
A King Who Became a Pirate - apollinaire
https://narratively.com/the-king-who-became-a-pirate/
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vidarh
I knew who this would be about as soon as I saw the title, mostly because I
have an ancestor which his successors claimed was of minor nobility. Their
claim rested on a court case in the mid 1500's where a purported letter of
nobility for their ancestor was presented as evidence of their own nobility,
and accepted by the court as genuine.

When I came across this claim, I got curious and wanted to see if it was
possible to dig up official documents (it'd have no practical meaning for me
other than a fun part of family history - all titles of nobility were rendered
invalid in Norway 200 years ago).

It didn't take much digging to realize that there was a major problem with the
claim: The supposed date King Erik III of Norway (the numbering is ambiguous -
he had a different number in each of Norway (III), Sweden(XIII) and Denmark
(VII)) would have supposedly signed this document is right in the middle of
his period as a pirate, and so well after he was deposed.

Which means either the document was a forgery, or they somehow managed to get
either the date or the name of the king wrong in the court documents. It'd be
very fascinating to find some more scraps of information about how that went
down, or even the purported letter of nobility, but I suspect I won't get
anywhere further - no sign of more documents still existing.

I do lean towards my ancestors in question being forgers rather than nobility,
though (frankly that almost makes the story more interesting than if the claim
was true).

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usrusr
Or perhaps he did actually sign the document, at the date indicated, a pirate
with a sideline as a diploma mill.

If he was still considering himself the legitimate king he'd surely not mind
signing with that title, just like any other exiled government.

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vidarh
That would be quite amazing if it was possible to find such a document. I'd
still want to know why the court accepted it, though... But I'd enjoy finding
a rogue letter like that more than a "valid" one... Unfortunately I doubt
we'll ever know.

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Deukhoofd
The ending of the article isn't really true to history, he didn't return to
Pomerania because he had given up and had nothing left to fight for, he
returned to Pomerania because he inherited the duchy, and decided a life as
duke was better than a life as king in exile.

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gumby
While the ordering is unusual (hence the lovely title) the difference between
pirate and king is often who wins.

And plenty of kings supported and were supported by pirates, perhaps most
famously Elizabeth I

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jonke
At the time the Öresund strait was Danish and not a border between Sweden and
Denmark.

What is now the most southern part of Sweden was à resultat of the peace of
1658

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asdfman123
Oh, better far to live and die under the brave black flag I fly

Than play a sanctimonious part with a pirate head and a pirate heart

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carapace
In reader mode:

> The night of December 18, 2004, began as an ordinary evening for Blair
> Cobbs’s father, Eugene. At 33, the elder Cobbs was already a seasoned
> veteran of the drug trafficking trade.

wtf.

~~~
nightbrawler
wow, that story is very interesting too!

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jessaustin
I'm curious about when the transition from "vikings" to "pirates" occurred,
for Scandinavians who travel in long boats robbing and pillaging.

~~~
bryanrasmussen
according to stereotype the vikings came on land and took what they wanted,
pirates rob ships at sea.

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eropple
Pirates the world over have engaged in (sometimes large-scale) land operations
throughout history. Henry Morgan led a force of about 1400 men overland to
sack Panama, for example.

~~~
bryanrasmussen
I believe I started off my text with according to stereotype, as he is
remarked as becoming a pirate not a viking.

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arberavdullahu
Is there any link where I can find more about the tax system he invented?

~~~
msh
You can read about it here:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_Dues](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_Dues)

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paypalcust83
This sounds like a good topic for _The History Guy_ Youtube channel.

[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4sEmXUuWIFlxRIFBRV6VXQ](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4sEmXUuWIFlxRIFBRV6VXQ)

