Francis Verney
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Sir Francis Verney (1584 – 6 September 1615) was an English adventurer, soldier of fortune, and pirate. A nobleman by birth, he left England after the House of Commons sided with his stepmother in a legal dispute over his inheritance, and became a mercenary in Morocco and later a Barbary corsair. Verney was among the most successful captains to operate on the Barbary coast during the early 17th century and, despite having no seafaring experience, was one of four leaders of the Tunisian pirate fleet commanded by John Ward. His supposed conversion to Islam with Ward in 1610 was the cause of considerable controversy in his native country. Verney was later captured and spent two years in the Sicily slave galleys. He was rescued by an English Jesuit in 1614 and converted to Catholicism shortly before his death.


Early life

The only son of Audrey Gardner (died 1588) and Sir Edmund Verney (died 1600),Rogozinski, Jan. ''Pirates!: Brigands, Buccaneers, and Privateers in Fact, Fiction, and Legend''. New York: Da Capo Press, 1996. (pg. 355) Francis Verney was born in 1584 at Pendley Manor in
Tring, Hertfordshire Tring is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Dacorum, Hertfordshire, England. It is situated in a gap passing through the Chiltern Hills, classed as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, from Central London. Tring is linked to ...
, England. His father's first and third marriages into two other royal families, given the complexities of family ties in Tudor England, made Francis one of an indeterminate number of stepchildren within the Redmaynes, Turvilles, and St. Barbe families; he was related to a total of seven royal families through marriage. Within his immediate family, he had a younger half-brother, Edmund (1590–1642),Verney, Margaret Maria. " Verney, Francis." ''
Dictionary of National Biography, 1885–1900 The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...
''. Ed. Sidney Lee. Vol. 58 ed. 1899. (pg. 262-63).
who was born on 1 January 1590, the only child produced by Edmund and Lady Mary Blakeney.Verney, Lady Frances Parthenope and Lady Margaret Maria Williams-Hay Verney.
Memoirs of the Verney Family during the Seventeenth Century
'. Vol. 1. 2nd ed. London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1904. (pg. 47–53).
In 1599, Francis was married to his stepsister, Tinniswood, Adrian.
Pirates of Barbary: Corsairs, Conquests, and Captivity in the Seventeenth-Century Mediterranean
'. New York: Riverhead Books, 2010.
Ursula St. Barbe, daughter of William St. Barbe of Broadlands and Mary Blackeney. The marriage was presumably arranged by Edmund and Lady Mary, described as a "masterful" woman, to cement their families fortunes and, more specifically, to protect the interests of Lady Mary and her daughter. She also persuaded her husband to divide the property granted to Francis by his uncle's will with their son Edmund. This resulted in the original will being superseded and this new settlement confirmed by a private act of parliament in 1597. These moves greatly increased the influence and power of Lady Mary. Edmund Verney died on 11 January 1600, when Francis was only 15 years old, and was subsequently sent off to Trinity College, Oxford in September of that year. Though little of his childhood is recorded, according to the
Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...
, he had "all the advantages that a fine face and figure, great personal courage, and a magnificent taste in dress could bestow". It was during this period that he began running huge debts spending as much as £3,000 a year.Broad, John.
Transforming English Rural Society: The Verneys and the Claydons, 1600–1820
'. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
Leaving Oxford, Verney soon rebelled against his arranged marriage living separately from his wife in St. Dunstan's-in-the-West (a notorious neighborhood of
Alsatia Whitefriars is an area in the Ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London. Until 1540, it was the site of a Carmelite monastery, from which it gets its name. History The area takes its name from the medieval Carmelite religious house, known ...
, where one of his servants, Richard Gygges, was murdered in a drunken brawl in 1604); he would legally separate from Ursula upon reaching adulthood and provided her £50 a year for the rest of her life. Verney was
knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...
at the Tower of London on 14 March 1603/4.


