Considerazioni sulla pirateria e sulla corsa musulmana e cristiana all'epoca della conquista portoghese di Ceuta (1415)

Abstract

In the years that preceded the Portuguese conquest of Ceuta (1415) frequent cases of piracy and privateering in the Western Mediterranean and in the Straits of Gibraltar created severe difficulties to sea traffic with the Western Maghreb and the Granada Emirate. Toe Aragonese merchant ships that traveled to Maghreb sea ports especially for gold supply were particu­larly hit by such assaults and robberies carried out by other Christian na­vies. Letters to the Aragonese sovereign, Fernando I, worriedly denounce this situation that might have destroyed the traffic completely. At the same time, taking into account other documents, we are led to presume that in this area and in this period Muslim piracy had a lesser impact. Hence rather than being aimed against Muslim piracy, the Portu­guese struggle against the "infidels" (as seen in Zurara chronicles, the "Crónica da tomada de Ceuta" and the "Crónica do Conde D. Pedro de Menezes ") seems to be mostly directed on one side toward the territorial conquest of the Maghrebian harbours and, therefore, toward controlling Muslim and Christian navigation in the Straits, and on the other side to­ward the destruction of Muslim commercial traffic through systematic attacks against Muslim ships.