Ramon Llull’s later crusade treatise endorsed Christian piracy and raiding

Evidence

I will not go into the details of the different military strategies (by land and by sea) that Llull recommends. I note, however, that in his chapter “De Almirallia” he advocates the prohibition of all maritime trade with Muslim lands; the admiral of the crusading king’s fleet is to capture any Genoese, Catalan, or other Christian ship that attempts to brave this interdict. Moreover, the crusading fleet is to conduct raids all along the North African coast, capturing castles, sacking towns, and so on, thus destabilizing the region, making the coast uninhabitable. The author of the irenic dialogue of the Libre del gentil has become the advocate of Christian piracy. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1340

Categorization

• SEED: Angle: ‘The pacifist who became a pirate’ — how a medieval theologian’s later works reversed his earlier irenicism, as a case study in ideological radicalization under frustration.
• XREF: Connects to the broader pattern of crusade-era missionary strategies and anti-Muslim polemic that the book has been tracing.