Continuing the story about the corsairs of North Africa and the Ottoman admirals, let us first talk about the "special path" of Morocco.
Among the states of the Maghreb, Morocco has always stood apart, trying to defend its independence not only from the Catholic kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula, but also from the Ottoman Empire.
Since the beginning of the 16th century, the Saadite clan began to play an increasing role in this country, whose representatives arrived here from Arabia in the 12th century. According to the legend, they, as the descendants of the Prophet Muhammad, were invited to improve the climate of Morocco by their "grace", by stopping or making droughts less prolonged. However, the enemies of this family argued that, in fact, the Saadis do not come from Muhammad, but from his wet nurse.
In 1509, the Saadis came to power in southern Morocco, the first ruler of this dynasty was Abu Abdallah ibn Abd-ar-Rahman (Muhammad ibn Abd ar-Rahman).
In 1525, his sons took Marrakesh, in 1541 - they seized Agadir, which belonged to Portugal, in 1549 - they extended their power to the entire territory of Morocco.
The Saadis refused to obey the Turkish sultans on the grounds that they were descendants of the prophet, while the Ottoman rulers had nothing to do with Muhammad.
Battle of the Three Kings
One of the rulers of this dynasty, Muhammad al-Mutawakkil, was nicknamed the Black King by Europeans: his mother was a Negro concubine. Having been overthrown by his relatives, he fled to Spain, and then to Portugal, where he persuaded King Sebastian to win the throne for him, and for himself - the former possessions in North Africa.
On August 4, 1578, at the confluence of the Lukkos and al-Mahazin rivers, a 20,000-strong army, which, in addition to the Portuguese, included the Spaniards, Germans, Italians and Moroccans, clashed with a 50,000-strong Saadite army. This battle went down in history as the "Battle of the Three Kings": Portuguese and two Moroccan - the former and the reigning, and they all died then.
The Portuguese army pushed the opponents, but a blow on the flanks put it to flight, and many soldiers, including Sebastian and Muhammad al-Mutawakkil, drowned, others were captured. Weakened Portugal then fell under Spanish rule for 60 years.
Sultan of Morocco Abd al-Malik died of some kind of illness even before the battle began, and his brother, Ahmad al-Mansur (the Winner), was proclaimed the new ruler of this country. In Morocco, he also received the nickname al-Zahabi (Golden), because he received a huge ransom for the noble Portuguese. And since he was also distinguished by high education, he was also called "the scientist among the caliphs and the caliph among the scientists."
But Ahmad al-Mansur did not forget about military affairs either: he managed to extend his power to Songhai (a state on the territory of modern Mali, Niger and Nigeria) and capture its capital Timbuktu. From Songhai, the Moroccans received gold, salt and black slaves for many years.
Ahmad al-Mansur's ambitions extended so far that after the defeat of the Spanish "Invincible Armada" in 1588, he entered into negotiations with Queen Elizabeth of England to partition Spain, claiming Andalusia.
The fall of the Saadites
Everything collapsed after the death of Sultan Ahmad al-Mansour: the long-term struggle of the heirs led to the weakening of Morocco, the loss of connection with the Songi corps and, ultimately, with this colony. In the first half of the 17th century, the previously united country turned into a conglomerate of semi-independent and completely independent principalities and free ports. Then came the end of the Saadiot dynasty: in 1627 Fez fell, where Abd al-Malik III was entrenched, in 1659 in Marrakesh during a palace coup, the last representative of the dynasty, Ahmed III al-Abbas, was killed.
As a result, the dynasty of the Aluits came to power in Morocco, who traced their origin from the grandson of the prophet Muhammad Hassan. The first sultan of this dynasty was Moulay Mohammed al-Sherif. His successor, Moulay Rashid ibn Sheriff, captured Fez in 1666 and Marrakesh in 1668. Representatives of this dynasty still rule Morocco, which was declared a kingdom in 1957.
Pirate Republic of Sale
But back to the first half of the 17th century. Of particular interest to us is the then emerged pirate republic of Salé on the territory of Morocco, which also included the cities of Rabat and Kasbah. And the Spanish inquisitors and King Philip III were involved in its appearance.
In the article "The Grand Inquisitor Torquemada" was told, among other things, about the expulsion of the Moriscos from Valencia, Aragon, Catalonia and Andalusia.
Recall that the Moriscos in Castile were called the Moors who were forced to convert to Christianity, in contrast to the Mudejars, who did not want to be baptized and left the country.
