which transcended jurisdictional boundaries (for example those involving reprisal and piracy)? What strategies, arrangements and agreements were resorted to in order to achieve resolution of those conflicts, and to what effect? So far, students of the maritime dimension, have studied either the Atlantic, the North Sea region or the Baltic, creating separate historiographies. But historically, these regions represent closely entangled seascapes. After all, maritime conflicts did not end at geographical borders. Actors like the Hansards, English, or merchants from the Low Countries traded in the three maritime arenas and stood in complex relationships, characterized by conflict and cooperation. This conference will foster an exchange between scholars working on these three areas of research, allowing for a comparative and long-term perspective. This may reveal connections between the three seascapes and shed a useful light on the multiplicity and complexity of the various paths chosen for the management of disputes.
Central Governments and the Resolution of Maritime Conflicts,
1200–1600. Lisbon, 25-26 October 2... more Central Governments and the Resolution of Maritime Conflicts, 1200–1600. Lisbon, 25-26 October 2018 In the Middle Ages, maritime conict has developed hand in hand with international trade. Over time, specic institutions were established to address disputes arising from violence or mishap at sea and in coastal areas. Recent historiography emphasises that late-medieval merchants, together with consuetudinary law and common legal practices, relied on the legal autonomy of municipal governments to resolve maritime and commercial conicts. For highly urbanised areas like the Low Countries, it has been argued that urban legal autonomy played a decisive role in inter-urban competition to attract foreign merchants, thus stimulating economic growth in the most successful cities. However, in other regions of Europe, on the Iberian Peninsula and in England for instance, the situation was dierent. Certain cities – like Lisbon and London – rose to dominance without facing competition from other cities. Some of these cities were highly dependent, from a judicial standpoint, from the crown’s intricate bureaucracy. So, how were maritime conicts resolved in port cities under the authority and control of central governments or the crown? And how to explain that places not involved in urban competition, which sometimes lacked autonomy in judicial matters, could economically expand? In addition, the role of central governments in highly urbanised regions, including the Italian city states and the Low Countries, will also be discussed from the perspective of maritime conict management. is seminar on Central Governments and the Resolution of Maritime Conflicts, 1200–1600 aims at exploring these questions in a broad, comparative perspective, by looking at how disputes were managed and settled both in Atlantic Europe, more specically in the Iberian Peninsula, and around the Mediterranean in the later Middle Ages.
** UPDATE **
Confirmed keynote speakers:
* Michel Bochaca (La Rochelle)
* David Igual (La M... more ** UPDATE **
Confirmed keynote speakers:
* Michel Bochaca (La Rochelle)
* David Igual (La Mancha)
* Bart Lambert (York)
* Pierre Prétou (La Rochelle)
* Louis Sicking (U. Leiden)
* Final call: applications must be sent by 15 June *
In the Middle Ages, maritime conflict has developed hand in hand with international trade. Over time, specific institutions were established to address disputes arising from violence or mishap at sea and in coastal areas. Recent historiography emphasises that late-medieval merchants, together with consuetudinary law and common legal practices, relied on the legal autonomy of municipal governments to resolve maritime and commercial conflicts. For highly urbanised areas like the Low Countries, it has been argued that urban legal autonomy played a decisive role in inter-urban competition to attract foreign merchants, thus stimulating economic growth in the most successful cities. However, in other regions of Europe, on the Iberian Peninsula and in England for instance, the situation was different. Certain cities – like Lisbon and London – rose to dominance without facing competition from other cities. Some of these cities were highly dependent, from a judicial standpoint, from the crown's intricate bureaucracy. So, how were maritime conflicts resolved in port cities under the authority and control of central governments or the crown? And how to explain that places not involved in urban competition, which sometimes lacked autonomy in judicial matters, could economically expand? In addition, the role of central governments in highly urbanised regions, including the Italian city states and the Low Countries, will also be discussed from the perspective of maritime conflict management. This seminar on Central Governments and the Resolution of Maritime Conflicts, 1200–1600 aims at exploring these questions in a broad, comparative perspective, by looking at how disputes were managed and settled both in Atlantic Europe, more specifically in the Iberian Peninsula, and around the Mediterranean in the later Middle Ages. The seminar will include invited keynote presentations by European scholars. The full programme will soon be published online. Paper proposals We welcome paper proposals for a twenty-minute presentation on topics related to the call. We encourage papers related to merchant conflicts and their resolution in central courts, legal strategies, merchants and governments' diplomatic exchanges, among other approaches.
Les journée d'histoire maritime consacrées à l'histoire du gouvernement des hommes en mer sont is... more Les journée d'histoire maritime consacrées à l'histoire du gouvernement des hommes en mer sont issues d'un partenariat unissant l'Université de la Rochelle, la Corderie Royale, le SHD Rochefort et le Musée national de la Marine. Maritime Conflict Management in Atlantic Europe, Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Universiteit Leiden, Universidad de la Laguna, Universidad de Cantabria (Santander), Nova Lisboa.
From the late Middle Ages, maritime conflict has developed hand in hand with international trade.... more From the late Middle Ages, maritime conflict has developed hand in hand with international trade. Over time, specific institutions were established to address disputes arising from violence or mishap at sea and in coastal areas. Conflict resolution at sea has mostly been studied through the lens of the history of diplomacy and international law. Of late the emphasis has shifted to the process of conflict resolution itself. There is a detailed interest in the different actors and institutions involved alongside in-depth case studies. Conflict management has a wider meaning than conflict resolution, as the concept includes alternative modes of dealing with conflicts that do not necessarily involve resolving them. Beyond classical issues such as naval warfare, piracy and privateering, medievalists and historians exploring the worlds of the early modern Mediterranean and Atlantic have increasingly devoted attention to processes of conflict settlement and conflict avoidance, while also looking into the vast diversity of formal judicial procedures and informal or private paths of settlements. As research on conflict management continues to flourish, its maritime dimension still deserves more attention, however, as the overall emphasis is mainly on state formation and should be qualified, therefore, as land-oriented. The current conference aims at focusing on the maritime perspective, and proposes an actor and dispute-centered approach. How did victims of maritime conflicts claim compensation or reparation? How and to what extent did they get support from authorities and polities? How did individual actors and public institutions negotiate disputes which transcended jurisdictional boundaries (for example those involving reprisal and piracy)? What strategies, arrangements and agreements were resorted in order to achieve resolution of those conflicts, and with what effectiveness? So far, students of the maritime dimension, have mainly studied either the Mediterranean or Atlantic region, creating separate historiographies. This conference will foster an exchange between scholars working on these two areas of research, allowing for a comparative and long-term perspective. This may reveal connections between the two seascapes and shed a useful light on the multiplicity and complexity of the paths chosen for the management of disputes. Papers on these themes in English or French will be welcomed. Paper proposals (abstract in 150 words and a CV on one page) to be sent before 1 July 2017 to l.h.j.sicking@hum.leidenuniv.nl and to anne.wegener-sleeswijk@univ-paris1.fr
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/2049677X.2017.1314605
This article discusses how merchants or skippers ... more http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/2049677X.2017.1314605 This article discusses how merchants or skippers suffering losses aimed to get redress for damages in trading and shipping from or with Holland and Zeeland in the fourteenth and early fifteenth century within the context of Anglo–Dutch trade and diplomacy. In accordance with legal doctrine both the English king and the Count of Holland considered reprisal as an ultimate remedy. Both rulers used the possibility of reprisal as a means of pressure within Anglo–Dutch diplomacy. Their willingness to support their subjects went beyond the issue of damage redress as it also enabled them to have more control over their subjects. When reprisal was eventually issued, rulers on both sides of the Channel carefully supervised and controlled its procedures. Even though rulers were prepared to support victims via diplomacy and, ultimately, reprisal, they did consider individual interests in the functioning of the wider political and economic interests of their countries.
Although maritime life is characterized by endemic violence, given an environment hostile to man ... more Although maritime life is characterized by endemic violence, given an environment hostile to man and beyond the authority of the State, its importance to economic and social life has led to public and private initiatives aiming to ensure the development of maritime activities and the defence of interests involved. Past conflicts most often related to natural and human damage, due to the harshness of the marine environment. Nature's adverse impact resulted from a lack of technical means to deal with the dangers of the sea. Economic constraints and uncertainties affected commercial activities and fishing. It was not uncommon for victims to convert into aggressors and vice versa. Another cause of conflict was to be found in the disputes between ship masters and their crews, between ship owners and charterers or between those who financed maritime and commercial activities (ship owners and financiers) and those who realized them (ship masters, merchants). One solution to this situation of conflict, although hardly successful, was the establishment of maritime jurisdictions with coercive powers. The authorities, supported by the most notable groups in the maritime sector, were concerned with safeguarding the political and economic interests of the various kingdoms. From this point of view, they employed the military, judicial, legislative and diplomatic means proper to the 'modern state'. What was the role of monarchs in resolving maritime conflicts? What methods did they apply in order to stimulate or force the reiteration of the damages of their subjects or inhabitants or those who traded in their jurisdictions? To promote or impose reparation for damages suffered by their subjects as well as by foreigners who traded within their jurisdiction?
