Murad Reis. Image – thealgiersinn.ie
In the summer of 1627, Barbary Corsairs from North Africa made two separate raids on Iceland. In an earlier blog, I described the raid by Corsairs from Algeria who plundered the Eastern fiords and Heimaey. In this blog, I will paint the picture of the raid by Corsairs from Sale (in Morocco) on Grindavik, a small town on the south coast of the country. The two raids resulted in the murder of dozens of people, and the capture of nearly 500 Icelanders (men, women, and children) – all taken to be sold in the slave markets of North Africa.
Iceland in the seventeenth century was a tough place to live. The climate was colder than today (the Little Ice Age that ran from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century was underway), bubonic plague had been brought to the island by English fishermen in 1636 (after first reaching the island in the fifteenth century), and an eruption from the volcano Hekla lasted for over a year. There were no cities in Iceland at this time (Reykjavik did not become an urban centre until the end of the eighteenth century), and most Icelanders lived in turf houses and survived on subsistence agriculture and fishing. The total population of the country at this time was only around 50,000 people.
Grindavik harbour today. Image – Paul Berry
Grindavik means ‘Grind Bay’ (Grind referring to Grind whales that were once common in this area), but the name was originally given to a region rather than the single settlement that is found there today. The town didn’t actually come into existence until the end of the nineteenth century.
When the Sale Corsairs arrived in this area, they discovered a Danish trading post on the coast with its accompanying merchant ship, and when they landed, they found three farmsteads located nearby.
Piracy had been endemic in the Mediterranean since before the Middle Ages, and the Barbary Corsairs had been major pirates for over 300 years, hunting throughout the Mediterranean Sea and later the Atlantic Ocean from the mid 1500s to the early 1800s. They first appeared after the last Muslim kingdom (Al-Andalus) in Spain was vanquished, forcing some 200,000 Spanish Muslims into exile across North Africa. The Spanish then invaded parts of the Maghreb (the Mediterranean coast of North Africa from Egypt to Morocco), and a jihad was declared as the Muslims fought back. The major ports of the region at Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli became Corsair capitals from where attacks could be launched on the Spanish. These cities soon became economically dependent on the proceeds of the holy war at sea, and particularly slavery.
The Barbary Corsairs did not just consist of Muslims from North Africa. In fact, many of them were Europeans. The leaders of the two raids on Iceland were renegade Dutchmen who had converted to Islam. In the mid sixteenth century, the Netherlands rebelled against the Spanish in a fight for independence which became know as the Eighty Years War. But in 1609 the two countries signed a truce, and Dutch privateers were no longer needed. Many found their way to North African ports where they received sympathy from the local people who shared the same enemy. The renegades taught the North Africans how to build and sail square-rigged ships, which began to replace the galleys they had traditionally used which were fine in the Mediterranean, but not so efficient in the waters of the Atlantic.
Murad Reis. Image – corsairsandcaptivesblog.com
The Corsairs from Sale were led by Dutchman Jan Janszoon van Haarlem, whose Muslim name was Murad Reis. He became famous not just for his 1627 raid on Grindavik, but also for a Corsair raid in 1631 to Ireland in which he took over 100 captives. Murad Reis arrived at Grindavik after sailing westwards along the south coast of Iceland with a single ship on June 20th, 1627. A strange vessel arriving in the area would not have been much of a surprise for the locals, who were used to seeing Danish merchant boats, English fishermen, and the occasional whaler from France or the Basque Country in their waters.
The Corsairs put a small boat into the sea and rowed over to the Danish merchant ship moored off shore, and asked to buy provisions. The Danish captain said they had none for sale, so the Corsairs returned to Murad Reis’ ship. The Danish Factor at the trading post on land, Lauriz Bentson, sent out a boat to see who the newcomers might be, but the eight Icelanders on board were immediately captured and imprisoned in the cargo hold of the pirate ship.
Barbary Corsair. Image – corsairsandcaptivesblog.com
Murad Reis sent 30 armed men from his crew of between 70 and 80 across to the merchant ship, and offloaded food and water to his own vessel. The captain was placed in chains, and the pirates prepared for their raid on the town. Around 50 heavily armed Corsairs made their landing to attack the three farmsteads and trading post that made up the community of Grindavik.
The citizens of Grindavik were caught off guard, with no way to defend themselves. However, the Danish Factor had worked out something was amiss when his men sent to confront the new visitors did not return, so he removed and hid all the merchandise in the trading post before running off to hide in the lava fields. The Corsairs found nothing of value when they attacked the stores, and no men to capture. So they soon moved on to try their luck with the three farmsteads.