Back in 1600, a memorandum was issued according to which the purity of blood in Spain now mattered more than the nobility of the family. And all the Moriscos have since become people of the second, if not third class. After King Philip III issued an edict on April 9, 1609, very similar to that of Granada (1492), about 300 thousand people left the country - mainly from Granada, Andalusia and Valencia. Many of those who left Andalusia (up to 40 thousand people) settled in Morocco near the city of Sale, where there was already a colony of Spanish Moors who moved there at the beginning of the 16th century. These were the Mudejars - the Moors who did not want to be baptized and were therefore expelled from Spain in 1502. The "first wave" emigrants were known as "Ornacheros" - after the name of the Spanish (Andalusian) city of Ornachuelos. Their language was Arabic, while the newcomers spoke Andalusian Spanish.
Ornacheros were able to take all property and funds out of Spain, but the new fugitives turned out to be practically beggars. Of course, the Ornacheros did not intend to share with their fellow tribesmen, and therefore many of the Moriscos soon found themselves in the ranks of the Barbary pirates, who had long been terrorizing the coasts of southern Europe. It was then that the star of the corsairs rose, whose base was the fortress city of Sale, located in the north of the Atlantic coast of Morocco. And very many of the pirates of Sale were Moriscos, who, among other things, knew the Spanish coast perfectly and were eager to avenge the loss of property and the humiliation they suffered.
The modern region of Rabat - Sale - Kenitra in Morocco. Area - 18 385 sq. Km, population - 4 580 866 people:
From 1610 to 1627 three cities of the future republic (Sale, Rabat and Kasbah) were subordinate to the Sultan of Morocco. In 1627, they got rid of the power of the Moroccan sultans, and formed a kind of independent state that established diplomatic ties with England, France and Holland (in the Old Quarter of Rabat, one of the streets is still called Consuls Street).
The greatest influence in Sale was enjoyed by the English consul John Harrison, who in 1630 even managed to stop the war between the cities of the pirate republic: Spain got the most from the Sali, and the British did not want this onslaught to subside. And in 1637, the squadron of Admiral Rainsborough by bombing "led to submission to the central authorities" of Sale, the city of Kasbah.
In addition, there were permanent representations of the trading houses of England, France, Holland, Austria, and various Italian states in Salé, which bought up their booty from the "sea hunters".
This did not stop the Sali corsairs from continuing to hunt European merchant ships, and in 1636 the English shipowners petitioned the king claiming that over the course of several years, pirates had captured 87 ships and caused them losses in the amount of 96,700 pounds.
The Republic was ruled by fourteen pirate captains. Those, in turn, chose from their midst a "great admiral" who was the head of the republic - its "president". The first great admiral of Sale was the Dutch captain Jan Janszoon van Haarlem. This corsair is better known as Murat-Reis the Younger. This name probably sounds familiar to you? Admiral Murat-Reis, who lived in 1534-1609, was described in the article "Ottoman pirates, admirals, travelers and cartographers". It was in his honor, after converting to Islam, that Yang Yansoon took the name. And now, on the pages of historical works, it is told about two Murat-reis - the Elder and the Younger.
However, Jan Jansoon was neither the first Dutch nor the first European to become famous on the Maghreb coast. Previous articles have described some of the very successful renegades of the 16th century, such as the Calabrian Giovanni Dionigi Galeni, better known as Uluj Ali (Kylych Ali Pasha). We add that, at about the same time, the rulers of Algeria were the native of Sardinia, Ramadan (1574-1577), the Venetian Hasan (1577-1580 and 1582-1583), the Hungarian Jafar (1580-1582) and the Albanian Memi (1583-1583), who converted to Islam. 1586). In 1581, 14 pirate Algerian ships were under the command of Europeans from different countries - former Christians. And in 1631 there were already 24 renegade captains (out of 35). Among them were the Albanian Delhi Mimmi Reis, the Frenchman Murad Reis, the Genoese Ferou Reis, the Spaniards Murad Maltrapilo Reis and Yusuf Reis, the Venetians Memi Reis and Memi Gancho Reis, as well as immigrants from Corsica, Sicily and Calabria. Now we will tell you about the most famous renegades, corsairs and admirals of the Islamic Maghreb.
Simon Simonszoon de Dancer (Dancer)
A native of the Dutch city of Dordrecht, Simon Simonszoon was a staunch Protestant and hated Catholics, especially the Spaniards, who repeatedly ravaged his country during the Eighty Years War (the struggle of 17 provinces of the Netherlands for independence). His first ship was a "prize" obtained by Dutch privateers and honestly bought by Simon, which did not prevent the former owners of the ship from bringing charges of piracy against him.