Maritime Conflict Management in Atlantic Europe, 1200-1600. Partners: Leiden University, VU Unive... more Maritime Conflict Management in Atlantic Europe, 1200-1600. Partners: Leiden University, VU University Amsterdam, University of Cantabria in Santander, University of San Cristobal de La Laguna in Canary Islands, University of La Rochelle and University Nova of Lisbon. More content will follow soon
Maritime conflict resolution, particularly as manifested in the law of maritime warfare, has long... more Maritime conflict resolution, particularly as manifested in the law of maritime warfare, has long played an important role in the history of diplomacy and international law. What significance did maritime conflict resolution have in shaping the standards of international law in medieval and early modern Europe? How did diplomacy figure into the processes of maritime conflict resolution? This workshop aims to shed light on these questions from two distinct yet related perspectives: that of the aggressor and the victim on the one hand, and that of the political entities to which they belonged on the other. How did victims of maritime conflicts claim and obtain damages or demand compensation or reparation? To what extent could they rely on their own polities or the polities of their aggressors? What sort of efforts did public authorities make to protect their subjects or citizens beyond the boundaries of their jurisdiction? How prepared were they to provide opportunities for redress to foreign victims of maritime violence committed by their own subjects and citizens? How did different political authorities and polities negotiate disputes of maritime diplomacy which transcended jurisdictional boundaries (particularly those involving reprisals and piracy), and what strategies, arrangements and agreements did they employ in attempting to achieve resolution of those conflicts? Addressing these questions calls for a reappraisal of the presumed boundaries between that traditionally known as private and public international law. Doing so will unveil connections and entanglements between private parties and public authorities, demonstrating the importance of both for the development of maritime conflict resolution. As a result, this workshop aims to offer new insights and enrich our understanding of the role of maritime conflict resolution and legal practice within the wider context of maritime diplomacy. Louis Sicking (VU Amsterdam/National Maritime Museum/Leiden University)
Being a rather marginal topic for a long time, the field of premodern maritime conflict and marit... more Being a rather marginal topic for a long time, the field of premodern maritime conflict and maritime violence has raised the attention of scholars in the past years. New approaches, influenced from cultural and economic history, have studied the practices of conflict management and the dynamic perception of licit and illicit practices in the maritime realm. As such, these micro-studies of maritime conflict management open new perspectives to understand economic and social structures at sea and on land and its dynamics in a broader sense. In this context, the conference organized by Louis Sicking (Amsterdam/Leiden) and Philipp Höhn (Halle) was the final in a series of conferences and workshops, which were part of the NWO funded project „Maritime Conflict Management in Atlantic Europe, 1200–1600“ led by Sicking. The aim of the conference was to bring together scholars working on the Baltic and the Atlantic in order to compare and to combine the growing field of conflict management studies with new approaches focusing on the semantics of maritime violence.
Piracy holds a special place within the field of international law because of the universal juris... more Piracy holds a special place within the field of international law because of the universal jurisdiction that applies: any state may seize a pirate ship on the high seas and decide upon the penalties to be imposed, as is currently the case with Somali and West African pirates. Unlike today, piracy was the norm in pre-modern times. Maritime trade and piracy went hand in hand. At the same time, kings and emperors recruited their admirals from among pirates. This raises the question of how princes, states and cities distinguished between legal and illegal violence at sea. How did they deal with maritime conflict among themselves and among their respective subjects and citizens? This article puts maritime conflict management in a European, global and long term perspective while avoiding anachronistic and teleological approaches. Finally, it argues that pre-modern conflict management is relevant to understand maritime security in the twenty-first century.
From the late Middle Ages onwards, maritime conflict has developed hand in hand with internationa... more From the late Middle Ages onwards, maritime conflict has developed hand in hand with international trade. Over time, specific institutions were established to address disputes arising from violence or mishap at sea and in coastal areas. Conflict resolution at sea has mostly been studied through the lens of the history of diplomacy and international law. Of late the emphasis has shifted to the process of conflict resolution itself. . Conflict management has a wider meaning than conflict resolution, as the concept includes alternative modes of dealing with conflicts that do not necessarily involve resolving them. Beyond classical issues such as naval warfare, piracy and privateering, medievalists and early modernists exploring the worlds of the Atlantic, the North Sea and the Baltic have increasingly devoted attention to processes of conflict settlement and conflict avoidance. As a result, the vast diversity of formal judicial procedures and informal or private paths of settlements has come to light. As research on conflict management continues to flourish, its maritime dimension still deserves more attention. The current conference aims at focusing on the maritime perspective, and proposes an actor and dispute-centered approach. How did maritime violent actors justify their acts (for example feuding or war) and how did they negotiate property rights? How did victims of maritime conflicts claim compensation or reparation? How and to what extent did they get support from authorities and polities? How did individual actors and public institutions negotiate disputes which transcended jurisdictional boundaries (for example those involving reprisal and piracy)? What strategies, arrangements and agreements were resorted to in order to achieve resolution of those conflicts, and to what effect? So far, students of the maritime dimension, have studied either the Atlantic, the North Sea region or the Baltic, creating separate historiographies. But historically, these regions represent closely entangled seascapes. After all, maritime conflicts did not end at geographical borders. Actors like the Hansards, English, or merchants from the Low Countries traded in the three maritime arenas and stood in complex relationships, characterized by conflict and cooperation. This conference will foster an exchange between scholars working on these three areas of research, allowing for a comparative and long-term perspective. This may reveal connections between the three seascapes and shed a useful light on the multiplicity and complexity of the various paths chosen for the management of disputes.
Central Governments and the Resolution of Maritime Conflicts,
1200–1600. Lisbon, 25-26 October 2... more Central Governments and the Resolution of Maritime Conflicts, 1200–1600. Lisbon, 25-26 October 2018 In the Middle Ages, maritime conict has developed hand in hand with international trade. Over time, specic institutions were established to address disputes arising from violence or mishap at sea and in coastal areas. Recent historiography emphasises that late-medieval merchants, together with consuetudinary law and common legal practices, relied on the legal autonomy of municipal governments to resolve maritime and commercial conicts. For highly urbanised areas like the Low Countries, it has been argued that urban legal autonomy played a decisive role in inter-urban competition to attract foreign merchants, thus stimulating economic growth in the most successful cities. However, in other regions of Europe, on the Iberian Peninsula and in England for instance, the situation was dierent. Certain cities – like Lisbon and London – rose to dominance without facing competition from other cities. Some of these cities were highly dependent, from a judicial standpoint, from the crown’s intricate bureaucracy. So, how were maritime conicts resolved in port cities under the authority and control of central governments or the crown? And how to explain that places not involved in urban competition, which sometimes lacked autonomy in judicial matters, could economically expand? In addition, the role of central governments in highly urbanised regions, including the Italian city states and the Low Countries, will also be discussed from the perspective of maritime conict management. is seminar on Central Governments and the Resolution of Maritime Conflicts, 1200–1600 aims at exploring these questions in a broad, comparative perspective, by looking at how disputes were managed and settled both in Atlantic Europe, more specically in the Iberian Peninsula, and around the Mediterranean in the later Middle Ages.
** UPDATE **
Confirmed keynote speakers:
* Michel Bochaca (La Rochelle)
* David Igual (La M... more ** UPDATE **
Confirmed keynote speakers:
* Michel Bochaca (La Rochelle)
* David Igual (La Mancha)
* Bart Lambert (York)
* Pierre Prétou (La Rochelle)
* Louis Sicking (U. Leiden)
* Final call: applications must be sent by 15 June *
In the Middle Ages, maritime conflict has developed hand in hand with international trade. Over time, specific institutions were established to address disputes arising from violence or mishap at sea and in coastal areas. Recent historiography emphasises that late-medieval merchants, together with consuetudinary law and common legal practices, relied on the legal autonomy of municipal governments to resolve maritime and commercial conflicts. For highly urbanised areas like the Low Countries, it has been argued that urban legal autonomy played a decisive role in inter-urban competition to attract foreign merchants, thus stimulating economic growth in the most successful cities. However, in other regions of Europe, on the Iberian Peninsula and in England for instance, the situation was different. Certain cities – like Lisbon and London – rose to dominance without facing competition from other cities. Some of these cities were highly dependent, from a judicial standpoint, from the crown's intricate bureaucracy. So, how were maritime conflicts resolved in port cities under the authority and control of central governments or the crown? And how to explain that places not involved in urban competition, which sometimes lacked autonomy in judicial matters, could economically expand? In addition, the role of central governments in highly urbanised regions, including the Italian city states and the Low Countries, will also be discussed from the perspective of maritime conflict management. This seminar on Central Governments and the Resolution of Maritime Conflicts, 1200–1600 aims at exploring these questions in a broad, comparative perspective, by looking at how disputes were managed and settled both in Atlantic Europe, more specifically in the Iberian Peninsula, and around the Mediterranean in the later Middle Ages. The seminar will include invited keynote presentations by European scholars. The full programme will soon be published online. Paper proposals We welcome paper proposals for a twenty-minute presentation on topics related to the call. We encourage papers related to merchant conflicts and their resolution in central courts, legal strategies, merchants and governments' diplomatic exchanges, among other approaches.
