Call for Book Chapters: “Criminal Cultures in the Atlantic Port City and Beyond in the Middle Ages”

The Governance of the Atlantic Port Cities in the The Middle Ages, a Research Group of the University of Cantabria, seeks chapter proposals on the topic “Criminal Cultures in the Atlantic city and beyond in the Middle Ages.”

The association of the Middle Ages with the ideas of regression, darkness and universal stagnation permeates the current collective imaginary about this historical period to the point that any injustice, cruelty or barbarity is branded as “medieval”. It is widely believed that medieval society was subjected to the powerful people, without any structure of regulation of crimes, violence and conflict. In part, this is due to the historical misrepresentation about the Middle Ages, elaborated seven centuries ago, and to the application of current concepts about criminality and delinquency to medieval times. For example, the use of weapons by the medieval nobility was synonymous with bravery, although nowadays gungs are perceived as barbaric means.
Likewise, at present, crime is associated with penal law, blood crimes, but not theft or piracy until the late Middle Ages; however, in medieval times, sodomy, female sodomy, transsexuality, blasphemy, piracy, heresy, witchcraft or pyromania were harshly punished crimes.

On the other hand, crimes depended on the place where they were committed. For example, crimes against property and safety at sea were more severely punished than on land. The people of the sea who sank a ship with deception had to be punished with death, as if they were pirates, So, there were laws only aplied in the maritime environment, such as the Laws of Oleron in the Atlantic area. The town ports had their own judges of the sea with jurisdiction over crimes committed in the maritime environment. The control of crimes at sea by the authorities contributed to the construction of the maritime jurisdiction of the ports and, ultimately, of the sovereignty over the sea of the monarchs from the fifteenth century onwards, so that private actors, outsiders, pirates and corsairs contributed to forge the urban and royal institutions related to crime control. Thirdly, the cultures of crime developed in the port cities of the Atlantic, taking advantage of the  movement of money and people, There were social sectors, sometimes not marginalized, whose way of life and identity was based on crime: extended families dedicated to piracy, privateering and smuggling, fraud and corruption networks, prostitution rings that connected both shores of the Atlantic with the Mediterranean, kidnapping people to sell them as slaves, political crimes between urban factions, gangs of bandits who acted on the roads to the ports.

Finally, the aim of this book is to analyze the development of criminal activities and the response of the authorities in the port cities, as well as in the cities and regions (un)connected to them in the Middle Ages, in a global, interregional and transcontinental perspective, since the sea connected people and markets and also the culture of crime. 

DEADLINES
May 1, 2024: Send your 300-word abstract with a brief profile
July 1, 2024: Completed chapters

GUIDELINES FOR THE MONOGRAPH

Style and technical specifications

• Successful proposals will be published in December 2024 after peer review.
• The monographic book will be published in 2024 by the Instituto de Estudios Riojanos, an Spanish prestigious institute and publishing house, as well as holding an important share of the Latin America continent.  
• Paper should be sent, please, before July 1, 2024, in a format that is recognisable to Microsoft Word (.doc) in any of its versions for Windows to the email: gobport@unican.es
• The maximum length of manuscripts is 25 pages.
• Double spacing should be used for all the paper except for the references which are to be single-spaced. 
• Abstract containing a maximum of 300 words in English. 
• Times New Roman, normal style, 12-point type. 
• Footnotes or Notes, when necessary, are to be placed at the end of the page and numbered in their order of appearance in the text. 
• Illustrations (images, graphics…) are to be inserted in the appropriate point in the text. 
• All illustrations will be denominated generically  ‘Figures’ and are to be numbered consecutively using numerals with the title centred at the bottom. 
• Images must be in black and white with a quality of at least 300 ppp. 
• Images have to be sent in a separated files.
• The title page should contain a concise and informative title, author’s name and full address of the institution, email address and current address. 
• The article will include an introduction and conclusions. 

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