Corso y piratería en el reino de Sevilla a finales de la Edad Media

Résumé

The phenomenon of piracy and privateering, which is the capture and pilferage of vessels and goods in a maritime environment with or without force or violence, played an important role in the surroundings of the ancient Kingdom of Seville, including its inhabitants and neighbors at the end of the Middle Ages up to the Modern World. The complexities associated in the study of these activities, from quantifying it properly and clarifying the circumstances and its participants, had been alleviated through the use of related documents collated from national and international archives, not to mention the use of literature from conventional sources and historiography. Moreover, the use of comparative historical analysis has allowed this research to reconstruct the progress of the piratical and privateering activities in the region from the 15th to the beginning of the 16th century. The impact of piracy and privateering also show its link to the development of maritime commercial and warfare activities in Andalusia. It also affected the social dimension and geopolitical climate of different localities and places in the Kingdom of Seville. Up until now, no study has been conducted similar to this paper which collated information based on transcriptions of original documents and on various materials about the sailors and ships not only from the towns and cities of Huelva, Seville and Cadiz, but also its coastlines and ports. Their actions areas included the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, the North African coast, the Strait of Gibraltar and the Mediterranean Sea.