The seventeenth century saw England's government more fully monopolize the legitimate exercise of violence by its subjects, reflecting the growth of a public sphere military that pre-empted most forms of private warfare. This control of private violence was an important step in the establishment of the early modern state. Although privately owned warships had once provided the bulk of England's maritime military force, by the end of the seventeenth century, they had been replaced by a professional navy. Nevertheless, legal privateering persisted. During the War of the League of Augsburg (1689–1697), privateers still remained essential in maintaining trade in the Mediterranean. England's state naval resources were primarily utilized in support of the continental war. Entrepreneurial warriors successfully supplemented England's navy in defending essential trading routes and affording armed protection of trade. This permitted England to preserve its export markets during wartime, despite the opposition of French privateers. Although commerce raiding is usually considered to be privateering's most important function, in this war, commercial and mercantile goals predominated The protection and preservation of trade represented privateering's most significant contribution to England's war effort. Nevertheless, privateers' expeditions sometimes upset government policy, disrupted patterns of trade and created unnecessary international tensions. These results necessitated greater governmental control and scrutiny of private warfare at sea.; This was not without controversy. Privateering also engendered a vigorous public debate that provides confirmation of general theories about the emergence of an important bourgeois public sphere in England at the end of the seventeenth century. Through energetic petition and print campaigns, members of mercantile bourgeois society vigorously evaluated their nation's policies and influenced their government's decisions, contributing to the growth of democratic institutions in England.; The monopolization by the state over private violence, the increasing connection between trade and private warfare, and the emergence of a more politically significant bourgeois mercantile class, represent some of the important societal changes that characterized the early modern era. The practice of privateering not only reflected, but strongly contributed to these changes.
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