Les journée d'histoire maritime consacrées à l'histoire du gouvernement des hommes en mer sont is... more Les journée d'histoire maritime consacrées à l'histoire du gouvernement des hommes en mer sont issues d'un partenariat unissant l'Université de la Rochelle, la Corderie Royale, le SHD Rochefort et le Musée national de la Marine. Maritime Conflict Management in Atlantic Europe, Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Universiteit Leiden, Universidad de la Laguna, Universidad de Cantabria (Santander), Nova Lisboa.
From the late Middle Ages, maritime conflict has developed hand in hand with international trade.... more From the late Middle Ages, maritime conflict has developed hand in hand with international trade. Over time, specific institutions were established to address disputes arising from violence or mishap at sea and in coastal areas. Conflict resolution at sea has mostly been studied through the lens of the history of diplomacy and international law. Of late the emphasis has shifted to the process of conflict resolution itself. There is a detailed interest in the different actors and institutions involved alongside in-depth case studies. Conflict management has a wider meaning than conflict resolution, as the concept includes alternative modes of dealing with conflicts that do not necessarily involve resolving them. Beyond classical issues such as naval warfare, piracy and privateering, medievalists and historians exploring the worlds of the early modern Mediterranean and Atlantic have increasingly devoted attention to processes of conflict settlement and conflict avoidance, while also looking into the vast diversity of formal judicial procedures and informal or private paths of settlements. As research on conflict management continues to flourish, its maritime dimension still deserves more attention, however, as the overall emphasis is mainly on state formation and should be qualified, therefore, as land-oriented. The current conference aims at focusing on the maritime perspective, and proposes an actor and dispute-centered approach. How did victims of maritime conflicts claim compensation or reparation? How and to what extent did they get support from authorities and polities? How did individual actors and public institutions negotiate disputes which transcended jurisdictional boundaries (for example those involving reprisal and piracy)? What strategies, arrangements and agreements were resorted in order to achieve resolution of those conflicts, and with what effectiveness? So far, students of the maritime dimension, have mainly studied either the Mediterranean or Atlantic region, creating separate historiographies. This conference will foster an exchange between scholars working on these two areas of research, allowing for a comparative and long-term perspective. This may reveal connections between the two seascapes and shed a useful light on the multiplicity and complexity of the paths chosen for the management of disputes. Papers on these themes in English or French will be welcomed. Paper proposals (abstract in 150 words and a CV on one page) to be sent before 1 July 2017 to l.h.j.sicking@hum.leidenuniv.nl and to anne.wegener-sleeswijk@univ-paris1.fr
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/2049677X.2017.1314605
This article discusses how merchants or skippers ... more http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/2049677X.2017.1314605 This article discusses how merchants or skippers suffering losses aimed to get redress for damages in trading and shipping from or with Holland and Zeeland in the fourteenth and early fifteenth century within the context of Anglo–Dutch trade and diplomacy. In accordance with legal doctrine both the English king and the Count of Holland considered reprisal as an ultimate remedy. Both rulers used the possibility of reprisal as a means of pressure within Anglo–Dutch diplomacy. Their willingness to support their subjects went beyond the issue of damage redress as it also enabled them to have more control over their subjects. When reprisal was eventually issued, rulers on both sides of the Channel carefully supervised and controlled its procedures. Even though rulers were prepared to support victims via diplomacy and, ultimately, reprisal, they did consider individual interests in the functioning of the wider political and economic interests of their countries.
Although maritime life is characterized by endemic violence, given an environment hostile to man ... more Although maritime life is characterized by endemic violence, given an environment hostile to man and beyond the authority of the State, its importance to economic and social life has led to public and private initiatives aiming to ensure the development of maritime activities and the defence of interests involved. Past conflicts most often related to natural and human damage, due to the harshness of the marine environment. Nature's adverse impact resulted from a lack of technical means to deal with the dangers of the sea. Economic constraints and uncertainties affected commercial activities and fishing. It was not uncommon for victims to convert into aggressors and vice versa. Another cause of conflict was to be found in the disputes between ship masters and their crews, between ship owners and charterers or between those who financed maritime and commercial activities (ship owners and financiers) and those who realized them (ship masters, merchants). One solution to this situation of conflict, although hardly successful, was the establishment of maritime jurisdictions with coercive powers. The authorities, supported by the most notable groups in the maritime sector, were concerned with safeguarding the political and economic interests of the various kingdoms. From this point of view, they employed the military, judicial, legislative and diplomatic means proper to the 'modern state'. What was the role of monarchs in resolving maritime conflicts? What methods did they apply in order to stimulate or force the reiteration of the damages of their subjects or inhabitants or those who traded in their jurisdictions? To promote or impose reparation for damages suffered by their subjects as well as by foreigners who traded within their jurisdiction?
Maritime Conflict Management in Atlantic Europe, 1200-1600. Partners: Leiden University, VU Unive... more Maritime Conflict Management in Atlantic Europe, 1200-1600. Partners: Leiden University, VU University Amsterdam, University of Cantabria in Santander, University of San Cristobal de La Laguna in Canary Islands, University of La Rochelle and University Nova of Lisbon. More content will follow soon
Maritime conflict resolution, particularly as manifested in the law of maritime warfare, has long... more Maritime conflict resolution, particularly as manifested in the law of maritime warfare, has long played an important role in the history of diplomacy and international law. What significance did maritime conflict resolution have in shaping the standards of international law in medieval and early modern Europe? How did diplomacy figure into the processes of maritime conflict resolution? This workshop aims to shed light on these questions from two distinct yet related perspectives: that of the aggressor and the victim on the one hand, and that of the political entities to which they belonged on the other. How did victims of maritime conflicts claim and obtain damages or demand compensation or reparation? To what extent could they rely on their own polities or the polities of their aggressors? What sort of efforts did public authorities make to protect their subjects or citizens beyond the boundaries of their jurisdiction? How prepared were they to provide opportunities for redress to foreign victims of maritime violence committed by their own subjects and citizens? How did different political authorities and polities negotiate disputes of maritime diplomacy which transcended jurisdictional boundaries (particularly those involving reprisals and piracy), and what strategies, arrangements and agreements did they employ in attempting to achieve resolution of those conflicts? Addressing these questions calls for a reappraisal of the presumed boundaries between that traditionally known as private and public international law. Doing so will unveil connections and entanglements between private parties and public authorities, demonstrating the importance of both for the development of maritime conflict resolution. As a result, this workshop aims to offer new insights and enrich our understanding of the role of maritime conflict resolution and legal practice within the wider context of maritime diplomacy. Louis Sicking (VU Amsterdam/National Maritime Museum/Leiden University)
in: R. Kubben ed., Ginder 't Vreêverbont bezegelt. Essays over de betekenis van de vrede ... more in: R. Kubben ed., Ginder 't Vreêverbont bezegelt. Essays over de betekenis van de vrede van Breda 1667 (Breda 2015) 178-187
Au début de l’épohque moderne, les forces navales de l’Empire des Habsbourg et de l’Angleterre po... more Au début de l’épohque moderne, les forces navales de l’Empire des Habsbourg et de l’Angleterre pouvaient être considérées comme des exemples de la primauté d’une marine de mercenaires temporaires d’une part, et d’une marine de guerre permanente d’autre part. Déjà, en Angleterre, pendant le règne du premier Tudor, le roi Henri VII (1485-1509), une marine de guerre permanente se développa et devint la force maritime la plus grande du pays. Son successeur Henri VIII (1509-1547) stimula encore da..
