![Purchase of Christian captives from the Barbary States](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/Purchase_of_Christian_captives_from_the_Barbary_States.jpg)
Anglo-Turkish piracy or the Anglo-Barbary piracy refers to the collaboration between
Barbary pirates
The Barbary pirates, or Barbary corsairs or Ottoman corsairs, were Muslim pirates and privateers who operated from North Africa, based primarily in the ports of Salé, Rabat, Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli, Libya, Tripoli. This area was known i ...
and
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
pirates
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...
against
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
shipping during the 17th century.
["At the beginning of the seventeenth century France complained about a new phenomenon: Anglo-Turkish piracy." in ''Orientalism in early modern France'' by Ina Baghdiantz McCabe p.86''ff'']
Anglo-Turkish collaboration
The Protestants and the
Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
Turks
Turk or Turks may refer to:
Communities and ethnic groups
* Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic languages
* Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
* Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic o ...
, more precisely the
Barbary pirates
The Barbary pirates, or Barbary corsairs or Ottoman corsairs, were Muslim pirates and privateers who operated from North Africa, based primarily in the ports of Salé, Rabat, Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli, Libya, Tripoli. This area was known i ...
, collaborated during that period against their common enemy,
Catholic Europe
The Catholic Church in Europe is part of the worldwide Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See in Rome, including represented Eastern Catholic missions. Demographically, Catholics are the largest religious group in Europe.
Demograph ...
.
[''Sick economies: drama, mercantilism, and disease in Shakespeare's England'' Jonathan Gil Harris p.152''ff']
/ref> This collaboration has to be seen in the context of the wars of religions and the ongoing mortal battle between Protestantism
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
and Catholicism
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
. At that time, Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
, Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
, and France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, which were implementing anti-Protestant policies, were the target of this Anglo-Muslim collaboration. It also seems that English privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...
s, who had been active against Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
until 1604 when peace was signed with England, were still inclined to continue the fight against the Spanish, although under the protection of a different state, to the embarrassment of the English Crown
This list of kings and reigning queens of the Kingdom of England begins with Alfred the Great, who initially ruled Wessex, one of the seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms which later made up modern England. Alfred styled himself King of the Anglo-Sax ...
.
Piracy in the ranks of the Muslim pirates of Barbary was also a way to find employment, after King James I James I may refer to:
People
*James I of Aragon (1208–1276)
*James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327)
*James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu
*James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347)
*James I of Cyprus (1334–13 ...
formally proclaimed an end to privateering in June 1603. Further, abandoning England as well as their faith was often a way to financial success, as fortunes could be made by attacking Catholic shipping.[''Traffic and turning: Islam and English drama, 1579-1624'' by Jonathan Burton p.103](_blank)
/ref> By 1610, the wealth of English renegade
Renegade or The Renegade may refer to:
Aircraft
*Lake Renegade, an American amphibious aircraft design
*Murphy Renegade, a Canadian ultralight biplane design
*Southern Aeronautical Renegade, an American racing aircraft design
Games
*'' Comman ...
pirates had become so famous as to become the object of plays, and the king offered Royal Pardon to those who wished to return.
Not only the English corsairs participated to this collaboration, but also the Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
, who shared the same objectives. Catholic ships were attacked and the crew and passengers taken to Algiers
Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...
, modern day Algeria
)
, image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Algiers
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, relig ...
, or other places of the Barbary Coast to be sold as slaves. The number of these English pirates was significant. Jack Ward
John Ward or Birdy ( 1553 – 1622), also known as Jack Ward or later as Yusuf Reis, was an English- Ottoman pirate who later became a Barbary Corsair for the Ottoman Empire operating out of Tunis during the early 17th century.
According ...
, Henry Mainwaring
Sir Henry Mainwaring (1587–1653), was an English lawyer, soldier, writer, seaman and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1621 to 1622. He was for a time a pirate based in Newfoundland and then a naval officer with the Royal Navy. ...
, Robert Walsingham and Peter Easton
Peter Easton ( – 1620 or after) was a pirate in the early 17th century. The 'most famous English pirate of the day', his piracies ranged from Ireland and Guinea to Newfoundland. He is best known today for his involvement in the early En ...
were among such English pirates in the service of the dey
Dey (Arabic: داي), from the Turkish honorific title ''dayı'', literally meaning uncle, was the title given to the rulers of the Regency of Algiers (Algeria), Tripoli,Bertarelli (1929), p. 203. and Tunis under the Ottoman Empire from 1671 o ...
s of the Barbary coast. Some of the most famous Dutch pirates were Zymen Danseker
Siemen Danziger ( – c. 1615), better known by his anglicized names Zymen Danseker and Simon de Danser, was a 17th-century Dutch privateer and corsair. His name is also written ''Danziker'', ''Dansker'', or ''Danser''.
Danseker and the English ...
, Salomo de Veenboer and Jan Janszoon
Jan Janszoon van Haarlem, commonly known as Reis Mourad the Younger (c. 1570 – c. 1641), was an Ottoman and Salé Rovers Dutch pirate in Algeria and Morocco who converted to Islam after being captured by a Moorish state in 1618. He began se ...
