Jacques de Sores was a French
pirate
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 ...
and
corsair
A corsair is a privateer or pirate, especially:
* Barbary corsair, Ottoman and Berber pirates and privateers operating from North Africa
* French corsairs, privateers operating on behalf of the French crown
Corsair may also refer to:
Arts and ...
who attacked and burnt
Havana
Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center. ,
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
in 1555.
Other than his attack on Havana, little is known of de Sores. He was nicknamed "The Exterminating Angel" ("L'Ange Exterminateur").
He was the leader of a band of
Huguenot
The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...
pirates and a lieutenant or former lieutenant of another French pirate,
François Le Clerc
François () is a French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis.
People with the given name
* Francis I of France, King of France (), known as "the Father and Restorer of Letters"
* Francis II of France, Kin ...
, who was called "Pegleg" or "Jambe de Bois" on account of his wooden leg.
Le Clerc and Sores had set out from France in 1553 with three royal ships and a number of privateers under commission from
Francis I of France
Francis I (french: François Ier; frm, Francoys; 12 September 1494 – 31 March 1547) was King of France from 1515 until his death in 1547. He was the son of Charles, Count of Angoulême, and Louise of Savoy. He succeeded his first cousin once ...
who was envious of the riches returning to Spain from the
New World
The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 3 ...
. Le Clerc had raided
Santiago de Cuba
Santiago de Cuba is the second-largest city in Cuba and the capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province. It lies in the southeastern area of the island, some southeast of the Cuban capital of Havana.
The municipality extends over , and contains t ...
in 1554, and some accounts mention a raid on Santiago de Cuba by de Sores, although whether this was as part of the attack by Le Clerc is not clear. He may have used
Cayo Romano
Cayo Romano is an island on the northern coast of Cuba, in the province of Camagüey. It is the largest cay of the Jardines del Rey archipelago with .
Overview
Administratively is part of Nuevitas, but the closest municipality on Cuban Mainland ...
and
Cayo Coco in the archipelago of
Jardines del Rey
Jardines del Rey ( en, Gardens of the King) is an archipelago off the northern coast of Cuba, in the northern parts of the provinces of Ciego de Ávila and Camagüey.
Overview
Jardines del Rey developed on the coral reef system that lines Cuba's ...
adjacent to the northern Cuban coast as a base of operations.
Details of the attack on Havana are also sketchy: the number of ships that de Sores used in the attack varies in different accounts from 2 to 20. Regardless of the number of ships involved, de Sores had little trouble in capturing the lightly defended town. Most accounts make it clear that he was expecting to find stores of gold in the town, while some claim he ransomed important members of the population. All agree that whatever his intention he was frustrated: he did not find vast reserves of gold in the city, and if he ransomed the population the ransom was mostly not paid. He destroyed the fortress of La Fuerza Vieja in today's Calle Tacón and burnt most of the town. He also burnt the shipping in the harbour and laid waste to much of the surrounding countryside, and seems to have found time to organise a play "to insult the pope".
The ease with which de Sores had captured the town prompted the Spanish crown to start a massive fortification programme. The
Castillo de la Real Fuerza
The Castillo de la Real Fuerza (Castle of the Royal Force) is a bastion fort on the western side of the harbour in Havana, Cuba, set back from the entrance, and bordering the Plaza de Armas. Originally built to defend against attack by pirates ...
was built to replace the Vieja Fuerza and later the
Castillo de los Tres Reyes Magos del Morro and the smaller
Castillo de San Salvador de la Punta
Castillo San Salvador de la Punta is a fortress at the entrance to the bay in Havana, Cuba. History
La Punta, like El Morro, was designed to protect access to Havana from frequent attack by corsairs. Initially, in 1559, lookouts were posted ...
were built on opposite sides of the entrance to Havana harbour.
On 15 July 1570 he murdered 40
Jesuit
, image = Ihs-logo.svg
, image_size = 175px
, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders ...
Portuguese
missionaries
A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...
and threw their bodies into the sea off
Tazacorte in the
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...
off
La Palma
La Palma (, ), also known as ''La isla bonita'' () and officially San Miguel de La Palma, is the most north-westerly island of the Canary Islands, Spain. La Palma has an area of making it the fifth largest of the eight main Canary Islands. The ...
- crosses on the sea floor still mark the site at
Malpique today.
Inácio de Azevedo
Inácio de Azevedo (1526–1570) was a Portuguese people, Portuguese Jesuit missionary. He is one of the :pt:Quarenta Mártires do Brasil#targetText=Os Quarenta Mártires do Brasil,liderados por Inácio de Azevedo., Forty Martyrs of Brazil, beati ...
was one of the , beatified by
Pope Pius IX
Pope Pius IX ( it, Pio IX, ''Pio Nono''; born Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878, the longest verified papal reign. He was notable for convoking the First Vatican ...
in 1854.
See also
*
France-Americas relations
Notes
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sores, Jacques de
16th-century births
Year of death unknown
16th-century French people
16th-century pirates
French pirates
Huguenots
French mass murderers