War at Sea in the Middle Ages and Renaissance (review)

This book of essays had its origins in a specially convened symposium held at Arrabida, Portugal, under the auspices of the Fundação Oriente. From its inception this meeting had clear and explicit aims, which are detailed by John Hattendorf in the Introduction. These were nothing less than to "make a substantial contribution to historical knowledge in raising new questions about the origins, development and practice of naval warfare." This, it is held, is necessary in view of the way in which the interpretations of naval history associated with the voluminous and highly influential works of A. T. Mahan have "been misunderstood, misapplied and distorted." This is in itself a controversial claim but how far have the other contributors and participants in the symposium fulfilled the task set them?

The book is divided into three sections, the first dealing with Northern Europe, the second with Southern Europe and the third with Sixteenth and Early Seventeenth Century Europe. The essays contained in the first part deal with Scandinavia both in the Viking Age and in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. There are also two essays on the English medieval navy, looking at activities during the Hundred Years' War and, from a more technological point of view, at oars, guns, and sails. The section on Southern Europe opens with an essay on Byzantine fleets c.900-1025 CE, but then moves on to consider the naval forces of the Iberian peninsula, Venice, and Genoa, taking the discussion up to the end of the Middle Ages. The final section omits any detailed material on England and France, perhaps on the assumption that much has already been written on this period for these states and instead has chapters on the navy of the Medici Grand Dukes of Tuscany, the Portuguese, the Netherlands before their emergence as an independent state, and the use of naval forces in the Baltic. The final essay by Nicholas Rodger and the conclusion by Richard Unger both attempt an overview of the period and the discussion.

This volume certainly has a greater degree of internal coherence than many books which are the outcome of a conference or similar meeting. There is much here to interest any reader with an interest in the topic of war at sea but, even so, it would be hard to claim that all attempt to fulfil the ambitious agenda set out in the introduction. Neils Lund's valuable discussion of Viking age naval power focuses on the leding or method of raising and paying for fleets needed not for grand expeditions into unknown waters but for patrolling home waters, a "co-operative navy," "to preserve peace rather than to conduct war." Similarly John Prior's essay on the Byzantine navy of the tenth century is full of valuable insights, the fruit of research into a period and a culture which is inaccessible to many naval historians because of lack of the language skills needed to read the sources. His conclusion, however, that Mahan's theories do not apply to the Byzantine Empire is hardly unexpected.

Nicholas Rodger's essay on the new Atlantic mounts a typically lucid and elegantly expressed argument, which does attempt to deal with fundamental issues. This involves looking at the various types of "naval organisation," which were employed by rulers in the sixteenth century. It also devotes some space to the question of the definition of two categories of medieval naval warfare; the one public or military, the other private or commercial. This discussion casts a whole new light on the issue of what has usually been termed piracy and contributes greatly to our understanding of the purpose of this kind of activity and the way in which it was regarded by contemporaries. Richard Unger's conclusion...