. Some of them, such as Ward and Danseker, were renegades who had adopted Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
. Mainwaring attacked the Spanish preferentially, and claimed that he avoided English shipping, but generally ships of all nationalities seem to have been attacked. Walsingham is known to have freed Turkish captives from Christian galley
A galley is a type of ship that is propelled mainly by oars. The galley is characterized by its long, slender hull, shallow draft, and low freeboard (clearance between sea and gunwale). Virtually all types of galleys had sails that could be used ...
s, and to have sold Christian captives on the North African slave market. Janszoon led long-ranging raids such as the Turkish Abductions
The Turkish Abductions ( is, Tyrkjaránið) were a series of slave raids by pirates from Northwest Africa that took place in Iceland in the summer of 1627.
The pirates came from the cities of Algiers and Salé.
They raided Grindavík, the Ea ...
in Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
to sell his slaves on the Barbary Coast.''The Everything Pirates Book'' Barbara Karg, Arjean Spaite p.37
/ref>
A contemporary letter from an English writer complained:
Beyond the shared religious antagonism towards Catholicism, the Barbary States probably offered economic advantages as well as social mobility to Protestant pirates, as the Barbary States were a very cosmopolitan environment at that time.[''Orientalism in early modern France'' by Ina Baghdiantz McCabe p.94''ff'']
Catholic reactions
France, which had a tradition of alliance with the Ottoman Empire, placed a formal protest with the Ottoman Sultan Ahmed I
Ahmed I ( ota, احمد اول '; tr, I. Ahmed; 18 April 1590 – 22 November 1617) was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1603 until his death in 1617. Ahmed's reign is noteworthy for marking the first breach in the Ottoman tradition of royal f ...
in 1607, complaining that English and Dutch pirates were allowed to use North African harbors as bases to raid French shipping. For France, it was a clear conspiracy against Catholicism, described at the time as " Turco-Calvinism".
In order to curb these actions, Spain made a proclamation against piracy and privateering in 1615.
England probably became ambivalent about this sort of piratical collaboration as it attacked Algiers in 1621 in order to free Christian captives there. In 1629, Louis XIII
Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown ...
attacked Salé
Salé ( ar, سلا, salā, ; ber, ⵙⵍⴰ, sla) is a city in northwestern Morocco, on the right bank of the Bou Regreg river, opposite the national capital Rabat, for which it serves as a commuter town. Founded in about 1030 by the Banu Ifran ...
to free 420 French captives. Louis XIV
, house = Bourbon
, father = Louis XIII
, mother = Anne of Austria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
, death_date =
, death_place = Palace of Vers ...
also later bombarded Algiers
Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...
in retaliation. Catholic religious orders, especially the Trinitarians
, logo = Trynitarze.svg
, logo_size = 150px
, logo_caption = Flag of the Trinitarians
, image = Signumordinis.gif
, image_size = 200px
, caption = Mosaic of Jesus Christ us ...
and the Lazarists
, logo =
, image = Vincentians.png
, abbreviation = CM
, nickname = Vincentians, Paules, Lazarites, Lazarists, Lazarians
, established =
, founder = Vincent de Paul
, fou ...
under Saint Vincent de Paul
Vincent de Paul, Congregation of the Mission, CM (24 April 1581 – 27 September 1660), commonly known as Saint Vincent de Paul, was a Occitan people, Occitan French Catholic priest who dedicated himself to serving the poverty, poor.
In 1622 Vi ...
, himself a former slave, accumulated donations to ransom and liberate Christian slaves. It is estimated that the missionaries liberated 1,200 slaves until the death of Saint Vincent de Paul in 1660, for a total of 1,200,000 livres
The (; ; abbreviation: ₶.) was one of numerous currencies used in medieval France, and a unit of account (i.e., a monetary unit used in accounting) used in Early Modern France.
The 1262 monetary reform established the as 20 , or 80.88 gr ...
.
See also
*Islam and Protestantism
Protestantism and Islam entered into contact during the early-16th century when the Ottoman Empire, expanding in the Balkans, first encountered Calvinist Protestants in present-day Hungary and Transylvania. As both parties opposed the Austrian ...
*Barbary Slave Trade
The Barbary slave trade involved slave markets on the Barbary Coast of North Africa, which included the Ottoman states of Algeria, Tunisia and Tripolitania and the independent sultanate of Morocco, between the 16th and 19th century. The Ottom ...
* Luis Fajardo
*Sea Beggars
Geuzen (; ; french: Les Gueux) was a name assumed by the confederacy of Calvinist Dutch nobles, who from 1566 opposed Spanish rule in the Netherlands. The most successful group of them operated at sea, and so were called Watergeuzen (; ; frenc ...
Notes
References
* McCabe, Ina Baghdiantz 2008 ''Orientalism in early Modern France'' Berg
{{Pirates
17th-century Protestantism
Piracy in the United Kingdom
Piracy in the Mediterranean
17th-century conflicts
Barbary pirates
Ottoman Empire–United Kingdom relations