This book investigates how the rulers of the Habsburg world empire developed and implemented a ce... more This book investigates how the rulers of the Habsburg world empire developed and implemented a central maritime policy for the Netherlands and appointed an admiral of the sea or admiral-general for that purpose. It also explains why the Habsburgs were eventually unable to gain control of the maritime affairs of the Netherlands, in spite of the support of the powerful Burgundian Lords of Veere, who occupied the central position of admiral from 1491 to 1558. From their power base on the island of Walcheren in Zeeland, known as the key to the Netherlands at the time because of its central location between Holland, Flanders, Antwerp and the sea, they held an ideal vantage point for exercising the admiralship. The result not only offers an illuminating insight into the organisation of the war fleet, maritime trade and fishery, privateering and prize law in the Habsburg Netherlands, but also puts the maritime success of the later Dutch Republic in a new perspective.
The importance of islands in maritime and global history is not yet understood in a comparative a... more The importance of islands in maritime and global history is not yet understood in a comparative and long term perspective. This article aims to contribute to understanding the role of islands for the establishment, preservation and extension of maritime connections in medieval and early modern Europe, and beyond. Recognising that the nature of pre-modern source material complicates a systematic comparative approach to pre-modern island history, it aims to contribute to this approach by studying the dichotomy of insularity, a concept which combines the two seemingly opposing aspects of isolation and connectivity. Using a variety of examples, mainly but not exclusively from Europe, this dichotomy will be considered for five topics relevant to the relations between islands and the outside world: the role of islands as anchorages, as trading posts, the insular economy, the significance of islands for sea power, and power projection from islands on the mainland (peraia).
1. See, for instance, S. Phillips, ‘The Outer World of the European Middle Ages’, in S. B. Schwar... more 1. See, for instance, S. Phillips, ‘The Outer World of the European Middle Ages’, in S. B. Schwartz (ed.), Implicit Understandings: Observing, Reporting, and Reflecting on the Encounters between Europeans and Other Peoples in the Early Modern Era (Cambridge, 1994), pp.23-63; M. Pelletier (ed.), Les îles du mythe à la réalité. Congrès national des societies historiques et scientifiques 123e (Paris, 2002). 2. G. Tolias, ‘L’insulaire. Cosmographie maritime et expansion européenne à la Renaissance’, in C. Hofmann, H. Richard and E. Vagnon (eds.), L’âge d’or des cartes marines. Quand l’Europe découvrait le monde (Paris, 2012), pp.90-7. 3. See, for instance, S. Pinet, Archipelagoes: Insular Fictions from Chivalric Romance to the Novel (Minneapolis, 2011); T. Jørgensen and G. Jaritz (eds.), Isolated Islands in Medieval Nature, Culture and Mind. The Muhu Proceedings 2 (Budapest, 2011); C. van Duzer, Sea Monsters on Medieval and Renaissance Maps (London, 2013). Islands and maritime connections, networks and empires, 1200–1700: Introduction
Piraterij neemt in het internationale recht een bijzondere plaats in omdat universele rechtsmacht... more Piraterij neemt in het internationale recht een bijzondere plaats in omdat universele rechtsmacht op haar van toepassing is: iedere staat mag een piratenschip op volle zee overmeesteren en de piraten berechten, zoals met Somalische piraten gebeurt. Anders dan vandaag de dag was in de middeleeuwen piraterij de norm. Maritieme handel en piraterij gingen hand in hand. Tegelijkertijd recruteerden koningen en keizers hun admiralen onder piraten. Dit roept de vraag op hoe vorsten, staten en steden onderscheid aanbrachten tussen legaal en illegaal geweld op zee. Hoe gingen zij om met maritieme conflicten tussen elkaar en tussen elkaars onderdanen en burgers? Louis Sicking laat zien dat de premoderne conflicthantering en -oplossing in de vloeibare wereld van de maritieme veiligheid van de eenentwintigste eeuw verrassend actueel is.
De Gouden Eeuw, volgens velen de roemrijkste periode in de Nederlandse geschiedenis, roept vandaa... more De Gouden Eeuw, volgens velen de roemrijkste periode in de Nederlandse geschiedenis, roept vandaag de dag ook weerstand op. Sommigen pleiten er daarom voor het begrip af te schaffen. Dit boek beoogt het op het gewest Holland toegespitste debat open te breken door het predicaat ‘Gouden Eeuw’, mét zijn keerzijden, juist aan alle provincies van Nederland toe te kennen. Twaalf auteurs nemen elk een provincie onder de loep en stellen een aspect van haar geschiedenis centraal waarvan het belang de eigen regio overstijgt. Zonder dat alles goud was wat er blonk, laat Elke provincie een eigen Gouden Eeuw zien dat op veel meer manieren naar de Nederlandse geschiedenis gekeken kan worden dan enkel door een Hollandse bril. De Gouden Eeuwen van Nederland blijken veelzijdig, dramatisch, glorieus én actueel.
De bijl van Sint-Olav. Op zoek naar Noorse schatten in de Nederlanden, 2021
Te midden van een strijd om macht en religie vluchtte in 1537 de laatste katholieke aartsbisschop... more Te midden van een strijd om macht en religie vluchtte in 1537 de laatste katholieke aartsbisschop van Noorwegen, Olav Engelbrektsson, naar de Nederlanden van Karel V. Op zijn vlucht nam de kerkvorst een groot deel van de schat van de Nidaroskathedraal in Trondheim mee, waaronder de bijl van Sint-Olav, twee kronen, kelken, monstransen en andere kostbaarheden. Dit boek volgt het spoor van de aartsbisschop, zijn gevolg en de kerkschatten.
Het deel van de schat dat de aartsbisschop meenam, belandde in Deventer en leidde tot een langdurige diplomatieke kwestie. Een ander deel, waaronder de schrijn van Sint-Olav, bleef achter in Noorwegen. Ondertussen voerden Deense schepen Noors kerkzilver af naar Kopenhagen. Een van de schepen werd gekaapt door Hollanders, een ander schip zou zijn gezonken in het Trondheimfjord. Een jarenlange zoektocht in archieven en musea levert een verrassend verhaal op over ballingschap, diplomatie en Noors erfgoed in de Habsburgse Nederlanden aan het begin van de Reformatie.
Diplomacia y comercio en la Europa atlántica medieval, Nov 2015
Este libro tiene por objeto el estudio de la diplomacia y el papel del comercio desde una perspec... more Este libro tiene por objeto el estudio de la diplomacia y el papel del comercio desde una perspectiva comparada y transnacional a lo largo de la Europa Atlántica medieval. Así, se analiza la complejidad de las relaciones internacionales bajomedievales en una etapa en la que los vínculos diplomáticos entre comunidades se hicieron permanentes en Europa, como consecuencia directa de nuevos factores internacionales, como la búsqueda de la paz y la estabilidad en el continente, el diálogo como elemento característico del Otoño de la Edad Media, la multiplicación de las relaciones de todo signo entre el norte y el sur de Europa, la consolidación de los Estados monárquicos europeos más importantes, como España, Francia o Inglaterra, y el surgimiento de una economía de mercado a escala europea. Esta monografía se inscribe en las tareas del proyecto de investigación, titulado Las sociedades urbanas de las ciudades y villas portuarias de la Europa Atlántica en la Baja Edad Media (HAR2012-31801), financiado por el Gobierno de España.
This book aims to study diplomacy and the role of trade from a comparative and transnational perspective throughout medieval Atlantic Europe. Thus, the complexity of international relations in the Late Middles Ages, when diplomatic ties between communities were made permanent in Europe as a direct result of some new international factors, such as the search for peace and stability in the continent, the dialogue as a characteristic element of the Autumn of the Middle Ages, the multiplication of relations between northern and southern Europe, the consolidation of the most relevant European kingdoms, such as Spain, France or England, and emergence of a market economy at European stage. This book is part of a collective research project, entitled Urban societies in the townports of Atlantic Europe in the Later Middle Ages (HAR2012-31801) funded by the Government of Spain.
"La naissance d’une thalassocratie" considers the contribution of the Burgundian and Habsburg Net... more "La naissance d’une thalassocratie" considers the contribution of the Burgundian and Habsburg Netherlands to the rise of the Dutch Republic as a maritime power. In Braudelian fashion, its chapters are centred around three lines of research. The first part, focuses on the long term or ‘temps structurel’ and considers geographical and infrastructural developments of port towns. The second part on the mid term or ‘temps conjoncturel’ (social and economic developments) takes maritime commerce, fisheries and maritime risk management into account. The third part deals with the short term or ‘temps événementiel’ (political developments) and includes chapters on military transports at sea, the unstable development of admiralties and on the Dutch Revolt at sea.
