ABSTRACT
Piracy, both as privateering and bloody robbery, was a constant in Mediterranean history from ancient into modern times. At the end of the thirteenth century Genoa did indeed establish a ministry of piracy to channel complaints from Muslims, Jews, and Christians wrongfully attacked by Genoese ships; this Office of Robbery soon foundered under the volume of claims. It brings onto the stage of history a neglected naval captain, Pere (Peter) Moragues, one of the many creators of Catalan sea power in this century. Discovery of this hitherto unknown captain, and his corsair role on the Islamic-Christian frontier, prompted a further search of the royal archives for information as to his person. The piracy-privateer industry was always in dialogue with its surroundings, answering to economic cycles and political shifts, waxing or waning, and assuming novel guises. As Goitein pointed out for the earlier Middle Ages, there was "no clear-cut distinction between piracy and war.".
