The flibustiers were Aventurier S which, with, foamed the coasts and devastated the Spanish possessions in America.

Etymology

The word flibustier is derived from the English filibuster , which probably comes from the Dutch vrijbuiter (“which makes spoils freely”). Certain sources quote like origin the word flibot (kind of small boat), others prefer free booter (free plunderer), and make go up their practices with the traditions of the army rabble in Europe.

According to the resource center lexical of CNRS, this term appears in the French vocabulary in the middle of the 17th century. It then designates a “corsair of the islands of America”. As from the 18th century, its direction evolves/moves to take that of a man dishonest person, of a swindler.

Origins of the flibuste

The flibustiers are composed of French, Dutch and English adventurers exiled with the the Antilles starting from the beginning of the 17th century to flee the civil wars in Europe and the economic pressure of the royal authorities.

The majority are installed on the island of the Tortoise, off Haiti. Disputed by the English, the Dutchmen, the Spaniards and the French, this island was used of stopover and victualling yard to the smugglers and to the corsairs of the Caribbean. At the beginning of the 17th century, it was under the authority of the French Pierre Belain d' Esnambuc, who had founded the Company of Saint-Christophe, become the Compagnie of the islands of America in 1635. Driven out by the Spaniards of the Island Saint-Christophe, Belain d' Esnambuc seized with his/her companions French and English of the island of the Tortoise and expelled the Spaniards in 1627 of them. It was joined later by driven out Dutchmen of the island Holy-Cross and by a hundred English driven out of the island of Nevis. Quickly, the adventurers who lived on the island of the Tortoise decided to take actions at sea. They became the first flibustiers.

In 1630, the Spaniards took again the island before yielding it to the English, who re-elected off it Isle Association. The governor in place let the corsairs of all nationalities supply themselves there. In 1640, the French gentleman huguenot, François Levasseur, ex-captain of the royal navy, took again the island of the Tortoise to the English after being himself made give by the governor of Saint-Christophe a “commission”, i.e. a letter of mark engaging the royal authority, although France is peace with England. Appointed governor of the island, Levasseur granted authorizations to the adventurers to plunder the Spanish ships.

The semi-official aspect of the operations carried out by the flibustiers is at the origin of their ambiguous statute, halfway between the Corsaire and the Pirate. So some of them could make the point that they had received a commission of the royal authorities, this authorization was not always valid: that which allotted it did not have always the capacity of it, and the government of the kingdom was not always informed of the mission carried out on its behalf.

During one century, on board their boats, the flibustiers will be caught some with the Spanish ships, applicant to act in the name of the interests of their respective countries. But whereas the population of the island of the Tortoise was reinforced with the arrival of Boucanier S of Saint-Domingue and European colonists, in particular of the Protestants, the political events caused a brutal evolution in their history. Competition between the European powers at the beginning of the 18th century, then the payment of the Succession of Spain which installed a French monarch on the throne of Spain contributed to the decline of the flibuste. Its representatives were then condemned to engage in a legal activity or with becoming pirates.

Expelled by the Spaniards of the Tortoise, part of the flibustiers took refuge in Saint-Domingue, Cuba and on the coasts of Central America. As from 1659, they are quoted by name by the governor of the Jamaica. Weakened by the return in England of the warships, the authorities jamaïcaines had indeed to call upon the flibustiers to reinforce their defense. Those then enlisted a great number of English soldiers who refused to settle on the island as growers. There still, the commissions of which they made state came from official sources, but had been allotted under doubtful conditions, according to the political context.

One of these flibustiers, Jérémie Deschamps lord of Rausset, former companion of Levasseur, had obtained at the same time French and English commissions. Having begun again the island of the Tortoise in the name of the English authorities in 1660, it gave to flibustiers of the commissions in his own name, which involved its dismissal by the governor of Jamaica. On Rausset then decided to control the island under the terms of its French commission, thus freeing itself from the English supervision.