Over the past twenty years Louis Sicking has given conference papers, invited lectures and guest courses in France, Belgium, Spain, the US, the UK, and Scandinavia. The resulting articles have now been integrated in one book which offers new insights in the maritime history of the Low Countries in the 15th and 16th centuries, including a maritime perspective on the Dutch Revolt. While crossing the established boundaries of Dutch and Belgian historiographies, the book not only offers an unfamiliar maritime perspective, it also proposes a new and refreshing look at the origin of the Dutch Republic.
"La Naissance d’une thalassocatie" has been published in the ‘Collection d’histoire maritime’ by the Presses de l’université Paris-Sorbonne (PUPS). Founded in 1470 it is the oldest university press in France.
Text on the cover: L’essor maritime sans précédent de la république des Provinces-Unies au XVIIe siècle, a impressionné les contemporains et continue de fasciner aujourd’hui. La Révolte des Pays-Bas menée par Guillaume d’Orange et la naissance, pendant ce long conflit (1568-1648), d’une république indépendante est un thème classique de l’histoire européenne et domine toujours le cadre de l’histoire nationale des Pays-Bas actuels. A contrario, la période qui a precede ce point-pivot de l’histoire des Pays-Bas n’est que rarement évoquée, alors qu’elle a pourtant fortement influence la constitution de la république des Provinces-Unies et son success sur les mers du monde. Ce livre vise à montrer l’importance de l’histoire maritime des anciens Pays-Bas pour la Révolte et l’expansion maritime des Provinces-Unies. Commençant avec l’intégration des provinces néerlandaises aux XVe et XVIe siècles par les Bourguignons et les Habsbourg, « la naissance d’une thalassocratie » analyse les changements ou les ruptures, mais aussi les continuités de l’histoire des Pays-Bas et la mer à l’aube du siècle d’Or, afin de proposer au lecteur une nouvelle perspective qui renouvelle les cadres traditionnels des historiographies néerlandaises et belges.
Olav van Nimwegen, Ronald Prud'homme van Reine, Louis Sicking, Adri van Vliet en Petra Groen, De Tachtigjarige Oorlog. Van opstand naar geregelde oorlogvoering, 1568-1648 (Amsterdam 2013), 2013
De Tachtigjarige Oorlog gaat over het militaire raadsel van de Republiek der Verenigde Nederlande... more De Tachtigjarige Oorlog gaat over het militaire raadsel van de Republiek der Verenigde Nederlanden. Toen in 1568 in de Nederlandse gewesten een opstand uitbrak tegen de Spaanse koning, was niet te voorzien dat deze zou uitmonden in de scheuring van de Nederlanden. Alleen de noordelijke gewesten wisten zich militair staande te houden. Zij vormden een onafhankelijke Republiek die steeds beter opgewassen was tegen het machtige Spanje. Hoe was dit mogelijk? Om daarachter te komen wordt in deze studie het optreden van het leger en de vloot van de opstandelingen tegen de Spaanse militaire macht ontrafeld. Van de overlevingsstrijd van de geuzen onder Willem van Oranje tot Maurits’ slag bij Nieuwpoort en de klinkende overwinning van Tromp bij Duins, al deze confrontaties op land en ter zee worden in deze eerste integrale militaire geschiedenis van de Tachtigjarige Oorlog in hun onderlinge samenhang besproken. In thematische hoofdstukken wordt stilgestaan bij de tactische militaire revolutie bij leger en vloot, de bewapening, de rekrutering, organisatie en financiering van de militaire macht, en de altijd gespannen relatie tussen het krijgsvolk en de burgerbevolking. Vele, soms unieke afbeeldingen brengen dit verleden tot leven. Deze militaire geschiedenis van de geboorte van de Nederlandse staat is het eerste deel van een zesdelige serie over de militaire geschiedenis van Nederland.
This book investigates how the rulers of the Habsburg world empire developed and implemented a ce... more This book investigates how the rulers of the Habsburg world empire developed and implemented a central maritime policy for the Netherlands and appointed an admiral of the sea or admiral-general for that purpose. It also explains why the Habsburgs were eventually unable to gain control of the maritime affairs of the Netherlands, in spite of the support of the powerful Burgundian Lords of Veere, who occupied the central position of admiral from 1491 to 1558. From their power base on the island of Walcheren in Zeeland, known as the key to the Netherlands at the time because of its central location between Holland, Flanders, Antwerp and the sea, they held an ideal vantage point for exercising the admiralship. The result not only offers an illuminating insight into the organisation of the war fleet, maritime trade and fishery, privateering and prize law in the Habsburg Netherlands, but also puts the success of the later Dutch Republic in a new perspective.
"Current concerns about the survival of marine life and the fishing industry have contributed to ... more "Current concerns about the survival of marine life and the fishing industry have contributed to a rising interest in their past development. While much of the scholarship is focused on the recent past, this collection of essays presents new interpretations in the pre-industrial history of the fisheries by highlighting the consequences of the northern fisheries through an interdisciplinary approach, including the environment, economy, politics, and society in the medieval and early modern periods. A wide variety of topics related to the fisheries, such as settlement and spatial organisation, processing methods, trade, profitability and taxation, consumption, communication and cooperation, ranging from the Viking Age until industrialisation are dealt with in a long term perspective, offering new insights in the intriguing relationship between marine life and humanity.
Contributors are Inês Amorim, James H. Barrett, Christiaan van Bochove, Petra van Dam, Chloé Deligne, Carsten Jahnke, Alison M. Locker, Thomas H. McGovern, Sophia Perdikaris, Marnix Pieters, Peter Pope, Bo Poulsen, Callum M. Roberts, Louis Sicking, Dries Tys, Adri van Vliet, Annette de Wit, Justyna Wubs-Mrozewicz.
De hertogen van Bourgondië hebben een onmiskenbaar stempel gedrukt op de geschiedenis van de Nede... more De hertogen van Bourgondië hebben een onmiskenbaar stempel gedrukt op de geschiedenis van de Nederlanden. Onder hun bewind, van 1384 tot 1477, integreerden de vorstendommen binnen de grenzen van het huidige Nederland, België en Luxemburg tot een nieuwe staat. Dit boek belicht verschillende aspecten van de staatkundige, economische en sociale integratie van de Bourgondische en Habsburgse Nederlanden en de hieruit voortvloeiende conflicten en culturele uitingen. Alle bijdragen zijn geschreven door voormalige promovendi van Wim Blockmans, die van 1987 tot 2010 hoogleraar middeleeuwse geschiedenis was aan de Universiteit Leiden. De artikelen zijn gegroepeerd rondom vier verschillende thema's: vorsten en hoven; edelen en ambtenaren; mensen en markten; recht, oorlog en Opstand. Dankzij de ruime opvatting van de 'Bourgondische' gescheidenis levert dit boek een vernieuwende bijdrage aan de geschiedenis van een land dat zijn verleden maar al te vaak reduceert tot de Gouden Eeuw en daarna.
Dutch Light in the 'Norwegian Night' focuses on the social, religious, political and naval relati... more Dutch Light in the 'Norwegian Night' focuses on the social, religious, political and naval relations between the Netherlands and Norway in the early modern era, during Norway's so-called 'night of four hundred years'. This expression became popular in nineteenth-century Norway as a reference to the period of Danish domination, which lasted until 1814. Meanwhile the Netherlands emerged as an independent republic that developed into one of the most powerful and prosperous states in the heart of Europe. Attracted by the brightness of its Golden Age many Norwegians left their country in search for a better life in the Dutch Republic. New data and insights are presented on the importance of the Norwegian immigration into the Dutch Republic, and on the integration of Norwegians in the Amsterdam Lutheran Church. Other articles are devoted to individuals whose achievements shaped the historical relations between the two countries. Finally, an unpublished lecture by Johan Huizinga offers a comparative analysis of the history of the Netherlands and Norway.
France and the Netherlands were both important European colonial powers in the nineteenth century... more France and the Netherlands were both important European colonial powers in the nineteenth century. This book, based primarily on archival research, is a contribution to the study of the relations between France and the Netherlands overseas in the nineteenth century. It focuses on those regions of the world where these two nations shared colonial borderlands: the island of St Martin in the Caribbean, the Gold Coast in Africa, and French Guiana and Surinam in South America. The border question in these regions is dealt with in the European context of colonial and international policy, as well as in the local context. The work addresses Franco-Dutch relations in the colonies, but also the interactions with the slaves on St Martin, the peoples of the Gold Coast (Ashanti, Agni of Sanwi, Fanti and Apollonians or Nzema), and the Maroons such as the Boni (Aluku) and the Ndyuka in the Guianese interior.