The circumstances of Simon's appearance in Algeria are unknown. Having appeared there around 1600, he entered the service of a local dey (this was the name of the commander of the janissary corps of Algeria, the local janissaries just in 1600 achieved the right to choose him independently). Until 1711, the Algerian dei shared power with the pasha appointed by the sultan, and then completely became practically independent from Constantinople.
Simon began to reform the Algerian fleet on the model of the Dutch: he oversaw the construction of large ships, using captured European ships as models, and attracted prisoner officers to train crews. The most striking thing was that even in Algeria, Dancer did not change his faith.
However, on the shore, he soon got bored and therefore three years later went to sea, very successfully pirating and terrifying the "merchants" of all countries, and even attacked Turkish ships. The Mediterranean Sea seemed to him cramped, and Simon de Dancer also pirated beyond Gibraltar, where he captured at least 40 ships.
Such was the corsair's reputation that the Berberians gave him the nickname Dali-Capitan. And the nickname Dancer Simon received for the fact that he always returned with the spoils to the "home port" - such constancy was then called "round dance".
Later he was joined by two English "gentlemen of fortune" - Peter Easton and John (in some sources - Jack) Ward (Ward). We will talk about them a little later.
Many spoke about the cruelty of Simon de Dansera, but there is information that in his "round dance" he did not do anything particularly distinguishing him from his "colleagues". On board his ship was always a surgeon who helped the wounded, and the crippled pirates Dancer paid "severance pay" so that at least the first time they would not beggar on the shore. In addition, he usually did not attack ships flying the Dutch flag and even ransomed Dutch sailors from slavery. And once he did not rob the British ship "Charity", the captain of which said that only 6 days ago he was robbed by the corsairs of John Ward.
The Moorish pirates, including the members of his crew, did not like this scrupulousness of his. As a result, having received an offer from the French government to transfer to the royal naval service, Dancer in 1609 was forced to practically flee from Algeria. He secretly cashed out all the funds he had and deposited the treasury on a ship, in the crew of which were mainly Dutch, Frisians and French from Dunkirk. Then, having bought three ships with goods, he also equipped them mainly with Europeans. Waiting for the moment when most of the Moors who were in the crews of these ships went ashore, he sailed from Algeria to Marseille. Some of the Moors still remained on these ships: Simon ordered them to be thrown overboard.
Deciding that it was impolite to go to the French "empty-handed", he looked into Cadiz, where he found the Spanish Silver Fleet at the mouth of the Guadalquivir. Suddenly attacking his ships, he captured three ships, which turned out to be gold and treasures for half a million piastres (pesos). Arriving in Marseille on November 17, 1609, he handed this money to the representative of the authorities - the Duke of Guise. He could afford such a broad gesture: at that time, the corsair's fortune was estimated at 500 thousand crowns.
In Marseille, there were people who suffered from the actions of this pirate, so at first he was constantly guarded by the most "representative" and decisive members of his crew, one kind of which discouraged the desire to "sort out the relationship." It is curious that the authorities sided with the defector, telling the merchants that they should be very happy about the fact that Dancer is now in Marseilles, and not "walking" on the sea, waiting for their ships. But later Simon settled some of these cases, paying the "offended" some compensation.
On October 1, 1610, at the request of the Marseilles merchants, he led an operation against the Algerian pirates and captured several ships. In the Maghreb, he was not forgiven for going over to the side of France.
This corsair died in 1615 in Tunisia, where he was sent to negotiate the return of the ships captured by the corsairs. Sending Simon, representatives of the French authorities strictly forbade him to go ashore, but the meeting arranged by the local authorities dispelled all his fears: three French ships were greeted with a cannon salute, the ruler of the city of Yusuf Bey climbed aboard and, in every possible way demonstrating friendliness, invited Simon to inflict return visit. In the city, the Dutchman was immediately captured and beheaded. His head was thrown in full view of the French sailors at the walls of Tunisia.
Suleiman Reis
Dirk de Venbor (Ivan Dirkie De Veenboer) began as a captain of one of the ships of Simon Danser, but soon became an independent "admiral" - and then one of his captains was Jan Yansoon - the future "junior" Murat Reis.
Dirk de Venbor was a native of the Dutch city of Horn, in 1607 he received a letter of marque from the government of the Netherlands, but good luck awaited him off the coast of North Africa. Having converted to Islam, he quickly became famous under the name of Suleiman-reis, becoming one of the most successful corsairs in Algeria. The number of ships in his squadron reached 50, and he managed them very intelligently and skillfully.
In a short time, Suleiman Reis became so rich that he retired for a while, settling in Algeria, but did not sit on the shore, again went to sea. On October 10, 1620, during a battle with a French squadron, he was seriously wounded, which became fatal.
