Brethren of the Coast
Encyclopedia
The Brethren or Brethren of the Coast were a loose coalition of pirates and privateers commonly known as buccaneer
s and active in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in the Atlantic Ocean
, Caribbean Sea
and Gulf of Mexico
.
They were a syndicate of captains with letters of marque and reprisal who regulated their privateering enterprises within the community of privateers and with their outside benefactors. They were primarily private individual merchant mariners of Protestant background usually of English and French origin.
During their heyday when the Thirty Years War was devastating the Protestant communities of France, Germany, and the Netherlands and England was engaged in various conflicts, the privateers of these nationalities were issued letters of marque to raid Catholic French and Spanish shipping and territories.
Based primarily on the island of Tortuga off the coast of Haiti
and in the city of Port Royal
on the island of Jamaica
, the original Brethren were mostly French
Huguenot
and British Protestants, but their ranks were joined by other adventurers of various nationalities including Spaniards
, and even Africa
n sailors, as well as escaped slaves
and outlaw
s of various sovereigns.
In keeping with their Protestant and mostly Common Law heritage the Brethren were governed by codes of conduct
that favored legislative decision-making, hierarchical command authority, individual rights, and equitable division of revenues.
Henry Morgan
is perhaps the most famous member of the Brethren and the one usually noted with codifying its organization. However, following the demographic changes which featured the rise of slave labor in the Caribbean islands, most maritime families moved to the mainland colonies of the future United States or to their home countries. A few, unable to compete effectively with slave labor, enamored of easy riches, or out of angst continued to maintain the Brethren of the Coasts as a purely criminal organization which preyed upon all civilian maritime shipping. This second era of the Brethren began the start of the age of piracy and brigandage which featured the Caribbean until socioeconomic and military changes of the late 18th and early 19th century finally broke its back.
A fictionalized, romanticized version of the Brethren was featured in the Pirates of the Caribbean series of films.
Buccaneer
The buccaneers were privateers who attacked Spanish shipping in the Caribbean Sea during the late 17th century.The term buccaneer is now used generally as a synonym for pirate...
s and active in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
, Caribbean Sea
Caribbean Sea
The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean located in the tropics of the Western hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico and Central America to the west and southwest, to the north by the Greater Antilles, and to the east by the Lesser Antilles....
and Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...
.
They were a syndicate of captains with letters of marque and reprisal who regulated their privateering enterprises within the community of privateers and with their outside benefactors. They were primarily private individual merchant mariners of Protestant background usually of English and French origin.
During their heyday when the Thirty Years War was devastating the Protestant communities of France, Germany, and the Netherlands and England was engaged in various conflicts, the privateers of these nationalities were issued letters of marque to raid Catholic French and Spanish shipping and territories.
Based primarily on the island of Tortuga off the coast of Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
and in the city of Port Royal
Port Royal
Port Royal was a city located at the end of the Palisadoes at the mouth of the Kingston Harbour, in southeastern Jamaica. Founded in 1518, it was the centre of shipping commerce in the Caribbean Sea during the latter half of the 17th century...
on the island of Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, the original Brethren were mostly French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
Huguenot
Huguenot
The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...
and British Protestants, but their ranks were joined by other adventurers of various nationalities including Spaniards
Spanish people
The Spanish are citizens of the Kingdom of Spain. Within Spain, there are also a number of vigorous nationalisms and regionalisms, reflecting the country's complex history....
, and even Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
n sailors, as well as escaped slaves
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
and outlaw
Outlaw
In historical legal systems, an outlaw is declared as outside the protection of the law. In pre-modern societies, this takes the burden of active prosecution of a criminal from the authorities. Instead, the criminal is withdrawn all legal protection, so that anyone is legally empowered to persecute...
s of various sovereigns.
In keeping with their Protestant and mostly Common Law heritage the Brethren were governed by codes of conduct
Pirate code of the Brethren
A pirate code was a code of conduct invented for governing pirates, and first introduced by the Portuguese buccaneer, Bartolomeu Português. Generally each pirate crew had its own code or articles, which provided rules for discipline, division of stolen goods, and compensation for injured...
that favored legislative decision-making, hierarchical command authority, individual rights, and equitable division of revenues.
Henry Morgan
Henry Morgan
Admiral Sir Henry Morgan was an Admiral of the Royal Navy, a privateer, and a pirate who made a name for himself during activities in the Caribbean, primarily raiding Spanish settlements...
is perhaps the most famous member of the Brethren and the one usually noted with codifying its organization. However, following the demographic changes which featured the rise of slave labor in the Caribbean islands, most maritime families moved to the mainland colonies of the future United States or to their home countries. A few, unable to compete effectively with slave labor, enamored of easy riches, or out of angst continued to maintain the Brethren of the Coasts as a purely criminal organization which preyed upon all civilian maritime shipping. This second era of the Brethren began the start of the age of piracy and brigandage which featured the Caribbean until socioeconomic and military changes of the late 18th and early 19th century finally broke its back.
A fictionalized, romanticized version of the Brethren was featured in the Pirates of the Caribbean series of films.
See also
- Piracy in the CaribbeanPiracy in the Caribbean] The era of piracy in the Caribbean began in the 16th century and died out in the 1830s after the navies of the nations of Western Europe and North America with colonies in the Caribbean began combating pirates. The period during which pirates were most successful was from the 1690s until the 1720s...
- Victual BrothersVictual BrothersThe Victual Brothers were a companionship of privateers who later turned to piracy. They were hired in 1392 by the Dukes of Mecklenburg to fight against Denmark, because the Danish Queen Margaret I had imprisoned Albrecht of Mecklenburg and his son in order to subdue the kingdom of Sweden...