During the succession war for the Swedish throne (1389), the city of Stockholm was under siege. The Dukes of Mecklenburg hired privateers to resupply the starving city. These privateers were known as the "Victual Brothers" (from the Latin victualia, meaning supplies). Once the war ended, they had no jobs. So, they did what mercenaries always do: they turned to piracy.
Operating out of the island of Gotland in the Baltic and the inaccessible mudflats of East Frisia (modern Germany), they became the terror of the North Sea. Their motto was "God's friends and all the world's enemies."
On moonless nights they spoke of the Drowned Shepherd, a pale figure said to shepherd shipwrecked sailors to a quiet reef where coins clinked like teeth. They never sailed on the windless night when the sea sang; those were the nights the old gods walked the keel and called men away with promises of warmth. pirates of the north sea
They worked the shipping lanes where coasts narrowed and currents met. Fog banks were their screens; shipping lights, their prey. They favored small convoys—fish, salted meat, barrels of salted herring—things that moved and could be fenced in hidden coves. Sometimes they took nothing but the knowledge of a captain’s route and a pocket watch for the widow back in Kirkwall.
The phrase has seen a massive spike in search volume since 2022 due to TV shows like Vikings: Valhalla and the release of Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla. Gamers searching for a physical tabletop experience often land on the board game, while viewers of the show land on the history. During the succession war for the Swedish throne
What made these North Sea pirates so terrifying was their naval technology. The longship was the perfect pirate vessel: shallow draft, symmetrical bow, and a square sail combined with oars. It allowed the Vikings to navigate the open North Sea (averaging over 300 miles of rough water) and then row up shallow rivers to strike deep inland.
Unlike Caribbean pirates who hid in coves, the North Sea pirates relied on speed and surprise. They could appear from the mist, strike a coastal village or a fat merchant cog, and vanish before a local lord could muster a defense. Famous North Sea Pirates:
If you are looking for the history of Vikings, privateers, and North Sea brigands, this is the era where reality is stranger than fiction.
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