Written by Tiffany Miron, August of 2024
Primary Sources; Where it Begins
The exact definition of the “Golden Age” of piracy varies between scholars, but often the general answer is the years 1680-1720. Because of the time period, along with the fact that pirates seldom wrote or created documents detailing their lives and activities, there are not many primary sources that give details on Golden Age Piracy. The biggest primary source that exists on the topic is A General History of the Pyrates by Captain Charles Johnson. This book was published in 1724 and Johnson included a chapter giving details about the lives of each notorious pirate of the Golden Age, often from the start of their lives or career until their trial and sentencing. While in theory this primary source is great, there are many debates between historians questioning the accuracy of the book and to what extent it should be trusted and utilized. This debate is fueled by a few main factors, the first being that many believe that “Captain Charles Johnson” was an alias, and therefore the real author and the reliability of said author is unknown. There has been research done connecting A General History and the writing style to other author of the time Daniel Defoe, and many believe it was him who wrote the book. This then fuels the debate regarding the accuracy of the source’s contents, and if the stories of pirate lives were exaggerated to drive book sales when it was published. While the accuracy is contested, many historians have also cross referenced the book and have found much of the content to be accurate. Overall, every historian that studies piracy has a different opinion on A General History and how it should be utilized. While that is the biggest and perhaps most well-known primary source, I have encountered two other useful documents throughout my research. First, I read and analyzed The Tryals of Captain John Rackam, and other Pirates from 1721, which detailed the court process, witness reports, and sentencing of all the pirates that were apart of Captain Rackam’s crew. Similarly, I also found and read a proclamation made by Woodes Rogers about Rackam and his crew, as Rogers was a well-known governor and pirate hunter.
The Secondary Literature
In a previous blog post, I discussed how Golden Age Piracy is very much a developing field that has seen little work and focus until recent years. That said, in the last twenty or so years piracy has received more study than ever before, and this can be seen in the number of recent publications. While there have been many more works on piracy, part of the battle when it comes to researching pirates is finding sources written by historians and not journalists or other writers trying to cater to the media version of pirates that the general public enjoys. I encountered this issue when I was making a list of works I wanted to read while conducting my research. Once I passed that obstacle, I noticed a trend through my research. In 2004, Marcus Rediker published Villains of All Nations, in which he argued that pirate society was egalitarian, and they were “villains of all nations” through their defiance of societal, economic, and political norms formed by nations of that time period. This work was very pivotal for the field, and as a result, many have utilized Rediker’s work as a starting point for their own research studying pirate society. Given its notoriety within the field, almost every pirate scholar that I have encountered references Villains of All Nations in their work and holds it sort of on a pedestal. While my research does not agree with Rediker’s research, there is no question the importance of his work and the difference it has made to the field and study of Atlantic piracy.
What I Predict will happen Going Forward
With piracy only recently becoming a field more historians are focusing on, I would guess that this trend will continue and lead to more scholarship in the near future. I also anticipate there to be more research like my own that question and analyze Rediker’s work and pirate society with different lenses such as gender, race, and class. While Villains of All Nations was pivotal, I believe more historians will start to reexamine his argument that pirate society was egalitarian and that is what made them national enemies.
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