Corsair pirates. Image – Getty Images
The farmstead of Jarngerdarstadir was the most productive, and was owned by the diocese of Skalholt, the seat of one of the two bishops of Iceland. It was managed by Gudrun Jonsdottir, helped by her four brothers and her husband. The Corsairs captured several farmhands, along with Gudrun and another young girl – important merchandise, as females attracted higher prices at the slave market. Two of Gudrun’s brothers, Philippus and Hjalmar, attempted to rescue her, but they were unarmed, and were badly beaten and left mortally wounded. Amongst the farmhands captured was Halldor, another of Gudrun’s brothers, who was taken with Gudrun, her husband Jon Gudlaugsson, and their three sons to the beach to be loaded onto the Corsair’s ship. A fourth brother called Jon was already imprisoned in the ship’s hold as he was one of the eight sailors sent to investigate the new visitors by the Danish Factor. Husband Jon was older than Gudrun, and had been sick for a while, so was deemed to be no use to the pirates and left on shore. In just an hour or two, two generations of the farm family at Jarngerdarstadir had been either killed or captured. The population of the Grindavik area at the time was only around 150, and most of these had fled to safety before the Corsair attacks, but there were still three to four dozen citizens captured and destined to become slaves. The Barbary Corsair raid on Grindavik was nowhere near as violent as the one that took place on Heimaey, but before departing, the pirates still vandalised the church and burned all of the farmsteads to the ground.
As the pirates made good to leave, they spotted a Danish merchant ship sailing to the west. Murad Reis tricked it into stopping, and the pirates swarmed aboard to capture another dozen or so crew to add to the captives already secured in the hold. The Corsair ship then headed westwards followed closely by the captured Danish ship, now crewed and captained by Sale pirates. They sailed around the Reykjanes Peninsula to Hafnarfiordur, where they knew there was another Danish trading post and merchant ship. But word had reached the port, and when the pirates arrived, the harbour was empty. Murad Reis pushed on to Bessastadir where he found three ships anchored, including the one that had fled from Hafnarfiordur. By now, the pirates had now lost the element of surprise, and defences had been prepared. Women and children had been evacuated, and menfolk totals had been boosted by a number of visitors who had arrived to meet the governor there. Turf walls had been constructed, and a line of cannons pointed out to sea.
Murad Reis sailed right into the harbour, accompanied by his captured Danish ship. He sent a broadside of cannon fire towards the defenders, and they fired back. After Murad Reis reloaded, he tried to manoeuvre into a better position, but promptly ran aground. Stranded on a sandbank, he quickly unloaded his slaves and cargo onto the merchant boat, and being lighter, his ship refloated at the next high tide, and he sailed free.
The Corsairs decided to beat a retreat, and headed for the Western Fiords, where they knew English fishing boats were operating. Fishing for cod was a major commercial enterprise for the English in these days, and in 1627, a fleet of 150 boats was operating here. The pirates captured the crew of the first two boats they encountered, but then heard that a warship was being sent to protect the fishing fleet. With some 70 to 80 captives now secured onboard, Murad Reis decided to call a halt. He sailed westwards for several days to avoid the warship before turning for home and the month-long voyage back to Sale.
Sale
Sale City. Image – Wikiwand
At the time of the Grindavik raid, Sale had risen to become the premier Corsair stronghold of the Atlantic. Between 1620 and 1630, Sale pirates had plundered over 1,000 European ships. In the early 1630s, there were 1,500 slaves in the city that had a population of 15,000 citizens – a ratio of 1 in 10. In the spring of 1627, Sale declared independence from the Sultan of Marrakesh, and was from then on referred to as the first independent pirate republic.
Sale was far away from any major conflict in the Mediterranean and unlike other Corsair cities never became a province of the Ottoman Empire. It was also never occupied by the Spanish when they expanded into the Maghreb.
Sale consists of two different towns, both straddling the Bou Regrew river. The town on the north bank today is known as Sale, and that on the south side is Rabat, now the capital city of Morocco.
Old Sale was founded in the early eleventh century, and grew into a prosperous agricultural and trading hub as well as a religious / intellectual centre attracting Muslim holy men and their followers. New Sale had a very different history. It developed on the south bank as a fortified garrison or ‘ribat’, hence the name. By the late sixteenth century, Sale had begun to fall into ruins, and the population diminished – but in the second decade of the seventeenth century, it revived into a prosperous Corsair port and independent republic.
Sale had a number of Morisco residents, expelled from Spain, and included a community of Hornacheros – originally from the town of Hornachos in mid-west Spain near the Portugal border. These incomers were not welcomed in the old town, but moved across the river and helped to rebuild the port, having high ambitions for the future of the settlement.
