CHAPTERS: Stefano CATTELAN, Frederik DHONDT in G. DE GIUDICI, D. FEDELE & E. FIOCCHI MALASPINA (eds.), Soggettività contestate e diritto internazionale in età moderna [Collana di studi di storia del diritto medievale e moderno, ed. P. ALVAZZI DEL FRATE, G. ROSSI & E. TAVILLA; 9] (Rome: Historia et Ius, 2023) (ISBN 978-88-946376-9-4) (OPEN ACCESS)

Dr. Stefano Cattelan (pp. 125-152) and Prof. Frederik Dhondt (pp. 153-176) authored chapters in the edited volume Soggettività contestate e diritto internazionale in età moderna (eds. Giuseppina de Giudici, Dante Fedele & Elisabetta Fiocchi Malaspina), vol. 9 of the series "Collana di studi di storia del diritto medievale e moderno" (edited by Paolo Alvazzi del Frate, Giovanni Rossi and Elio Tavilla). 

Abstract of Challenging empires: pirates, privateers and the Europeanisation of ocean spaces (c. 1500-1650) (dr. Stefano Cattelan):

Throughout the Middle  Ages, piracy and hybrid warfare  (public/ private) remained endemic across the seas surrounding the European continent. Once Spain and Portugal opened new sailing routes towards the Americas and East Asia, these phenomena rapidly assumed an all-new geographical scale. With the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494), Spain and Portugal divided the Atlantic Ocean into two exclusive spheres of infl uence. In reaction, the French, the English and later the Dutch resorted to piracy and privateering to undermine Iberian mare clausum claims, waging guerrilla warfare against the «lords of the oceans». In the process, pirates and privateers, figures par excellence of contested legal subjectivity, demonstrated  the  impossibility  of  claiming  the oceans, which were bound to become a global arena between European seafaring nations.

Abstract of Rebels, Exiles and Pirates in Context: Flexible Labels in the Aftermath of the Peace of Utrecht (1713-1720) (prof. Frederik Dhondt):

The concepts ‘rebel’ and ‘pirate’ abound in eighteenth-century political discourse. These categories can be used to place individuals outside of the political arena and the protection of the law of nations. The present contribution focuses on the epithet ‘rebel’ or ‘pirate’ in the complex negotiations on the amendment and confirmation of the European peace order established at the end of the War of the Spanish Succession (1701/1702-1713/1715). Delving into British and French diplomatic correspondence, successive examples of ‘rebels’ or ‘pirates’ come to the fore, from Brittany over Scotland, Catalunya, the Jacobites and Neapolitan privateers, to arrested Spanish and Swedish diplomats. Alliances and status of enmity between sovereigns were not necessarily conclusive, hence the importance of an ambiguous continuum of potential positions.

The full volume can be downloaded or read here in open access.