Break with the Verney family

As soon as he came of age, Verney challenged his stepmother in court over the terms of his inheritance. He may have been motivated by his friends who, when finding himself in serious debt, had guaranteed his debtors and were pressuring him to repay them. He appealed to the House of Commons to reverse the family arrangement which an Elizabethan Act sanctioned years earlier. A case was made that their decision had unjustly deprived him of his rights while still a
minor Minor may refer to: * Minor (law), a person under the age of certain legal activities. ** A person who has not reached the age of majority * Academic minor, a secondary field of study in undergraduate education Music theory *Minor chord ** Barb ...
. It was also made under unusual circumstances as, given the norms of the times, the consolidation of family estates were under the ownership of a sole inheritor. The case went through "much debate and argument" as famous counsel were employed on each side, Mr. Wincall and
Crewe Crewe () is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. The Crewe built-up area had a total population of 75,556 in 2011, which also covers parts of the adjacent civil parishes of Willaston ...
respectively. Crewe's pleading to the House on behalf of the Sir Edmund's widow as well as testimony of several surviving committee members of the 1597 Bill damaged Francis' case. The courts eventually favored Lady Mary and upheld the terms of the inheritance.


Adventures in Morocco

Verney sold his estates following his loss, effectively deserting his wife, and went abroad.Pringle, Patrick.
Jolly Roger
'. Minneola, New York: Dover Publications, 2001. (pg. 43–44)
He was very bitter after losing his case, in addition to the overwhelming debt he faced, causing him to "forsake the friends who had injured him, and the country which has refused him redress". He wandered the continent for some time, visiting Jerusalem during his travels, and became an accomplished adventurer and world traveler. On his return trip to England, Verney briefly attended religious services with George Carew at the English embassy in Paris. He had "fought several
duel A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two people, with matched weapons, in accordance with agreed-upon Code duello, rules. During the 17th and 18th centuries (and earlier), duels were mostly single combats fought with swords (the r ...
los" but, since departing his home country, had lost what remained of his fortune. Verney spent the summer and fall of 1608 to tie up loose ends, giving "general irrevocable authority" to his uncle Urian Verney and handed his remaining title deeds to another uncle, and left England for a final time.Wilson, Peter Lamborn.
Pirate Utopias: Moorish Corsairs & European Renegadoes
'. 2nd ed. New York: Autonomedia, 2003. (pg. 53–54)
Games, Alison.
The Web of Empire: English Cosmopolitans in an Age of Expansion, 1560–1660
'. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.
Family tradition claims he went to Morocco where he joined Captain John and Philip Giffard, both relatives of the Verneys, who commanded an army of two hundred fellow Englishmen, mostly gentlemen volunteers, in the service of Muley Sidan, a claimant to the Moroccan throne. Sidan's father, Muley Hamet, had enjoyed a privileged relationship with Queen Elizabeth I and Giffard's soldiers-of-fortune fought on Sidan's behalf against his other rivals, namely
Ahmed ibn Abi Mahalli Ahmed ibn Abi Mahalli (; 1560–1613), born in Sijilmasa, was a Moroccan Imam and the Sufi leader of a revolt (1610–13) against the reigning Saadi Sultan Zidan Abu Maali in the south of Morocco in which Ibn Abi Mahalli proclaimed himself mahdi ...
and Sidi al-Ayachi, and his brother
Abou Fares Abdallah Abu Faris Abdallah (), nicknamed al-Wathiq Billah (b. 1564 – d. 1608) was a Sub-divided ruler of the Saadi dynasty. He was one of the sons of Ahmad al-Mansur by on of his harem slave concubines named Elkheizourân (some cite her name as Eldjau ...
, during the country's wars of succession.