John Ward (Jack Birdy)
Andrew Barker, who published Captain Ward's True Account of Piracy in 1609, claims that the corsair was born in 1553 in the small town of Feversham, Kent. But he received his first fame and a certain authority in the relevant circles in Plymouth (this is no longer the east of England, but the west - the county of Devon).
At the end of the 16th century, he, as a privateer, fought a little with the Spaniards in the Caribbean. Back in Europe, Ward, accompanied by a certain Hugh Whitbrook, began hunting Spanish merchant ships in the Mediterranean.
But after King James I in 1604 signed a peace treaty with the Spaniards, the English privates were left without work. In Plymouth, Ward was imprisoned following a complaint by a Dutch shipowner. The judges decided that the arrested pirate was quite suitable for service in the Royal Navy, where Ward was assigned - of course, without asking his opinion on the matter. John did not stay on duty: with a group of "like-minded people" he seized a small barque and went to sea. Here they were able to board a small French ship, on which they first "played pranks" in the waters of Ireland, and then came to Portugal.
Even then, among the sea robbers there was a rumor about the "hospitality" of the Moroccan city of Salé, where Ward sent his ship. Here he met another Englishman with a criminal biography - Richard Bishop, who happily joined his compatriots (this corsair later managed to get an amnesty from the British authorities and spent the rest of his life in County West Cork, Ireland).
Ward exchanged his "prizes" for a 22-gun Dutch flute "Gift", the crew of this ship was 100 people.
But pirating without a patron is a thankless job. And therefore, in the summer of 1606, Worth came under the patronage of the dey (governor) of Tunisia Utman-bey.
In 1607, Ward was already in command of a squadron of 4 ships, the flagship was the Gift.
At the insistence of the dey in 1609, Ward had to convert to Islam, but John was a man of free views, and did not experience any complexes about this. Moreover, according to the testimony of the Benedictine monk Diego Haedo, already in 1600, Europeans who converted to Islam accounted for almost half of the population of Algeria. And in Sale, they still show a building called the "mosque of the British." And in other ports of the Maghreb, there were also many renegade Europeans.
Ward's new name was Yusuf Reis. In 1606-1607. his squadron captured many "prizes", the most valuable of which was the Venetian ship "Renier e Sauderina" with a cargo of indigo, silk, cotton and cinnamon, which was valued at two million ducats. This ship, armed with 60 guns, became Ward's new flagship, but in 1608 it sank during a storm.
An anonymous British sailor who saw Ward in 1608 described this corsair leader as follows:
“He is small in stature, with a small head of hair, completely gray, and bald in front; dark complexion and bearded. Says little, and almost only one curse. Drinks from morning to evening. Very wasteful and daring. She sleeps for a long time, often on board the ship when it is at the dock. All the habits of a seasoned sailor. Stupid and stupid in everything that does not concern his craft."
The Scotsman William Lightgow, who met with Ward in 1616, after his conversion to Islam, describes him differently:
“The old host, Ward, was good-natured and hospitable. Many times during my ten days there, I dined and dined with him."
Lightgow claims that the "pirate king" drank only water at the time.
And here is how the Scotsman describes the house of this pirate:
“I saw Ward's palace that any king would look back on with envy …
A real palace, decorated with expensive marble and alabaster stones. There were 15 servants here, English Muslims."
In his Tunisian palace, Ward Yusuf kept many birds, for this reason he received the nickname Jack Birdy there.
Lightgow claims to have personally seen this aviary with birds. According to him, he said then that he understands now why Ward is called the Bird.
The former pirate chuckled bitterly.
"Jack Sparrow. What a silly nickname. Probably, this is how I will be remembered, huh?"
Lightgow reassured him:
“I think not, captain. If you get into history, they definitely won't say about you: "Captain Jack Sparrow" ».
As you can see, unlike the movie Jack Sparrow, Ward was not at all proud of his nickname. More decent to him, apparently, seemed to him another, received at sea - Sharky (Shark).
There is information that Ward wanted to return to England and, through intermediaries, even offered the English King James I Stuart a "bribe" of 40 thousand pounds sterling. But this was opposed by the Venetians, whose ships Ward too often captured in the Mediterranean.
The last time Yusuf-Ward went to sea in 1622: then another Venetian merchant ship was captured. In the same year he died - in Tunisia. Some cite the plague as the cause of his death.
In Britain, Ward became the hero of several ballads in which he looks like a "sea Robin Hood". One of them tells how Ward released a captured English skipper, asking him to hand over £ 100 to his wife in England. The skipper did not fulfill his promise, and then Ward, again taking him prisoner, ordered to throw the deceiver from the top of the mast into the sea. The 17th century English playwright Robert Darborn wrote about him a play A Christian Who Became a Turk, which claims that Ward converted to Islam because of his love for a beautiful Turkish woman. However, in fact, his wife was a noblewoman from Palermo, who also converted to Islam.
