Letters of Marque

—Jason
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Piracy is the act of illegally seizing the property of another individual or country by force.  The act of attacking and robbing ships at sea is one of the most recognized forms of piracy and has been long practiced throughout history.  While this is generally viewed as abhorrent, there are instances where piracy is not a crime but rather a state sponsored activity.  The terms privateer and corsair describe individuals who are authorized by their governments to prey on enemy shipping.

Henry II of England issued the first commissions for privateering in 1243 CE.  These privateers were given royal permission to raid the coastal regions and seize ships from his enemies.  The loot taken from warships or merchant ships was split between the owner, crew, and crown.  Since many medieval kingdoms lacked large numbers of readily available warships, commissioning privateers bolstered a king’s military.

A document called the Letter of Marque and Reprisal was first drafted in 1295 which laid out the legal obligations of privateers.  Edward I of England issued these first letters of marque, which made the concept of waging private war against an enemy sovereign or nation as an act of vengeance in a “just war.”  Since it was common practice that ships usually carried weapons to defend themselves, any type of merchant ship was an eligible target.

The exploration and colonization of the New World opened a new phase of privateering.  The Spanish empire in the Americas was large and wealthy and had become an object of jealousy and avarice for its European rivals.  The shear size of colonies, encompassing the Caribbean Sea, Central and South America, and Far Eastern holdings, made it impossible for the Spanish to have enough ships and garrisons to protect themselves.  

Though the English, French, and Dutch were relative late comers to the New World, they were ambitious and utilized privateers in addition to their regular navies during war.  Hundreds of different types of merchant ships plied the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, as well as the Mediterranean and Caribbean Seas.  Most carried some type of armament for protection and these guns could be supplemented to further bolster their firepower.  Small groups of warships struggled to police the shipping lanes that connected the long-distance empires.  Even without wars being declared, pirates conducted brutal raids to steal the wealth of the people around them. 

John Hawkins and Francis Drake were some of the most successful English privateers/pirates operating in the Caribbean in the mid- to late-sixteenth century.  They became famous for their daring raids against Spanish merchant ships and coastal settlements.  England and Spain were not officially at war, but Hawkins and Drake won support with Queen Elizabeth I by splitting the spoils between their crews and the Crown.  When King Philip II of Spain demanded the pirates to be arrested and reinstitution paid for the damages done, Elizabeth pointedly refused, and later appointed Drake as an admiral in the English navy.

Tensions between England and Spain had soured between 1533 and 1580 due to dynastic and political deterioration.  Catherine of Aragon, the daughter of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, was married to Prince Arthur Tudor of England to bind the two kingdoms politically.  However, Arthur died shortly after the marriage and had produced no children with Catherine.  To keep the political marriage soluble, Arthur’s younger brother Henry was married to the Spanish princess.  The two produced Princess Mary, yet no male heirs.  The English king, now Henry VIII, sought an annulment so he could marry Anne Boleyn.  

Unable to secure an annulment from the Catholic church, Henry removed England from the Church, divorced Catherine.  This led to political and religious turmoil not only in England, but also with Spain now ruled by Catherine’s nephew Charles.  As England was plunged into a series of contradictory policies due to Henry’s offspring, English and Spanish forces engaged in an undeclared war in the New World.  The Spanish annexation of the Kingdom of Portugal in 1580 and the threat to Queen Elizabeth’s reign finally sparked the real conflict.  Elizabeth issued Letters of Marque to English privateers to conduct war on the seas against the Spanish.

The tactics that Hawkins and Drake had exercised as pirates were now utilized by more men under royal commission.  Raids on Spanish holdings in the Caribbean, the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Pacific further drained resources.  As the Spanish Armada was being assembled along Spain’s coastal cities, their world empire struggled to repel the attacks from English privateers.  Captured merchant ships could be sold to the English Crown for conversion to warships or new privateers, leading to even more profit for the privateer captain, their officers and crew.  A portion was also given over the Crown as compensation for the letter of marque.

A privateer was considered a state combatant while a war was ongoing, however, once peace was declared the raids and seizure of ships was suspended.  Anyone who continued their attacks were considered pirates and were no longer protected by the Letters of Marque.  The allure of the wealth that continued attacks could generate was too tempting for many of the privateers to abandon.  The Golden Age of Pirates between 1650 – 1730 coincided with further warfare between European powers that stretched once again around the world.  Letters of marque were issued in large numbers of privateers who later turned pirate.