A guest contrasts low-status participants in the medieval Bay of Bengal with younger sons of French nobles seeking money during the Hundred Years War. A further Baltic example concerns raiders operating from Gotland. The Knights Hospitaller complicate the definition of piracy because their attacks on Muslim shipping carried a religious justification. These examples challenge the idea that pirates shared one social background.
Notable Point · 8:20:31-8:22:36
Different social routes into piracy
Medieval examples contrast marginalised sailors, younger noble sons, and religiously justified raiding.