by Kersti Lust, PhD in history, National Archives of Estonia

Wrecking, the illegal seizure of materials and cargo of shipwrecks, was an important economic activity for several centuries, and it was performed along many coastal areas around the world. The international scholarly tradition usually views wrecking as an activity of the common people, but this blog post sheds light on the deceptive and opportunistic activities of manorial lords, who were responsible for enforcing the law at the local level by performing police and court functions, but who, at the same time, could benefit also from wrecking. How the manorial lords wrecked ships weiterlesen →