In 1664, all the French colonies of America are placed under the authority of the Compagnie of the Indies Occidentales created by Richelieu. The new governor named with the Tortoise, Bertrand d' Ogeron, decides to regularize the activities of the flibustiers and manages to force to them to come to present their spoils to him. He continues nevertheless to allot commissions to the flibustiers who fight the Spaniards.

It is starting from this date that characters like the French François Olonnais and the English Henry Morgan mark the history of the flibuste. Protected by the governors from the colonies from their country (the Tortoise for one, Jamaica for the other), they join together true fleets to tackle the Spanish possessions. With the entry in war of England against the United Provinces, of the British flibustiers are caught some with the Dutch interests.

Before 1648

Protestant United Provinces and Gueux de Mer

The United Provinces contituent the northern and Protestant part Spanish Netherlands of then, called to become the Netherlands within the meaning of aujourd' today; they tear off their independence in Spain during the Eighty Year old Guerre (1568-1648), also called Révolte of Gueux (of 1618 to 1648, the Four Twenty Year old War merges with the Thirty Year old War, war objective side-europénne in the same way: to weaken the excessive power of the Saint Worsens and Spain, two powers with the hands of Habsbourg). This independence is recognized internationally in 1648 by the Traités of Westphalia.

This term of Gueux should not mislead. It is an ironic reference to one their adversaries, Charles de Berlaymont which had treated them the gueux one. Actually, there were also rich person and the noble ones among the Protestants. Most important is Guillaume Ier of Orange-Nassau, considered as the founding father of the United Provinces. Even if it should not be confused with its descendant and homonymous Guillaume III which will become king d' Angleterre, it is not, undoubtedly, a beggar.

The Révolte of Gueux comprises an important maritime shutter carried out by the Gueux of the sea, scummers Protestant.

Are they really corsairs, or rather pirates, or (this word will be invented for them) flibustiers? A corsair acts on letter of mark delivered by a State and subjects himself to a control on his catches, which must be removed on a ship of an enemy country in time of war. This control is exerted by a court of catch. No the State, not of authentic letter of mark, not of courts of catches. However, the United Provinces are not a State before 1648, date of the international dedication of their independence by the Treaties of Westphalia. , It perhaps too severe to treat pirates at the same time all the Dutch scummers or zélandais. Actually, in this Europe of before the Treaties of Westphalia, all the borders have in recombining, and the concept of Sovereign state is discussed, the armies providing the essence of the sales leaflet.

Before 1648, the letters of marks delivered on the territory of what will be the United Provinces are emitted by actors like William of Orange, war leader, or by the large joint stock companies which arm in race, like the Compagnie Dutchwoman of the Western Indies. This company is based with Middelburg in Zealand and not in some exotic island; it is about one of the first capitalist companies by actions; it has its own vessels, its own territory (which it cuts in America thanks to the action of its captains), much vaster than that of the United Provinces (on which it is supposed to depend), its own objectives, among which the race and the Commerce of the slaves are by no means dissimulated.

It is thus the same actor who arms in race and which delivers the letter of mark; the control of the limit between race and piracy becomes pure simulation.

Such letters of mark did not protect obviously their holder against a charge from piracy in the event of capture not the Spaniards. They could however have a certain protective effect (without automatism) in the event of capture by another country, because the dismantling of the Spanish colonial empire in Americas was sought by all the European powers, which tended to be combined against Spain in this geographical area, which involved a tendency to recognize the United Provinces as independent actor de facto.

One attends the birth of the character of the flibustier, semi-corsair semi-pirate. If it attacks galleons in American water, the system center is in Europe. The United Provinces hold the first role in the beginnings of the flibuste, with the political objective to destroy the Spanish colonial empire; the durable installations of European colonies of settlement in this water are difficult and late, and the flibustiers who attack the galleons charged with gold more often leave Zealand than of the island of the Tortoise.

We are in front of a machine of total maritime war whose objectives are at the same time political (because the framework is that of a separatist war and a war of religion, and the unit is animated by these statesmen who are the stathouders William of Orange) and economic (because some of the actors more at a peak are large joint stock companies and of the scummers seeking the profit).