La France et les Pays-Bas ont été deux puissances coloniales européennes importantes au XIXe sièc... more La France et les Pays-Bas ont été deux puissances coloniales européennes importantes au XIXe siècle. Les relations et rivalités coloniales franco-britanniques et néerlando-britanniques sont relativement bien connues. Par contre les relations coloniales franco-néerlandaises n'ont pas encore été étudiées – dans leur ensemble ou de façon systématique – au même degré. Ce livre, basé avant tout sur des recherches d'archives, contribue à l'étude des relations de la France et des Pays-Bas au xixe siècle outre-mer. Il s'agit des régions du monde où ces deux États avaient des territoires coloniaux limitrophes: en Amérique du Sud avec la Guyane française et le Surinam, aux Caraïbes avec l'île de Saint-Martin, et en Afrique avec la Côte de l'Or. Les questions frontalières dans ces régions sont traitées dans le contexte européen de la politique coloniale et internationale, ainsi que dans leur contexte local.
L'ouvrage traite des relations franco-néerlandaises dans ces colonies, mais aussi des interactions avec les esclaves de Saint-Martin, les peuples de la Côte de l'Or (Ashanti, Agni du Sanwi, Fanti et Apolloniens ou Nzema), et les Marrons à l'intérieur des Guyanes, comme les Boni (Aluku) et les Ndyuka.
Dit tweede deel van het verzameld werk van de Vlaamse rechtsgeleerde Filips Wielant (1441/1442-15... more Dit tweede deel van het verzameld werk van de Vlaamse rechtsgeleerde Filips Wielant (1441/1442-1520) bevat de eerste uitgave van de zestiende-eeuwse Franse vertaling van de Corte instructie omme jonghe practisienen in civile zaken, beter bekend als de Practijke civile. Dit traktaat vormde samen met de Practijke criminele (J. Monballyu ed., Corte instructie in materie criminele. Filips Wielant Verzameld werk I (Brussel 1995)) een leerboek over het procesrecht in burgerlijke en in strafzaken. Het is het eerste praktische handboek over deze materie in de Nederlanden. Het was Wielant, onder meer advocaat en raadsheer bij de Raad van Vlaanderen en raadsheer en vice-president van de Grote Raad van Mechelen, er bovenal om te doen zijn beschrijving zo nauw mogelijk te laten aansluiten bij de concrete rechtspraktijk. Het traktaat valt op door zijn pragmatische karakter en heldere en logische betoog.
Oudere uitgaven in het Nederlands waren onvolledig of waren gebaseerd op weinig betrouwbare handschriften van Wielants oorspronkelijke tekst. De nu uitgegeven Franse vertaling uit de zestiende eeuw gaat terug op de laatste Nederlandse redactie uit 1519 die slechts onvolledig is overgeleverd. Voor deze uitgave is gebruik gemaakt van de vier complete Franstalige handschriften. Door systematische vergelijking van deze handschriften is een betrouwbare uitgave gerealiseerd die inhoudelijk nauw aansluit bij de oorspronkelijke Nederlandse tekst.
Grote delen van Wielants werk zijn later overgenomen door Joost de Damhouder in diens Praxis rerum civilium. Het belang van Wielants traktaat voor de geschiedenis van het Europese procesrecht rechtvaardigt deze Franse uitgave.
Interview on Dutch Radio, De Kenns van Nu, 3 December 2014, on piracy
De kapmessen zijn verrui... more Interview on Dutch Radio, De Kenns van Nu, 3 December 2014, on piracy
De kapmessen zijn verruild voor machinegeweren, maar de piraterij vormt nog immer een groot gevaar voor de maritieme handel. Geen wonder dat de EU ook de komende twee jaar schepen laat patrouilleren voor de Afrikaanse kust. Maar wat is piraterij precies? Zijn piraten Robin Hoods of genadeloze criminelen? We praten over met bijzonder hoogleraar Louis Sicking van de Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
The Spritsail Revolution. Government Interference and the Introduction of New Technology at Sea in the Sixteenth Century, London, Lloyds'Register, BCMH, 12 December 2019. Professor Louis Sicking, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam / Universiteit Leiden
The introduction of the spritsail at sea around the 1530s was considered by contemporaries as a breakthrough in European shipping. The spritsail is a fore-and-aft sail, that is a sail that usually hangs in the fore-and-aft or longitudinal direction of the ship. It has several advantages compared to square sails, which were rigged athwart ships and which were generally used on seagoing vessels in North-western Europe in the sixteenth century. A ship equipped with a spritsail could depart independently from the direction of the wind as opposed to a similar ship with a square sail. Moreover, it only required a small crew, thus offering advantages in travel time and costs. Both the general application of the spritsail and the speed of its introduction at sea justify the term, “a spritsail revolution”, if we are to believe contemporary witnesses. This lecture aims to discuss the introduction of the spritsail at seagoing vessels in the Netherlands in the sixteenth century. Worried about their small crews the central government of the Netherlands in Brussels feared that these vessels would be easy prey to enemies and pirates. While preparing legislation on navigation, the government sought to forbid the use of the spritsail which triggered opposition from maritime interest groups involved in the preparation of this legislation. The preparatory documents concerning this legislation have been preserved and offer a rare opportunity to study the role of government interference in the use of new technology at sea.
Insularities Connected is a major international conference dedicated to the study of islands as a... more Insularities Connected is a major international conference dedicated to the study of islands as a constituent part of seascapes, imperial contexts or any other conceptual framework. Going beyond mere typologies of islands, or the study thereof as a distinct object of inquiry, we invite conference participants to consider the spatial attributes of islands in different historical coordinates. In other words, how insularity, i.e. the condition of being an island, changes over time, place, and context. The study of islands as a spatial category situated within a bigger analytical whole has offered new perspectives in Mediterranean, Caribbean or Indian Ocean studies; we aspire to bring the insights gained by those approaches in a trans-regional dialogue of global scope. The conference therefore enquires into what can be gained by looking at islands not as scattered parts of a regional maritime story, but scans the horizon from the vantage point of islands themselves to find broader, less obvious connections.
This article explores 150 years of historiography of the Hanse, the premodern trade network of ma... more This article explores 150 years of historiography of the Hanse, the premodern trade network of mainly Low German merchants and their towns. It focusses on the construction of its infrastructure (the Hanseatic History Association, its source publications and its journal) and on the deconstruction of viewing the history of the Hanse in terms of its rise, greatness and fall. Instead, it looks at three different ways to grasp and understand the Hanse: (1) The dynamics of the so-called "formative" period, (2) The formalization of the Hanse, and (3) Recent critical reevaluations of the main source editions of the Hanse, and the use of discourse or political communication at the socalled Hanse diets, the meetings of Hanse towns. Finally, the relevance of the Hanse for wider historical debates and its use for present-day purposes is discussed.
Conflict Management in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, 1200-1800: Actors, Institutions and Strategies of Dispute Settlement (eds Louis Sicking and A Wijffels), 2020
Abstract:
The fourteenth and the fifteenth centuries at large witnessed a process of sovereignty... more Abstract: The fourteenth and the fifteenth centuries at large witnessed a process of sovereignty and governance definition, which played out also in the management of relations within the international order. Whilst acknowledging the key role of the Hundred Years’ War in this, the paper discusses friendship and alliance as both notional and legally binding premises in regulating interaction between polities and peoples in the period. It singles out Anglo-Portuguese relations as a case in point. Regarded to this day as long-standing allies, Portugal and England were connected by such ties — formal and informal — of commercial as well as political and military interdependency.
Marine relations were central in this regard, with the sea providing both the setting and a driving force for many an interaction. In such an environment, conflict was a given. Was conflict among self-proclaimed allies any different from conflict generally speaking? How expedient was conflict management when compared with outer players? In the backdrop of mercantile practices and royal policy-making — treaties, business contracts, diplomacy, and judicial procedure included — the paper addresses the interrogations arising from the correlation between conflict and alliance as projected ‘from above’ and as experienced ‘from below’.
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Maritime Conflict Management in Europe and Beyond by Louis Sicking
scholars in the past years. New approaches, influenced from cultural and economic history, have studied the practices of conflict management and the dynamic perception of licit and illicit practices in the maritime realm. As such, these micro-studies of maritime conflict management open new perspectives to understand economic and social structures at
sea and on land and its dynamics in a broader sense. In this context, the conference organized by Louis Sicking (Amsterdam/Leiden)
and Philipp Höhn (Halle) was the final in a series of conferences and workshops, which were part of the NWO funded project „Maritime Conflict Management in Atlantic Europe, 1200–1600“ led by Sicking.
The aim of the conference was to bring together scholars
working on the Baltic and the Atlantic in order to compare and to combine the growing field of conflict management studies with new
approaches focusing on the semantics of maritime violence.
This article puts maritime conflict management in a European, global and long term perspective while avoiding anachronistic and teleological approaches. Finally, it argues that pre-modern conflict management is relevant to understand maritime security in the twenty-first century.