Life as a Barbary corsair

After the Giffards were killed in a desert skirmish in 1607, many of their men took to piracy. Verney, as told by the Verney family, found refuge with another relative, Richard Giffard, who was captain of the ''Fortune'', commanding what was essentially a pirate fleet, and Verney is mentioned among his officers. This part of the story was disputed by British historian
Adrian Tinniswood Adrian John Tinniswood FSA (born 11 October 1954) is an English writer and historian. Tinniswood studied English and Philosophy at Southampton University and was awarded an MPhil at Leicester University. He was a regional chair of the Heritag ...
who claimed that Giffard was imprisoned in Florentine captivity from 1607 to 1610. Regardless of who served as his pirating mentor, within two years he had become one of the most feared pirates on the Barbary Coast "making havoc of his own countrymen, and carrying into Algiers prizes belonging to the merchants of Poole and Plymouth" Cordingly, David. ''Under the Black Flag: The Romance and the Reality of Life Among the Pirates''. New York: Harvest Books, 1997. (pg. 17–18, 175) by Francis Cottington of the English embassy in Madrid. One of his better known exploits was the capture of merchant vessel bound from
Marseilles Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...
which was carrying a shipment of French wine for the court of James I. King James grew so concerned over Verney's activities that he assigned a ship-of-war to escort merchant vessels en route for
Aleppo )), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black". , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , image_map1 = ...
in the Levant area. During this period, Verney was one of the four leaders in the Tunisian fleet headed by John Ward,Wright, Louis Booker and Julia H. Macleod. ''The first Americans in North Africa: William Eaton's struggle for a vigorous policy against the Barbary pirates, 1799–1805''. 2nd ed. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1969. (pg. 12) Richard Bishop, and Kara Osman, the latter captain of the
Janissaries A Janissary ( ota, یڭیچری, yeŋiçeri, , ) was a member of the elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman Sultan's household troops and the first modern standing army in Europe. The corps was most likely established under sultan Orhan ( ...
at Tunis. Simon Danziger and
Jan Jansz 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 ...
were also included in the fleet's ranks of Englishmen, Dutchmen, Spaniards, and Turks. Verney served as Ward's second-in-command. In December 1610, according to claims made by the
Venetian Venetian often means from or related to: * Venice, a city in Italy * Veneto, a region of Italy * Republic of Venice (697–1797), a historical nation in that area Venetian and the like may also refer to: * Venetian language, a Romance language s ...
ambassador in Tunis, he and Ward were accused of "turning Turk" by becoming converts to Islam causing a sensation in royal society when news reached back to England. This was a charge often made against corsairs of European origin as many, Verney included, often adopted the clothing worn by locals after settling in Algiers or Tunis. He was eventually captured by a Sicilian corsair and spent two years in captivity as a galley slaveMacMunn, Sir George Fletcher. ''Slavery Through The Ages''. Salt Lake City, Utah: EP Publishing, 1974. (pg. 79) until being
ransom Ransom is the practice of holding a prisoner or item to extort money or property to secure their release, or the sum of money involved in such a practice. When ransom means "payment", the word comes via Old French ''rançon'' from Latin ''red ...
ed to an English Jesuit. Sir Robert Chamberlain, while in Naples, took a sympathetic interest in his countryman, and traveled to Malta to reclaim him in 1614. Verney was granted his freedom on the condition that he convert to Catholicism which he did.


Final years in Sicily

Though now a free man, Verney was left alone and penniless. He spent the remainder of his life in Sicily where he was forced to enlist as a common soldier in the service of the Duke of Sona, the Spanish viceroy of
Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...
. He was found by Scottish traveler-writer William Lithgow in "extremest calamity and sickness" at La Pieta (St. Mary of Pity), a pauper's hospital, in
Messina Messina (, also , ) is a harbour city and the capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of more than 219,000 inhabitants in ...
where Lithgow recorded Verney's last days before his death on 6 September 1615, and performed the
last offices The last offices, or laying out, is the procedures performed, usually by a nurse, to the body of a dead person shortly after death has been confirmed. They can vary between hospitals and between cultures. Name The word "offices" is related to the o ...
. Lithgow's account, entitled "The most delectable and true discors of an admirid and painful peregrination by William Lithgow", was published seven years later. English merchant John Watchin later obtained a formal certificate of his death, signed by Don Peter Garcia, which he forwarded with Verney's personal effects to Claydon House.


