PIERRE DAN: HISTORY & DESCRIPTION OF THE KINGDOM OF ALGIERS —PART 2

This week, we continue with the history and description of Algiers provided by Father Pierre Dan, the French Trinitarian friar, in his celebrated book, Histoire de Barbarie (History of Barbary), taken from the second edition, published in 1649, and translated into English here for the first time.

Last week, Father Dan recounted the history of Algiers from its earliest days to the time of the famous Barbarossa brothers. We ended with Aruch, the elder brother, assassinating the ruler of Algiers, Sheik Selim Eutemi.

We pick up the story from there.

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The son of Sheik Selim, who had been murdered by Aruch Barbarossa, was still very young. Fearing that Barbarossa would play the same trick on him that he had on his father, he fled to Oran, a city fifty miles from Algiers, towards the Strait [of Gibraltar]. The Marquis of Comares, Governor of Oran, received him courteously and sent him to Spain to see Cardinal Ximenes, who, after the death of King Ferdinand, found himself responsible for all the affairs of the Kingdom, in the absence of Charles V, nephew of the deceased King, who was then still very young in Flanders.

The following year, in 1517, Xeque Selim’s son came to Algiers to recover his country, which had been usurped by Barbarossa. His naval force consisted of more than ten thousand Spaniards, under the leadership of their general François de Veta. But they were no sooner at the strand before the town when there came a furious storm, destroying the fleet, with the loss of most of the vessels and the soldiers. Even if a few tried to save themselves by regaining the shore, they fared no better, for they could no more avoid the fury of these barbarians than they could avoid that of the sea.

Aruch Barbarossa ruled for some time in Algiers, but he was not spared death, as Selim was not. After this, Aruch’s younger brother, Cheredin Barbarossa, was declared King and Lord of Algiers, with the whole city’s common consent. This prince, who was seen as a man of great heart and mind, realized that he could maintain sovereignty over Algiers only with difficulty if he were not powerfully supported, and so he sought the protection of the Great Lord of the Ottomans, to whom he wrote for this purpose and sent a man he thought fitting to Constantinople with some presents for the Emperor there.

Cheredin Barbarossa wrote that his late brother, Aruch, had become Lord of Algiers, a part of Barbary, that he had the good fortune to succeed his brother, but that he was somewhat apprehensive about maintaining his position and therefore prayed humbly that his Highness and Imperial Majesty [the Sultan] might protect him and his state against the Christian forces, protesting that all his ambition was to support such a great monarch so that the boundaries of the Turkish Empire would expand even more in Barbary.

The Great Lord willingly granted him this request and sent him for this purpose two thousand native-born Turks. He also granted permission to all others who might want to travel to Barbary to assist the same Barbarossa, giving them leave to enjoy in future in the State of Algiers all the liberties and privileges granted to the janissaries in Turkey. Since then, the Great Lord has always sent to Algiers kings or viceroys, otherwise called Bâchas, whom he usually changes every year, or whenever he feels like it.

The Kingdom of Algiers increased gradually by means of these kings. In the year 1517, Aruch Barbarossa conquered the cities and the Kingdoms of Tenez, and of Tremecen, one situated 30 leagues west of Algiers, the other 52 leagues in the same direction. His brother Cheredin also took Cole and the city of Bône; then Sala, Rays and Bacha in the year 1555. Having created an army of three thousand Turks and thirty thousand Moors, he seized Bougie, which was surrendered to him in return for sparing the life of Alphonse de Peralte, who commanded the place.

After de Peralte returned to Spain after such a cowardly act, the King his master had him beheaded, to teach those who are entrusted with an important place that it is their duty to die there with weapons in hand rather than surrender shamefully and without any resistance. After these successes, the Algerines had others, even greater, and lifted up their state to a high point of greatness, where it has remained to this day

Cheredin Barbarossa extended his control over one hundred and seventy leagues along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, bounding the north shore, on the side of the Levant to Tabarque, near the Kingdom of Tunis, and westwards to Oran, near the Kingdom of Fez.

Cheredin Barbarossa’s conquests took him as far as the land of the Negroes, which is sandy and uninhabited almost everywhere.

In this way, he had all Caesarean Mauritania, and a bit of Numidia, where there are some cities, towns and villages, such as Tremecen, Constantine, Bône, Bougie, Tenez, Gigery, Cole, Lestore, Tadelis, and a few others.

In the best equipped of these places, they have a small garrison of janissaries, with an Aga to command them. Such troops are kept in these places, no doubt, to prevent Christians from going there, and also to prevent the inhabitants of those places from rebelling when the issue of their rights is at stake, which happens frequently.

All these cities and villages are not very populated. Those who inhabit them are people from different nations and religions: there are native-born Turks, whom misery drove out of the Levant, together with Moors and Arabs, but a large number of Jews can also be found there, along with many Moriscos, those who in recent years have been driven out of Spain. Those from Granada and Andalusia, they call Andalusians. The Tagarins are those who come from the Kingdoms of Aragon and Catalonia.

As for the hinterland, only Moors and Arabs inhabit it. They construct their homes along streams and rivers, because of the convenience of the water, and for their dwellings they only have tents ten to twelve feet long by six feet wide. Sometimes, up to two hundred people gather there; this they call a douar. Each particular household is known as a baraque.

Even though there are many sandy places and many mountains in Barbary, there can still be found, in different places, large woods of all kinds.

In the hinterland, one can see wild animals such as deer, tigers, lions, porcupines, hedgehogs, leopards, ostriches, gazelles, and wild goats.     Amongst all these animals, one which is remarkable is the one they call a gapar [cheetah], which is like a big dog with a wolf’s head, a fox’s ears, and cat’s feet. I will not speak here of snakes or other reptiles, whose abundance in Barbary is as great as in any other place on earth.

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For the next installment of Father Dan’s history of Algiers, see the next post here in this blog.