Ottoman Algeria in Western Diplomatic History with ... - Bibliothèque

conducted at the behest of a sovereign polity against merchant shipping flying
the standard of that monarch or civic republic’s political and economic
rivals.” 100 Therefore, medieval statutes used two expressions to differentiate
between the two practices of sea robbery: ‘indiscriminate theft’ and ‘selective
or targeted theft’. For the first, the term ‘ire ad pirraticam’ (to sail or go as a
pirate) is used; whereas for the second, the term ‘ire in cursum’ (going ‘in
cursum’) is used. 101
From the latter expression may have been derived the verb
corsairing—used for the activity of legalized robbery on the high seas and the
noun corsair—used to refer to seafarers who practiced selective or targeted
maritime theft.
2. 3. Corsairing: An Act of War
The use of force on the high seas against economic and political rivals
when requested by a sovereign state or polity was legitimated by medieval
statutes and became the ‘prerogative’ of corsairs. Corsairs were often
nominated as sea admirals and were given letters of marque that conferred on
them the right to wage the ‘guerre de course,’ against rival powers. 102 By
authorizing private naval offensives against enemies, the state palliates for
eventual naval weakness and reduces war operating costs; as such, corsairing
100 Tai, “Marking Water,” par. 5.
101 Hélène Ahrweiler, “Course et piraterie dans la Méditerranée orientale aux XIVeme-XVeme
siècles,” in Course et piraterie : Etudes présentées à la Commission Internationale d’Histoire
Maritime à l’occasion de son XVe Colloque International pendant le XIVe Congrès International des
Sciences Historiques (San Francisco, 1975), vol. 1 (Paris : CNRS, 1975), pp. 9-11.
102 Tai, “Marking Water,” par. 6.
94