History, Wonder Tales, Fairy Tales, Myths and Legends The Flemish | Page 169

cruise, F. croiser, to cross, cruise up and down; the current spelling with ui seems to
be after Du., but the vowel-sound is as in Sp. and Pg. Cruiser (1679), a person or a
ship that cruises; in the 18th century commonly applied to privateers; from the vb.
cruise and -er, or immediately ad. Du. kruiser (cf. also F. croiseur, ship and captain).
Commodore (1695), naval, an officer in command ranking above captain and below
rear-admiral; (1697), an officer of like rank in the navies of other countries; apparently
originally applied to Dutch commanders; in the 17th century, under William III,
commandore, possibly ad. Du. kommandeur; some have conjectured a corruption of
Sp. commendador, but no contact with Spain appears in the early instances.
4. 12.
In the Middle Ages there was no sharp division between the pirate and the lawful
trader. When opportunity offered, the trader often turned pirate, and even the small
fishing-boats, when in sufficient numbers, were likely to attack a merchant ship which
they found in difficulties. In addition to this sporadic piracy there was organized piracy,
sometimes on the largest scale, and with the countenance and even the support of the
pirates' rulers.
In the 13th and 14th centuries constant piracy was carried on by the Zeelanders, with
reprisals by the English; this was so bad from 1272 to 1281 that something like a sea
war was going on between England and Zeeland. The same cause made relations
between the two countries difficult in the reign of Edward II. Retaliation for piracy often
took the form of legitimized piracy; thus when a Sandwich ship was seized and taken
into Flushing in the reign of Edward II, two Dordrecht ships were in revenge seized at
London. Different nationalities sometimes combined to retaliate; when in the reign of
Edward I Flemish sailors attacked men from Bayonne, the Gascons retaliated with the
help of the men of Yarmouth and the Cinque Ports; in 1292, in retaliation for the
hanging of an English sailor in Brittany, English seamen made an organized attack on
French and Flemish shipping at Sluys, the Flemings having generally sided with the
French, and as a result the seaboard from Holland to the Bay of Biscay was plunged
into confusion and alarm. It was the merest piracy on both sides. In 1293 there was a
regular action in which English, Dutch, Flemings, Gascons, and Genoese are said to
have taken part. A flagrant outrage by men from Blankney upon Dutch ships at
Sniterleye provoked at last royal intervention, and thirteen men were hanged for the
murder of Dutchmen.
During the 14th and 15th centuries a sort of licensed private warfare was waged
between English merchants and men of Norway, Prussia, Flan