14th century seafarers in the North and Baltic Seas
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Victual Brothers" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR(January 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
North Sea and Baltic Seas, Germany and Scandinavia
Region
Northern Europe
Methods
Privateering, blockade running, piracy
Membership
ca. 1400 persons
Official language
(Middle) Low German
The Victual Brothers, Vitalien Brothers[2][3] or Vitalian Brethren[4] (German: Vitalienbrüder,[1]: 146 [5][6] Norwegian: Vitaliebrødrene[7]) were a loosely organized guild of 14th century Germanic privateers. They initially included Mecklenburg nobility, but later became an organisation of commoners, and later evolved into piracy.[1]: 146ff [5][better source needed][8] The guild had a clear historical effect in that era on maritime trade in the North and Baltic Seas.[3][5][better source needed] As privateers, they provisioned blockaded locations[7] and otherwise served as a naval contingent on behalf of regional rulers,[9] with clients that included the Queen of Denmark, and rulers of Mecklenburg and East Frisia.[3][1]: 146f As their activities turned to piracy, the aims changed to personal enrichment.[3]
The pledge of their adopted base of Gotland to the Teutonic Order by King Albert of Sweden led to Gotland's invasion and the destruction of Visby by Konrad von Jungingen and the Order in 1398.[10][verification needed] This disruption, the executions of some of their band in Hamburg,[3] and the Hanseatic League's continuing effort to control and make safe trade on the Baltic Sea led to changing maritime influences and a decline of the band.[citation needed]
The Victual Brothers band either were sometimes known[1]: 147 or possibly became a somewhat distinct group known as the Likedeelers.[citation needed] Klaus Störtebeker was identified with both, as a subordinate in the Victual Brothers[2][5][better source needed] and as one in command in the Likedeelers.[not verified in body]
^ abcdeCite error: The named reference Meier was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ abCite error: The named reference Konstam2011 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ abcdeCite error: The named reference StegenDW was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Rohmann, G. (2017). Did the activity of the ‘Vitalian Brethren’ prevent trade in the Baltic area? In M. Balard & C. Buchet (Eds.), The Sea in History - The Medieval World (NED-New edition, pp. 585–594). Boydell & Brewer. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7722/j.ctt1kgqt6m.56
^ abcdCite error: The named reference BachmannMüller_blindekuh was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^For a machine translation of the German quote in the Bachmann & Muller (2002) citation, see below.
^ abCite error: The named reference SalvesenSNL was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^The point at which the transition from privateers to pirates occurred is not clear from sources, and some sources use the terms seemingly interchangeably. Hence, the children's source Bachmann & Müller (2002) refers to the group, at its advent, when it involved nobility and was employed by Queen Margaret to provision Stockholm, as "pirates". See this source, cited above.
^See, for instance, Meier, p. 146: "The ducal house of Mecklenburg was unable to equip a navy of its own…".
^Cite error: The named reference SchulzkeJaDuVitalienbrüder was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
The VictualBrothers, Vitalien Brothers or Vitalian Brethren (German: Vitalienbrüder,: 146 Norwegian: Vitaliebrødrene) were a loosely organized guild...
trunk, rescued by his brother when he was put to death for thieving. He's also the smarter of the two brothers. The Harpe brothers were the inspiration...
18th century Jolly Roger Libertatia Republic of Salé Thalassocracy VictualBrothers Woodard, Colin (12 May 2008). The Republic of Pirates: Being the True...
Island. Costas Mandylor portrays "Captain Silver" in the 2016 episode "The Brothers Jones" on ABC's Once Upon a Time. A Ballad of John Silver, a poem by John...
"capital" Visby, where he remained with a "pirate" organization called the VictualBrothers. It was not until 1408 that the last remains of the house of Mecklenburg...
of the Caribbean franchise. Piracy in the Caribbean Pirate Republic VictualBrothers Thalassocracy Henry Morgan Kemp 1961, p. 8. Thomson 1969, p. 46. Kemp...
Johor and the private royal guard of Sultan of Johor in Malaysia. VictualBrothers, a pirate brotherhood that for a time became a power in the Baltic...
a three-year voyage during his late adolescence in 1880 with his elder brother Prince Albert Victor of Wales and their tutor John Neill Dalton. They temporarily...
routes and nearly brought sea trade to the brink of extinction. The VictualBrothers of Gotland were a companionship of privateers who later turned to piracy...
from the colonial history of Philadelphia, vol. 1, New York: Harper & brothers Johnson, Captain Charles (1724), A General History of the Robberies and...
Concerning the Buccaneers and Marooners of the Spanish Main. New York: Harper & Brothers. Archived from the original on 2 October 2008. Retrieved 9 January 2017...
was a famous man, and the Bowie brothers received many requests for knives of the same design. Bowie and his brothers later commissioned more ornate custom...
Global Information