Legacy

Though common among the Barbary corsairs, as Muslim rulers sanctioned attacks on Christian merchants "as part of a larger
jihad Jihad (; ar, جهاد, jihād ) is an Arabic word which literally means "striving" or "struggling", especially with a praiseworthy aim. In an Islamic context, it can refer to almost any effort to make personal and social life conform with Go ...
against the infidel", Francis Verney's conversion to Islam caused considerable controversy in his native England. His own family considered his becoming a Catholic later in life only "barely preferable" to Islam. When his wife Ursula remarried in 1619, she was still described in contemporary gossip as "widow to him that turned Turk". His life as a corsair was first recorded by John Bruce in 1853, and later by Lady Frances Parthenope Verney when she began the four-volume ''Memoirs of the Verney Family'' in 1892,Maclean, Gerald and Nabil Matar. ''Britain and the Islamic World, 1558–1713''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011. though both disputed some of William Lithgow's claims. It was later noted by Adrian Tinniswood that in Victorian society "a pirate in the family was wrong but
romantic Romantic may refer to: Genres and eras * The Romantic era, an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement of the 18th and 19th centuries ** Romantic music, of that era ** Romantic poetry, of that era ** Romanticism in science, of that e ...
; an apostate was beyond the pale". Tinniswood, Adrian.
Pirates of Barbary: Corsairs, Conquests, and Captivity in the Seventeenth-Century Mediterranean
'. New York: Riverhead Books, 2010. p. 25.
Of the personal effects sent to the Verney family by John Watchin, which included a turban, slippers, silk tunics, and pilgrim's staff, Lady Frances made mention that all were still preserved at Claydon House. A full-length oil portrait of Verney, in the style of the Spanish school, is also displayed at the estate. Interest in Verney carried over into the 20th century as part of the era's popular culture. He was referenced in Dashiell Hammett's 1930 detective novel '' The Maltese Falcon'' as one of the people who possessed the jeweled bird. The title character of the 1940
swashbuckler film Swashbuckler films are a subgenre of the action film genre, often characterised by swordfighting and adventurous heroic characters, known as swashbucklers. Real historical events often feature prominently in the plot, morality is often clear-c ...
''
The Sea Hawk ''The Sea Hawk'' is a 1915 novel by Rafael Sabatini. The story is set over the years 1588–1593 and concerns a retired Cornish seafaring gentleman, Sir Oliver Tressilian, who is villainously betrayed by a jealous half-brother. After being ...
'', played by Errol Flynn, was inspired by the lives of both Verney and Sir Henry Mainwaring. He and Mainwaring were also among the real-life pirates chosen by Disney Imagineer Marc Davis to be portrayed in Disneyland's "
Pirates of the Caribbean ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' is a Disney media franchise encompassing numerous theme park rides, a series of films, and spin-off novels, as well as a number of related video games and other media publications. The franchise originated with th ...
" amusement ride along with Anne Bonny & Mary Read,
Charles Gibbs Charles Gibbs (November 5, 1798 – April 25, 1831) was the pseudonym of an American pirate, born James D. Jeffers. Jeffers was one of the last active pirates in the Caribbean during the early 19th century, and was among the last persons to be e ...
, and
Ned Low Edward "Ned" Low (also spelled Lowe or Loe; 16901724) was a notorious pirate of English origin during the latter days of the Golden Age of Piracy, in the early 18th century. Low was born into poverty in Westminster, London, and was a thief from ...
.


References


Further reading

*"A versatile Oxford Elizabethan: Sir Francis Verney and his tragedy Antipoe". ''
Oxford Magazine ''The Oxford Magazine'' is a review magazine and newspaper published in Oxford, England.''The Oxford Magazi ...
'', 28 April 1938, pp. 539–43. *Chew, Samuel Claggett. ''The Crescent and the Rose: Islam and England during the Renaissance''. New York: Oxford University Press, 1937. *Senior, C. M. ''A Nation of Pirates: English Piracy in its Heyday''. London: David and Charles Abbott, 1976. * Tinniswood, Adrian. ''The Verneys: A True Story of Love, War, and Madness in Seventeenth-Century England''. New York: Riverhead Books, 2008.


External links


The Verney Family at Tudorplace.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Verney, Francis 1584 births 1615 deaths Converts to Roman Catholicism from Islam English Roman Catholics English pirates People from Tring English knights Knights Bachelor English emigrants