Sale. image – histoire d’Afrique et des peuples noirs
New Sale had a population of over 15,000 citizens – 10,000 Andaluceans, 3,000 Hornacheros, and 2,000 pirates and merchants. In addition, there were 1,500 slaves living in the city. It had everything it needed In order to prosper, and virtually overnight, it became an important Corsair capital, rivalling Algiers at the time. It needed investment money, and this came from the rich Hornacheros settlers. Skilled sailors were required, as was a fleet of ships, and these were provided by the pirate population. People were needed to crew the ships, and these came mainly from the Andalucean Morisco immigrants. Finally, a trade network was necessary, and a band of eager merchants were capable of setting this up.
The port boasted a fleet of around 50 ships (each carrying an average crew of around 50 Corsairs) and was protected by a sandbank, that made it impossible for European warships to enter the harbour. All they could do was volley cannonballs from a distance away, making Sale immune from cannon attack.
The Icelanders In Sale
The captive from Iceland reached Sale in good health. They were looked after during the voyage to keep their prices high when they came to auction. It must have been scary for the arrivals from northern Europe.
“The Sale population was a diverse one: Hornacheros and Andaluceans, native Berbers and Arabs, Turks, European renegades of all sorts, European slaves and black Africans, both enslaved and not. Not only would the Grindavik captives have seen a mass of strange faces staring at them – light, dark, round, bearded, bald, turbaned, black-eyed, blue-eyed, scarred, tattooed …. they would have also been buffeted by a cacophony of strange and incomprehensible languages.” (‘Northern Captives’ p 70)
Moroccan slave market. Image – sfgate.com
In the Bezistan (the open-air slave market of Sale), Icelanders (and Danes) would have been a novelty with their pale skin and blonde hair. The Caid (Hornachero Governor in the city) took one fifth of everything on behalf of the government, so the slaves were first paraded in front of him to allow him to select 1 in 5 slaves for himself. The remainder were then sold individually. Husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, parents and children, friends and crew mates were often separated. Once sold, the slaves were immediately put to work. Many were given heavy manual work, ploughing, lifting and carrying. At night, they were locked up en masse in mattamorres – dark, dank and windowless cellar storehouses for around 300 slaves.
What Happened to the Jarnergarstadir Farmstead Family?
Little is known of the fate of the 60 to 70 captives brought from Iceland. However, one exception is the family from one of the farmsteads, whose fate we are able to follow. It consisted of six members of two generations, matriarch Gudrun, her two remaining brothers and three sons, and all had their own destinies.
After their arrival at Sale, Gudrun and brother Halldor were very quickly ransomed – bringing more income to the pirates. The Icelanders left on a Danish merchant ship and arrived back in their home country in the summer of 1628. Gudrun’s other brother, Jon, remained in Sale in slavery, working in vineyards. He was later mistreated by his owner, who refused to clothe and feed him well, and he died a slave. When Gudrun returned home, her husband Jon had already died, and she later remarried.
Captured slaves. image – Once upon a Time
Slaves were punished for their misbehaviour at Sale, using the horrid techniques of ‘ganching’ (hung from hooks in the city Wall) and the ‘bastinado’ (a pole the slave was tied to while his feet were beaten). Both are described in detail in the earlier account of the Algerian pirate raid on Heimaey. However, one additional extreme case of punishment emerged from Sale, where one unfortunate slave had his ears cut off for some mis-deed, and had them tied around his neck and hung in front of him. To complete the punishment, he was eventually forced to eat them.
Halldor was punished by mutilation:
“The Turks severely abused Halldor, slicing his mouth, nose and hands, and he was crippled for the rest of his life.” (‘Northern Captives’ p 106)
However, he managed to survive, and was later ransomed with his sister and able to return to his wife and children in Iceland.
Gudrun’s three sons all had different stories. Hedinn, who was just seven years old when he arrived in Sale, was sold with his mother. Child slaves were highly valued, either as potential converts to Islam or as sex slaves – the latter role applying to both boys and girls. Hedinn probably converted to Islam, and when his mother was ransomed and left for home, he remained, building a career as a ship’s carpenter.
The other two sons, Helgi and young Jon, were sold on to masters in Algiers. Helgi was bought by a Janissary officer (elite soldier used throughout the Ottoman Empire), but was eventually ransomed in 1636 after an expedition ship arrived from Denmark. He returned home along with three dozen other slaves. During his time in Algiers, young Jon became known as ‘Jon the Scholar’, but died there as a slave.
Information taken largely from the excellent book titled ‘Northern Captives’, by Karl Smari Hreinsson and Adam Nichols.
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