This conference will foster an exchange between scholars working on these three areas of research, allowing for a comparative and long-term perspective. This may reveal connections between the three seascapes and shed a useful light on the multiplicity and complexity of the various paths chosen for the management of disputes.
1200–1600. Lisbon, 25-26 October 2018
In the Middle Ages, maritime conict has developed hand in hand with international trade. Over time, specic institutions were established to address disputes arising from violence or mishap at sea and in coastal areas. Recent historiography emphasises that late-medieval merchants, together with consuetudinary law and common legal practices, relied on the legal autonomy of municipal governments to resolve maritime and commercial conicts. For highly urbanised areas like the Low Countries, it has been argued that urban legal autonomy played a decisive role in inter-urban competition to attract foreign merchants, thus stimulating economic growth in the most successful cities.
However, in other regions of Europe, on the Iberian Peninsula and in England for instance, the situation was dierent. Certain cities – like Lisbon and London – rose to dominance without facing competition from other cities. Some of these cities were highly dependent, from a judicial standpoint, from the crown’s intricate bureaucracy. So, how were maritime conicts resolved in port cities under the authority and control of central governments or the crown? And how to explain that places not involved in urban competition, which sometimes lacked autonomy in judicial matters, could economically expand? In addition, the role of central governments in highly urbanised regions, including the Italian city states and the Low Countries, will also be discussed from the perspective of maritime conict management. is seminar on Central Governments and the Resolution of Maritime Conflicts, 1200–1600 aims at exploring these questions in a broad, comparative perspective, by looking at how disputes were managed and settled both in Atlantic Europe, more specically in the Iberian Peninsula, and around the Mediterranean in the later Middle Ages.
Confirmed keynote speakers:
* Michel Bochaca (La Rochelle)
* David Igual (La Mancha)
* Bart Lambert (York)
* Pierre Prétou (La Rochelle)
* Louis Sicking (U. Leiden)
* Final call: applications must be sent by 15 June *
In the Middle Ages, maritime conflict has developed hand in hand with international trade. Over time, specific institutions were established to address disputes arising from violence or mishap at sea and in coastal areas. Recent historiography emphasises that late-medieval merchants, together with consuetudinary law and common legal practices, relied on the legal autonomy of municipal governments to resolve maritime and commercial conflicts. For highly urbanised areas like the Low Countries, it has been argued that urban legal autonomy played a decisive role in inter-urban competition to attract foreign merchants, thus stimulating economic growth in the most successful cities. However, in other regions of Europe, on the Iberian Peninsula and in England for instance, the situation was different. Certain cities – like Lisbon and London – rose to dominance without facing competition from other cities. Some of these cities were highly dependent, from a judicial standpoint, from the crown's intricate bureaucracy. So, how were maritime conflicts resolved in port cities under the authority and control of central governments or the crown? And how to explain that places not involved in urban competition, which sometimes lacked autonomy in judicial matters, could economically expand? In addition, the role of central governments in highly urbanised regions, including the Italian city states and the Low Countries, will also be discussed from the perspective of maritime conflict management. This seminar on Central Governments and the Resolution of Maritime Conflicts, 1200–1600 aims at exploring these questions in a broad, comparative perspective, by looking at how disputes were managed and settled both in Atlantic Europe, more specifically in the Iberian Peninsula, and around the Mediterranean in the later Middle Ages. The seminar will include invited keynote presentations by European scholars. The full programme will soon be published online. Paper proposals We welcome paper proposals for a twenty-minute presentation on topics related to the call. We encourage papers related to merchant conflicts and their resolution in central courts, legal strategies, merchants and governments' diplomatic exchanges, among other approaches.
This article discusses how merchants or skippers suffering losses aimed to get redress for damages in trading and shipping from or with Holland and Zeeland in the fourteenth and early fifteenth century within the context of Anglo–Dutch trade and diplomacy. In accordance with legal doctrine both the English king and the Count of Holland considered reprisal as an ultimate remedy. Both rulers used the possibility of reprisal as a means of pressure within Anglo–Dutch diplomacy. Their willingness to support their subjects went beyond the issue of damage redress as it also enabled them to have more control over their subjects. When reprisal was eventually issued, rulers on both sides of the Channel carefully supervised and controlled its procedures. Even though rulers were prepared to support victims via diplomacy and, ultimately, reprisal, they did consider individual interests in the functioning of the wider political and economic interests of their countries.
Papers by Louis Sicking
scholars in the past years. New approaches, influenced from cultural and economic history, have studied the practices of conflict management and the dynamic perception of licit and illicit practices in the maritime realm. As such, these micro-studies of maritime conflict management open new perspectives to understand economic and social structures at
sea and on land and its dynamics in a broader sense. In this context, the conference organized by Louis Sicking (Amsterdam/Leiden)
and Philipp Höhn (Halle) was the final in a series of conferences and workshops, which were part of the NWO funded project „Maritime Conflict Management in Atlantic Europe, 1200–1600“ led by Sicking.
The aim of the conference was to bring together scholars
working on the Baltic and the Atlantic in order to compare and to combine the growing field of conflict management studies with new
approaches focusing on the semantics of maritime violence.
This article puts maritime conflict management in a European, global and long term perspective while avoiding anachronistic and teleological approaches. Finally, it argues that pre-modern conflict management is relevant to understand maritime security in the twenty-first century.
This conference will foster an exchange between scholars working on these three areas of research, allowing for a comparative and long-term perspective. This may reveal connections between the three seascapes and shed a useful light on the multiplicity and complexity of the various paths chosen for the management of disputes.
1200–1600. Lisbon, 25-26 October 2018
In the Middle Ages, maritime conict has developed hand in hand with international trade. Over time, specic institutions were established to address disputes arising from violence or mishap at sea and in coastal areas. Recent historiography emphasises that late-medieval merchants, together with consuetudinary law and common legal practices, relied on the legal autonomy of municipal governments to resolve maritime and commercial conicts. For highly urbanised areas like the Low Countries, it has been argued that urban legal autonomy played a decisive role in inter-urban competition to attract foreign merchants, thus stimulating economic growth in the most successful cities.
However, in other regions of Europe, on the Iberian Peninsula and in England for instance, the situation was dierent. Certain cities – like Lisbon and London – rose to dominance without facing competition from other cities. Some of these cities were highly dependent, from a judicial standpoint, from the crown’s intricate bureaucracy. So, how were maritime conicts resolved in port cities under the authority and control of central governments or the crown? And how to explain that places not involved in urban competition, which sometimes lacked autonomy in judicial matters, could economically expand? In addition, the role of central governments in highly urbanised regions, including the Italian city states and the Low Countries, will also be discussed from the perspective of maritime conict management. is seminar on Central Governments and the Resolution of Maritime Conflicts, 1200–1600 aims at exploring these questions in a broad, comparative perspective, by looking at how disputes were managed and settled both in Atlantic Europe, more specically in the Iberian Peninsula, and around the Mediterranean in the later Middle Ages.
Confirmed keynote speakers:
* Michel Bochaca (La Rochelle)
* David Igual (La Mancha)
* Bart Lambert (York)
* Pierre Prétou (La Rochelle)
* Louis Sicking (U. Leiden)
* Final call: applications must be sent by 15 June *
In the Middle Ages, maritime conflict has developed hand in hand with international trade. Over time, specific institutions were established to address disputes arising from violence or mishap at sea and in coastal areas. Recent historiography emphasises that late-medieval merchants, together with consuetudinary law and common legal practices, relied on the legal autonomy of municipal governments to resolve maritime and commercial conflicts. For highly urbanised areas like the Low Countries, it has been argued that urban legal autonomy played a decisive role in inter-urban competition to attract foreign merchants, thus stimulating economic growth in the most successful cities. However, in other regions of Europe, on the Iberian Peninsula and in England for instance, the situation was different. Certain cities – like Lisbon and London – rose to dominance without facing competition from other cities. Some of these cities were highly dependent, from a judicial standpoint, from the crown's intricate bureaucracy. So, how were maritime conflicts resolved in port cities under the authority and control of central governments or the crown? And how to explain that places not involved in urban competition, which sometimes lacked autonomy in judicial matters, could economically expand? In addition, the role of central governments in highly urbanised regions, including the Italian city states and the Low Countries, will also be discussed from the perspective of maritime conflict management. This seminar on Central Governments and the Resolution of Maritime Conflicts, 1200–1600 aims at exploring these questions in a broad, comparative perspective, by looking at how disputes were managed and settled both in Atlantic Europe, more specifically in the Iberian Peninsula, and around the Mediterranean in the later Middle Ages. The seminar will include invited keynote presentations by European scholars. The full programme will soon be published online. Paper proposals We welcome paper proposals for a twenty-minute presentation on topics related to the call. We encourage papers related to merchant conflicts and their resolution in central courts, legal strategies, merchants and governments' diplomatic exchanges, among other approaches.
