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Western Civilization--European History, Empire

Customized guides to research for specific courses in Western civilization and European history

"fuch Men as they fhould be ty'd up and hanged like Dogs" - A General History of the Pyrates, London, 1724

Johnson, Charles. A General History of the Pyrates,  from their First Rise and Settlement in the Island of Providence, to the Present Time, 2nd ed. London, 1724. [facsimile]

the prime source for the lives of many pirates of what is often called the 'Golden Age of Piracy'

Exquemelin, A. O.  The History of the Bucaniers of America ...: Exhibiting a Particular Account and Description of Porto Bello, Chagre, Panama, Cuba, Havanna, and Most of the Spanish Possessions on the Coast of the West Indies . . . with the Manner in Which They Have Been Invaded, Attempted, or Taken . . . London: Printed for T. Evans, 1774.
vol. 1; vol. 2  [Index to both vols. begins p. 361 of vol. ii]

Sample Article

Leeson, Peter T.  “An‐arrgh‐chy: The Law and Economics of Pirate Organization.” Journal of Political
     Economy
115 (2007): 1049-1094.

Rediker, Marcus. " 'Under the Banner of King Death':  The Social World of Anglo-American Pirates, 1716-1726."
     William and Mary Quarterly 38, no. 2 (1981): 203-227

Sample Book

Pennell, C. R. Bandits at Sea: A Pirates Reader. New York: New York University Press, 2001. Ebook

Cordingly, David. Under the Black Flag: The Romance and the Reality of Life Among the Pirates. San
     Diego: Harcourt Brace, 1997.  G535 .C635 1997 Fl. 2

The Pirates Own Book, or Authentic Narratives of the Lives, Exploits, and Executions of the Most Celebrated
     Sea Robbers.
Portland: Sanborn & Carter, etc., etc, 1844.

Jameson, John Franklin. Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period: illustrative documents. New York: Macmillan Co, 1923.(Project Gutenberg)

     Arranged by Name of Ship and/or Pirate

Case of Henry Every

Case of William Kidd

Case of Benjamin Blackledge

Selections from A Complete Collection of State-trials, and Proceedings for High-treason, and Other Crimes and Misdemeanours: 1715-1725. An appendix, containing several records relating to the foregoing trials (London, 1730)

“The Trials of Major Stede Bonnet and Others for Piracy”, p. 156-188. Facsimile of the Original

A True and Genuine Account of the Last Confession and Dying Words of John Gow, Alias Smith, Captain of the Pirates (London, 1725).

The Tryal of Captain Thomas Green and his Crew (Edinburgh, 1705).

A Full Account of the Proceedings in Relation to Capt. Kidd (1701)

The Tryal of Capt. William Kidd for Murder & Piracy Upon Six Several Indiciments, Also the Tryals of Nicholas Churchill, James Howe, Robert Lamley, William Jenkins, Gabriel Loff, Hugh Parrot, Abel Owens, Richard Harilcorn, Darby Mulins. New York: R. R. Wilson, 1936.

Sample Article

Bialuschewski, Arne. “Thomas Bowrey’s Madagascar Manuscript of 1708.” History in Africa 34 (2007): 31–42. 

Hooper, Jane. "Pirates and Kings: Power on the Shores of Early Modern Madagascar and the Indian Ocean." Journal of World History  22 (2011): 215-242.

Sample Book

Greene, Jack P.  Atlantic History:  A Critical Appraisal. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009 Ebook.

Contains chapters on Spanish, Portuguese, British, French, and Dutch Atlantic systems

Rediker, Marcus. Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea: Merchant Seamen, Pirates, and the Anglo-American Maritime World, 1700-1750. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987. VK 57 .R43 1987 Lower level

Rediker, Marcus. Villains of All Nations: Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age. Boston: Beacon Press, 2004. F 106 .R42 2004 Fl. 2

Thomson, Janice E. Mercenaries, Pirates, and Sovereign:  State-Building and Extraterritorial Violence in Early Modern Europe. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1994. Ebook

 

Sample Article

Barbour, Violet. “Privateers and Pirates of the West Indies.”  The American Historical Review  16 (1911):  529-566.

Zahedieh, Nuala. "The Merchants of Port Royal, Jamaica, and the Spanish contraband trade, 1655-1692." The William and Mary Quarterly  43 (1986): 570-593.

Sample Book

Hoffman, Paul E. The Spanish Crown and the Defense of the Caribbean, 1535-1585: Precedent, Patrimonialism, and Royal Parsimony. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1980. Ebook

Keeler, Mary Frear. Sir Francis Drake's West Indian Voyage, 1585-86. Farnham, England: Ashgate, 2010. (compiled from primary documents)

Latimer, Jon. Buccaneers of the Caribbean: How Piracy Forged an Empire. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 2009.  Ebook.

Lunsford, Virginia W. Piracy and Privateering in the Golden Age Netherlands. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005. Ebook

Legal Sources

Records of the administration of British colonial policies, including the American colonies and West Indies. Rich in material related to trade, protection of Empire, and including privateers and pirates.

Marsden, Reginald G., ed.  Documents Relating to Law and Custom of the Sea. 2 vols. London: Navy Records Society, 1915-1916.

Acts of the Privy Council of England, Colonial Series. vol. 1, 1613-1680. Hereford: H.M. Stationery Office, 1908.

Acts of the Privy Council of England Colonial Series. vol. 2, 1680-1720. Burlington, Ont: TannerRitchie, 2005.

State Papers Relating to the Defeat of the Spanish Armada, Anno 1588. Navy Records Society, 1894.

Letters and Papers Relating to the First Dutch War, 1652-1654. 6 vols. Navy Records Society, 1910.

Primary source documents from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries about early English settlements in North America, piracy in the Atlantic and Caribbean, and English conflicts with the Spanish and French

Sample Article

Head, David. "New Nations, New Connections: Spanish American Privateering from the United States and the Development of Atlantic Relations." Early American Studies  11 (2013): 161-175.

Satsuma, Shinsuke. "Politicians, Merchants, and Colonial Maritime War: The Political and Economic Background of The American Act of 1708.” Parliamentary History  32 (2013): 317-336. (America Act; Cruiser and Convoy Act)

Swanson, Carl E. "American Privateering and Imperial Warfare, 1739-1748." The William and Mary Quarterly  42 (1985): 357-382.

Sample Book

Jameson, J.  Franklin. Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period: Illustrative Documents. New York: Macmillan, 1923. (Documents translated from documents 17th-and 18th-Century English, Dutch, French original sources)