Piracy and law in the Ottoman Mediterranean

Joshua White’s Piracy and Law unpacks the idea of an Ottoman Mediterranean, a unified legal space extending over large areas East of the Strait of Messina, with a particular focus on Cyprus waters, the Adriatic and the Aegean seas, and equally comprising Orthodox, Jewish and Muslim subjects under the aegis of the Islamic rule of law. White introduces us to a sea populated by conflicting interests, ambiguous allegiances, and mixed identities, where a strict Christian-Muslim dichotomy proves to be a particularly unhelpful tool. The monograph’s main focus is the post-Lepanto (1571) apparent paradox: White presents a wide range of maritime relations and raiding, against the backdrop of a politically-declining empire, where the Ottoman legal system did not fade away but rather became omnipresent. The Ottoman Mediterranean had its own lines of demarcation since North-African regencies contested the monopoly of Istanbul chief judges, did not acknowledge peace treaties signed by the sultan, and developed their own foreign policy, hence challenging a hegemonic, Istanbul-minded rule of law.