The liberty of action of the Dutch scummers increases further when the Spanish maritime power is destroyed by the Dutchmen at the time of disastrous the Bataille of Downs, the October 31st 1639. This destruction encourages English and Dutch (although the latter, before 1648, are still juridically Spanish) to try to seize the Iberian possessions colonial in America, which passes by a recrudescence of piracy to the Antilles.

With the Dutch scummers, we are in the middle of the immense system of race, Pirate laughs or flibuste, such as it will prevail at the 16th century and 17th century. It is about a world system. Some biographical anecdotes will show dimension of it:

• of Vernboer (15. - 1620); although he died 28 years before the independence of the United Provinces, he starts under letter of mark " hollandaise" , but finishes pirate in Algiers while preserving some " patriotisme" , at least it is what he says when he seeks to return in grace near his country. It makes hoist the house " hollandais" when the attacked ship is Spanish, and avoids maltreating its prisoners too much when those are Dutch. Its compatriot Jan Janszohn, of Haarlem, also starts under letter of mark " hollandaise" , but operates then starting from Algiers and of Salé (Morocco) and converts with Islam, which enables him, with the passage, to take a second woman.

• Piet Heyn (1577 - 1629) is, in 1623, vice-admiral with the service of the company of the Indies Occidentales is not satisfied to attack Galion S, but takes also cities, like Bahia (Brazil), then it passes under letter of mark of William of Orange in 1629 and takes share with the blockade of Dunkirk.

The example of Piet Heyn shows us that there is not a world of difference between the scummers of the the Antilles and those of the the North Sea.

Other actors

If the Dutch scummers constitute the system center flibustier, other actors come to be grafted there:

• of the individual, often Protestant adventurers and thus at ease aves Gueus de Mer

• of the States like France and England, which have their own reasons to want the dismantling of the Spanish colonial empire and thus deliver letters of mark with facility

After 1648

The year 1648 is that of the Treaties of Westphalia, which redrew the chart of Europe. The concept of State becomes again clear, even if the borders moved; consequently, other concepts should in theory become again clear in the tread: concepts of official control, letter of mark, corsair as different from the pirate.

In fact, it is not so simple.

History

The golden age of the flibuste is before the Années 1680 when France and England decide to disperse them. A part moves towards the coasts of Africa, others towards the Pacific Ocean where they settle with the Galapagos and in the Archipel Juan Fernandez.

In 1697, Ducasse, French governor of Santo Domingo, joins together almost thousand flibustiers for the operation of Jean-Bernard de Pointis against Carthagène in current the Colombia. A misunderstanding on the division of the spoils leads to the resumption of the city by the flibustiers alone. It is their last great action.

Some famous flibustiers:

• the Welshman Henry Morgan, who took Panama in 1670 and was named governor of Jamaica;
• Pierre Legrand, of Dieppe, which with a boat assembled by 28 men removed the Spanish flagship;
• Michel de Grandmont so known under the name of knight of Grammont who seized Maracaibo in 1678, of Puerto Cabello in 1680, of Vera Cruz in 1683 and finally of Campeche in 1685. These exploits were worth to him to be appointed lieutenant of the southern part of the island of Saint-Domingue by the king of France, a station which it never occupied, having disappeared at sea in April 1685;
• the French Jean Lafitte who founded the Kingdom of Barataria close to the Orleans News and helped the general Andrew Jackson to beat the English at the time of the battles of Chalmette in 1815.

Sources and criticisms

The primary source to know the exploits of the flibustiers is the book of Alexandre-Olivier Exquemelin (or Oexmelin) whose recent edition annotated by Patrick Villiers gives the original text and of the alternatives. Certain episodes and characters are generally regarded today as debatable if not are invented of all parts. It is the case in particular accounts relating to Nau Olonnais and Michel the Basque, who took Maracaibo, or Monbars “the Exterminator” which seized Vera Cruz in 1683. Other texts of the time, most interesting is undoubtedly that of Ravenau de Lussan.

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