Description
Modern portrayals of the 17th and 18th century piracy are largely romanticized and sensationalized, with pirates themselves often depicted as the protagonists. This paper explores the origins of this romantic view of the Golden Age of Piracy. It is argued that a number of social and economic factors occurring in England in the 17th and early 18th centuries created an environment in which piracy was romanticized through books, ballads, and plays, during the Golden Age itself.