Peter Easton
Another colleague of Simon de Dansera, Peter Easton, unlike some other pirates, did not feel any sympathy for his compatriots and declared that he "scourge all Englishmen, respects them no more than Turks and Jews."
At the peak of his career, he had 25 ships under his command. In 1611, he wished to receive an amnesty from King James I, this issue was discussed at the highest level and was resolved positively, but the English bureaucrats were late: Easton went to Newfoundland, and then, never learning about the king's forgiveness, returned to the Mediterranean. where he was offered amnesty by the Tuscan Duke Cosimo II Medici.
The corsair brought four ships to Livorno, the crews of which numbered 900 people. Here he bought himself the title of Marquis, got married and until the end of his life led the measured life of a law-abiding citizen.
After the death of Suleiman Reis, Simon de Dancer and John Ward, a man came to the fore, taking the big name of Murat Reis.
Murat Reis the Younger
Jan Jansoon, like Simon de Danser and Suleiman Reis, was born in the Netherlands during the so-called Eighty Years War (of Independence) with Spain, which began in the 60s of the sixteenth century.
He began his naval career as a corsair hunting Spanish ships near his hometown of Haarlem. This business was dangerous and not too profitable, and therefore Yansoon went to the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. Things got better here, but the competition was extremely high. Local corsairs in 1618 lured his ship into an ambush near the Canary Islands. Once captured, the Dutchman expressed an ardent desire to become a devout Muslim, after which his affairs went even better. He actively collaborated with other European corsairs. There is information that Murat-Reis tried to ransom his compatriots taken prisoner by other pirates. In 1622, this corsair visited Holland: having arrived at the port of Fira on a ship under the Moroccan flag, he "agitated as pirates" several dozen sailors, who later served on his ships.
In the end, as already reported above, he was elected "Grand Admiral" Sale and married there.
In 1627, the "younger" Murat Reis attacked Iceland. Off the Faroe Islands, the pirates managed to seize a Danish fishing vessel, on which they freely entered Reykjavik. The main prey were from 200 to 400 (according to various sources) young men, who were profitably sold in the slave markets. Icelandic priest Olav Egilsson, who managed to return from captivity, claimed that there were many Europeans, mostly Dutch, in the crews of the corsair ships.
In 1631 the ships of Murat Reis attacked the coast of England and Ireland. The town of Baltimore, Irish County Cork (whose inhabitants were themselves piracy), was left empty for several decades after this raid.
Some researchers believe that the Baltimoreans fell victim to the struggle of local clans, one of which "invited" the corsairs to "showdown" with opponents. Local Catholics were later accused of the fact that, by some strange coincidence, almost all of the captured Irish (237 people) turned out to be Protestants.
Others believe that the "customers" of the raid were merchants from Waterford, who were constantly plundered by Baltimore pirates. As confirmation of this version, they point to information that one of the Waterford merchants (named Hackett) was hanged by the surviving Baltimoreans immediately after the attack of the Sali corsairs.
Then the pirates of Murat Reis attacked Sardinia, Corsica, Sicily and the Balearic Islands, until he himself was captured by the Hospitallers of Malta in 1635.
He managed to escape in 1640 when pirates from Tunisia attacked the island. The last mention of this Dutchman dates back to 1641: at that time he was the commandant of one of the Moroccan fortresses. With him then was his first wife, brought at his request from Holland, and his daughter Lisbeth.
It is also known that his sons from his first wife were among the Dutch colonists who founded the city of New Amsterdam, which came under British control in 1664 and was named New York.
Completion of the history of the pirate republic of Sale
In 1641, Sale subdued the Sufi order of the Dilaites, which at that time already controlled almost the entire territory of Morocco. The corsairs did not like living under the rule of the Sufis, and therefore they entered into an alliance with Moulai Rashid ibn Sheriff from the Aluite clan: with his help, in 1664, the Sufis were expelled from Sale. But after 4 years, the same Moulay Rashid ibn Sheriff (since 1666 - the sultan) annexed the cities of the pirate republic to Morocco. The pirate freelancer came to an end, but the corsairs did not go anywhere: now they were subordinate to the Sultan, who owned 8 of 9 ships that went out to "sea fishing".
The Barbary corsairs of Algeria, Tunisia and Tripoli continued to roam the Mediterranean Sea. Continuation of the story of the Maghreb pirates - in the next article.
