Organised Crime

Seminar Questions

What forms did organised crime take in early modern Europe?
What roles did violence play in organised crime?
How did the authorities respond to organised crime?

Required Reading

All students should analyse both these images

B. Cole, 'Blackbeard the PirateLink opens in a new window' from Captain Charles Johnson, A General History of the Pyrates (London, 1725) AND
Joseph Nicholls, 'Captain Teach, commonly call'd Black BeardLink opens in a new window', from Captain Charles Johnson, A General History of the Lives and Adventures of the Most Famous Highwaymen, Murderers, Street-Robbers, &c. To which is added, a genuine account of the voyages and plunders of the most notorious pyrates (London, 1734)

All students should read EITHER

Smith, Alexander, The History of the Lives, of the Most Noted Highwaymen, Foot-pads, Shop-lifts and Cheats of Both Sexes, in and about London and Other Places ... for Fifty Years Last PastLink opens in a new window AND The Second Volume of the History of the Lives, of the Most Notorious Highwaymen, Foot-pads, and Other Thieves and Murderers of Both Sexes, in and about London and Other Places ... for Fifty Years Last PastLink opens in a new window, 2nd ed. (London, 1714) [Read the Prefaces to both volumes and three lives of your choice]

OR

Johnson, Charles, A General History of the PyratesLink opens in a new window (London, 1724; fourth ed. 1726) [Read the Preface and the lives of Captain Teach/Blackbeard, Mary Read, and Anne Bonny]

All students should also read one of the following items:

Belenguer, Ernest, 'Bandits, Banditry and Royal Power in Catalonia between the 16th and 17th centuriesLink opens in a new window', Catalan Historical Review 8 (2015), 45-57
Egmond, Florike, 'Between Town and Countryside: Organized Crime in the Dutch RepublicLink opens in a new window', in Eric A. Johnson and Eric H. Monkkonen, eds, The Civilization of Crime: Violence in Town and Country since the Middle AgesLink opens in a new window (Urbana, 1996), pp. 138-152.
McMullan, John L., 'Criminal Organization in Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century LondonLink opens in a new window', Social Problems 29 (1982), 311-323

E-Resources

B.E., A new dictionary of the canting crewLink opens in a new window (London , 1699)
Head, Richard, The canting academyLink opens in a new window (London, 1674)
Head, Richard, The English rogueLink opens in a new window (London, 1688)
The Complete Newgate CalendarLink opens in a new window
van de Velde, Esaias, Bandits Attacking a Caravan of TravellersLink opens in a new window, 1627-1629
Vulpius, Christian August, The History of Rinaldo Rinaldini Captain of BanditiLink opens in a new window, trans. John Hinckley (Boston, 1824)

Further Reading

Amirell, S. E., et al. (eds), Persistent Piracy: Maritime Violence and State-Formation in Global Historical Perspective Link opens in a new window(Basingstoke, 2014)

Appleby, John C., Women and English Piracy, 1540-1720: Partners and Victims of Crime (Basingstoke, 2013)

Barkey, Karen, Bandits and Bureaucrats: The Ottoman Route to State CentralizationLink opens in a new window (Ithaca, NY, 1994)

Blok, Anton, 'The Peasant and the Brigand: Social Banditry Reconsidered,' Comparative Studies in Society and History 14/4 (1972), 494-503

Capp, B. S., British Slaves and Barbary Corsairs, 1580-1750 (Oxford, 2022)

Danker, Uwe, 'Bandits and the State: Robbers and the Authorities in the Holy Roman Empire in the Late Seventeenth and Early Eighteenth Centuries', in The German Underworld: Deviants and Outcasts in German HistoryLink opens in a new window, ed. Richard Evans (London, 1988), pp. 75-107.

Dionne, Craig, and Steve Mentz, eds, Rogues and Early Modern English Culture Link opens in a new window(Ann Arbor, 2004)

Durston, Gregory J., Whores and Highwaymen: Crime and Justice in the Eighteenth-Century MetropolisLink opens in a new window (Hook, 2012)

Egmond, Florike, Underworlds: Organized Crime in the Netherlands, 1650-1800Link opens in a new window (Cambridge, 1993)

Fijnaut, Cyrille, and Letizia Paoli, eds, Organised Crime in Europe: Concepts, Patterns and Control Policies in the European Union and BeyondLink opens in a new window (Norwell, MA, 2004)

Gioia, Cristina, 'Aristocratic Bandits and Outlaws: Stories of Violence and Blood Vendetta on the Border of the Venetian Republic (16th-17th Century)Link opens in a new window', in Steven G. Ellis and Lud’a Klusáková (eds), Imagining Frontiers, Contesting Identities (Pisa, 2007), pp. 93-107.

Gotti, Maurizio, The Language of Thieves and Vagabonds: 17th and 18th century Canting Lexicography in England (Tübingen, 1999)

Hignett, Kelly, 'Co-option or criminalisation? The state, border communities and crime in early modern EuropeLink opens in a new window', Global Crime 9 (2008), 35-51

Hobsbawm, Eric, BanditsLink opens in a new window, rev. ed. (London, 2001)

Hurl-Eamon, Jennine, Gender and Petty Violence in London, 1680-1720Link opens in a new window (Columbus, OH, 2005)

Judges, A.V., The Elizabethan UnderworldLink opens in a new window (London, 1930)

Kamen, Henry, ‘Public Authority and Popular Crime: Banditry in Valencia, 1660-1714', Journal of European Economic HistoryLink opens in a new window 3 (1974), 654-688.

Kinney, Arthur F., ed., Rogues, Vagabonds, and Sturdy Beggars: A New Gallery of Tudor and Early Stuart Rogue Literature Exposing the Lives, Times, and Cozening Tricks of the Elizabethan UnderworldLink opens in a new window (Amherst, 1990).

Laven, Peter, 'Banditry and Lawlessness on the Venetian Terraferma in the Later Cinquecento', in Trevor Dean and K. J. P. Lowe, eds, Crime, Society, and the Law in Renaissance Italy (Cambridge, 1994), pp. 221-248.

Lunsford, Virginia W., Piracy and Privateering in the Golden Age NetherlandsLink opens in a new window (Basingstoke, 2005)

MacMillan, Ken, (ed.), Stories of True Crime in Tudor and Stuart England (London, 2015)

McMullan, John L., The Canting Crew: London's Criminal Underworld, 1550-1700Link opens in a new window (New Brunswick, N.J., 1984)

Middleton, Thomas, and Thomas Dekker, The Roaring Girl, ed. Paul A. Mulholland (Manchester, 1987)

Moore, Lucy, (ed.), Con Men and Cutpurses: Scenes from the Hogarthian Underworld (Harmondsworth, 2004)

O'Malley, Pat, 'Social Bandits, Modern Capitalism and the Traditional Peasantry: A Critique of Hobsbawm,' Journal of Peasant StudiesLink opens in a new window 6/4 (1979): 489-499

Ortalli, Gherardo, ed., Bande armate, banditi, banditismo e repressione di giustizia negli stati europei di antico regimeLink opens in a new window (Rome, 1986)

Perry, Mary Elizabeth, Crime and Society in Early Modern SevilleLink opens in a new window (Hanover, NH, 1980)

Povolo, Claudio, 'Liturgies of Violence: Social Control and Power Relationships in the Republic of Venice between the 16th and 18th Centuries', in Eric R. Dursteler (ed.), A Companion to Venetian History 1400-1797Link opens in a new window (Leiden, 2013), pp. 513-42. Brill e-book