This article discusses how merchants or skippers suffering losses aimed to get redress for damages in trading and shipping from or with Holland and Zeeland in the fourteenth and early fifteenth century within the context of Anglo–Dutch trade and diplomacy. In accordance with legal doctrine both the English king and the Count of Holland considered reprisal as an ultimate remedy. Both rulers used the possibility of reprisal as a means of pressure within Anglo–Dutch diplomacy. Their willingness to support their subjects went beyond the issue of damage redress as it also enabled them to have more control over their subjects. When reprisal was eventually issued, rulers on both sides of the Channel carefully supervised and controlled its procedures. Even though rulers were prepared to support victims via diplomacy and, ultimately, reprisal, they did consider individual interests in the functioning of the wider political and economic interests of their countries.
Het deel van de schat dat de aartsbisschop meenam, belandde in Deventer en leidde tot een langdurige diplomatieke kwestie. Een ander deel, waaronder de schrijn van Sint-Olav, bleef achter in Noorwegen. Ondertussen voerden Deense schepen Noors kerkzilver af naar Kopenhagen. Een van de schepen werd gekaapt door Hollanders, een ander schip zou zijn gezonken in het Trondheimfjord. Een jarenlange zoektocht in archieven en musea levert een verrassend verhaal op over ballingschap, diplomatie en Noors erfgoed in de Habsburgse Nederlanden aan het begin van de Reformatie.
This book aims to study diplomacy and the role of trade from a comparative and transnational perspective throughout medieval Atlantic Europe. Thus, the complexity of international relations in the Late Middles Ages, when diplomatic ties between communities were made permanent in Europe as a direct result of some new international factors, such as the search for peace and stability in the continent, the dialogue as a characteristic element of the Autumn of the Middle Ages, the multiplication of relations between northern and southern Europe, the consolidation of the most relevant European kingdoms, such as Spain, France or England, and emergence of a market economy at European stage. This book is part of a collective research project, entitled Urban societies in the townports of Atlantic Europe in the Later Middle Ages (HAR2012-31801) funded by the Government of Spain.
Over the past twenty years Louis Sicking has given conference papers, invited lectures and guest courses in France, Belgium, Spain, the US, the UK, and Scandinavia. The resulting articles have now been integrated in one book which offers new insights in the maritime history of the Low Countries in the 15th and 16th centuries, including a maritime perspective on the Dutch Revolt. While crossing the established boundaries of Dutch and Belgian historiographies, the book not only offers an unfamiliar maritime perspective, it also proposes a new and refreshing look at the origin of the Dutch Republic.
"La Naissance d’une thalassocatie" has been published in the ‘Collection d’histoire maritime’ by the Presses de l’université Paris-Sorbonne (PUPS). Founded in 1470 it is the oldest university press in France.
Text on the cover:
L’essor maritime sans précédent de la république des Provinces-Unies au XVIIe siècle, a impressionné les contemporains et continue de fasciner aujourd’hui.
La Révolte des Pays-Bas menée par Guillaume d’Orange et la naissance, pendant ce long conflit (1568-1648), d’une république indépendante est un thème classique de l’histoire européenne et domine toujours le cadre de l’histoire nationale des Pays-Bas actuels. A contrario, la période qui a precede ce point-pivot de l’histoire des Pays-Bas n’est que rarement évoquée, alors qu’elle a pourtant fortement influence la constitution de la république des Provinces-Unies et son success sur les mers du monde.
Ce livre vise à montrer l’importance de l’histoire maritime des anciens Pays-Bas pour la Révolte et l’expansion maritime des Provinces-Unies. Commençant avec l’intégration des provinces néerlandaises aux XVe et XVIe siècles par les Bourguignons et les Habsbourg, « la naissance d’une thalassocratie » analyse les changements ou les ruptures, mais aussi les continuités de l’histoire des Pays-Bas et la mer à l’aube du siècle d’Or, afin de proposer au lecteur une nouvelle perspective qui renouvelle les cadres traditionnels des historiographies néerlandaises et belges.
Contributors are Inês Amorim, James H. Barrett, Christiaan van Bochove, Petra van Dam, Chloé Deligne, Carsten Jahnke, Alison M. Locker, Thomas H. McGovern, Sophia Perdikaris, Marnix Pieters, Peter Pope, Bo Poulsen, Callum M. Roberts, Louis Sicking, Dries Tys, Adri van Vliet, Annette de Wit, Justyna Wubs-Mrozewicz.
Key words: medieval; zooarchaeology; modern; social; institutions; marine; economy; early; archaeology; trade; landscape; cod; fisheries; herring; species; history
L'ouvrage traite des relations franco-néerlandaises dans ces colonies, mais aussi des interactions avec les esclaves de Saint-Martin, les peuples de la Côte de l'Or (Ashanti, Agni du Sanwi, Fanti et Apolloniens ou Nzema), et les Marrons à l'intérieur des Guyanes, comme les Boni (Aluku) et les Ndyuka.
Oudere uitgaven in het Nederlands waren onvolledig of waren gebaseerd op weinig betrouwbare handschriften van Wielants oorspronkelijke tekst. De nu uitgegeven Franse vertaling uit de zestiende eeuw gaat terug op de laatste Nederlandse redactie uit 1519 die slechts onvolledig is overgeleverd. Voor deze uitgave is gebruik gemaakt van de vier complete Franstalige handschriften. Door systematische vergelijking van deze handschriften is een betrouwbare uitgave gerealiseerd die inhoudelijk nauw aansluit bij de oorspronkelijke Nederlandse tekst.
Grote delen van Wielants werk zijn later overgenomen door Joost de Damhouder in diens Praxis rerum civilium. Het belang van Wielants traktaat voor de geschiedenis van het Europese procesrecht rechtvaardigt deze Franse uitgave.
De kapmessen zijn verruild voor machinegeweren, maar de piraterij vormt nog immer een groot gevaar voor de maritieme handel. Geen wonder dat de EU ook de komende twee jaar schepen laat patrouilleren voor de Afrikaanse kust. Maar wat is piraterij precies? Zijn piraten Robin Hoods of genadeloze criminelen? We praten over met bijzonder hoogleraar Louis Sicking van de Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
The Spritsail Revolution. Government Interference and the Introduction of New Technology at Sea in the Sixteenth Century,
London, Lloyds'Register, BCMH, 12 December 2019.
Professor Louis Sicking, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam / Universiteit Leiden
The introduction of the spritsail at sea around the 1530s was considered by contemporaries as a breakthrough in European shipping. The spritsail is a fore-and-aft sail, that is a sail that usually hangs in the fore-and-aft or longitudinal direction of the ship. It has several advantages compared to square sails, which were rigged athwart ships and which were generally used on seagoing vessels in North-western Europe in the sixteenth century. A ship equipped with a spritsail could depart independently from the direction of the wind as opposed to a similar ship with a square sail. Moreover, it only required a small crew, thus offering advantages in travel time and costs. Both the general application of the spritsail and the speed of its introduction at sea justify the term, “a spritsail revolution”, if we are to believe contemporary witnesses.
This lecture aims to discuss the introduction of the spritsail at seagoing vessels in the Netherlands in the sixteenth century. Worried about their small crews the central government of the Netherlands in Brussels feared that these vessels would be easy prey to enemies and pirates. While preparing legislation on navigation, the government sought to forbid the use of the spritsail which triggered opposition from maritime interest groups involved in the preparation of this legislation. The preparatory documents concerning this legislation have been preserved and offer a rare opportunity to study the role of government interference in the use of new technology at sea.
The fourteenth and the fifteenth centuries at large witnessed a process of sovereignty and governance definition, which played out also in the management of relations within the international order. Whilst acknowledging the key role of the Hundred Years’ War in this, the paper discusses friendship and alliance as both notional and legally binding premises in regulating interaction between polities and peoples in the period. It singles out Anglo-Portuguese relations as a case in point. Regarded to this day as long-standing allies, Portugal and England were connected by such ties — formal and informal — of commercial as well as political and military interdependency.
Marine relations were central in this regard, with the sea providing both the setting and a driving force for many an interaction. In such an environment, conflict was a given. Was conflict among self-proclaimed allies any different from conflict generally speaking? How expedient was conflict management when compared with outer players? In the backdrop of mercantile practices and royal policy-making — treaties, business contracts, diplomacy, and judicial procedure included — the paper addresses the interrogations arising from the correlation between conflict and alliance as projected ‘from above’ and as experienced ‘from below’.