Last week, we looked at how Hayreddin Barbarossa—one of the infamous Barbarossa brothers—took the Peñón of Algiers (a fort the Spanish had established just offshore from the city), as told by Antonio de Sosa, who was captive in Algiers only fifty years after the event. We ended last week’s post with the Peñón being overrun and Captain Martín de Vargas, the commander of the fort being taken prisoner and hustled off to Hayreddin Barbarossa’s bagnio—his slave prison.
We take up the story from there.
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Captain Martín de Vargas remained Barbarossa’s bagnio for about three months, during which time helped the poor Christian captives (from some of whom I learned this story) endure their misery, both to heal from their wounds and to stay alive.
The cruel Barbarossa, however, being the inhuman barbarian he was, never showed even a shred of respect or humanity to such an honorable man and such a prominent captain. He merely ordered, as he did to the other captive sailors, that he be given three small loaves of bread each day to eat, and no more.
As all this happened, the good and honorable Captain presented such a generous and constant spirit that (as one who served him for many days told me) he inspired wonder in the other captives.
Then, three months having passed, and it being the end of August 1530, Barbarossa ordered that Captain de Vargas he be taken to his house—the same one where the Pashas of Algiers live and reside today—and without any further cause or reason, seeing the Captain before him, he very angrily said to him: “I sent word to you so many times, and with so many demands, that you abandon your fort and hand it over to me in peace and leave my land. Why did you refuse to do it?”
The valiant captain, unburdening himself of this, told him, with some freedom, the obligation that men like him, by virtue of their being and rank, and in whom their kings and lords trusted, had to die rather than abandon the forts under their charge and governance.
Barbarossa replied with great anger and a loud voice, telling Captain de Vargas to shut up, that such arguments were unsuitable for him. Along with this, he began to hurl a thousand insults at the Captain, and asked if he knew how many Turkish men, better men than him, had been killed in the siege of the fort. And he swore by Allah that he was ready to have Captain de Vargas burned alive.
Replying to this, Captain de Vargas maintained that his actions were merely the custom of war, in which each one must do what he must in defending himself and attacking. Barbarossa, still very angry, ordered in a furious, loud voice that they should beat this that dog to death right here in front of him.
Some Turks then seized Captain de Vargas, laid him on the ground and, one sitting on his head and another on his legs, as was their custom, struck him with a very thick hemp whip, laying on many fierce blows and lashes until they were exhausted. Then others followed, and they crushed all his bones, his liver, and his entrails without any mercy, and in such a way that by the force of the cruel lashes and blows, they took out his soul and killed him there on the ground.
He was the valiant Martín de Vargas, of age, as far as could be judged, about fifty more or less, of medium height, black-bearded with some gray hairs and more white than dark. He died, as was known to all, with great devotion, for having suffered countless blows and mortal lashes, without complaining or uttering a cry. Even when he felt his soul being torn from his lips, he never forsook from his mouth the most holy and glorious name of Jesus and of Mary, his most holy Mother.
When he was dead, Barbarossa (who was present until he died) ordered that the body be taken away. The Turks who were there took the body and threw it into the courtyard, ordering it to be cast into the sea.
For many years Barbarossa, and his successors, did not allow Christians to be buried. Only many years later, when Barbarossa’s son, Asan Pasha, being King of Algiers, were Christians permitted the poor cemeteries and graves that they have today outside the gates of Babaluete and Babazón, facing the sea, but on the condition that they could not enclose them or surround them in any way with walls or fences, as the Moors, Turks, and even the Jews of Algiers do.
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If Antonio de Sosa’s description of the murder of Captain Martín de Vargas feels more like a hagiographic tale than sober history… that’s because it is. This narrative appears, remember, in a section of de Sosa’s book, Topografía e historia general de Argel (Topography and General History of Algiers), that is titled “De los mártires de Argel” (“On the Martyrs of Algiers”).
Captain Martín de Vargas is presented as one of those martyrs, and so his demise is depicted as a heroic and self-sacrificing one.
It is hard to know accurate de Sosa’s depiction of events might be, but the glorifying tone would seem to indicate that the details he presents should not be accepted uncritically.
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For those who may be interested…
The first description of the assault on the Spanish Peñón of Algiers can be found on pages 41-44 of Histoire des rois d’Alger (A History of the Kings of Algiers), a French translation (by Henri Delmas de Grammont, published in 1881) of de Sosa’s Epitome de los reyes de Argel, the second part of his Topografía e historia general de Argel (Topography and General History of Algiers).
The second description of the assault on the Spanish Peñón and of the martyrdom of Captain Martín de Vargas comes from the third part of de Sosa’s Topografia, “De los mártires de Argel” (“On the Martyrs of Algiers”) (published by la Sociedad de bibliófilos españoles in 1929), pages 28-32.
The translations from the French and the Spanish are my own.
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