Subject: pirate
Culture: Turco-Algerian / Barbary Coast
Setting: Mediterranean 16-17thc
Evolution:
Context (Event Photos, Primary Sources, Secondary Sources, Field Notes)
* Lapouge 2004 p32-38
"The two Barbarossas and the Barbary Pirates have long been subject to debate. Some historians have described them categorically as 'pirates'. And it is true that, in the beginning, they merited this honour and indignity: they were pirates, just as, for centuries, the Dalmatians, Catalans and Sicilians were, or even those uncontrolled adventurers who grabbed everything they came across in the vicinity of Malta, with the always unavowed approval of the Knights of Malta. In this period there was nothing unusual about this; on the contrary, it was hard to find any maritime country, city or people who did not practice piracy some time or another -- or at the very least did not make profit from the sullied commerce, as in the case of the Venetians or the Genoese.
"Over time, however, and once their success had been consolidated, the Barbary pirates changed their status. Once they had grabbed North Africa they traded in the condition of outlaws for one of Turkish vassals.
"The second Barbarossa, Khair al-Din, occupied a position on the borderline between banditry and politics. Did he not sign a treaty with the king of France, Francis I, whose overriding obsession, after the disaster of Pavia, was to wreak havoc on Charles V? So, this rogue found a place in the chess games being conducted in the Mediterranean between Muslims and Christians, and between Christians and Christians, such as the Spaniards, Venetians, Genoese, Turks, French and English.
"The Barbary pirates provide an unusual model: a band of outlaws, thieves and murderers, born beyond the horizons of history, in the murky depths of brigandage, who, by means of their immoral actions, gradually became participants in history, without renouncing their savagery. Before Barbarossa, the Barbary pirates were content to plunder the lost luggage of time; with him, they became actors in history."
Costume
* Rosenthal/Jones 2008 p457-458 (Cesare Vecellio, writing in 1590)
"CLOTHING OF A TURKISH PIRATE The behavior of the Turkish pirate is tyrannical, rapacious and violent. And many historians say in particular that this overwhelming army of pirates had is beginning at the time of Alexander the Great in the East .... [...]
"Few words are needed to describe their clothing. It is comfortable and well suited to working on board ships. As far as the overgarment goes, it resembles that of the Turks, but has a wide bavero and long, full sleeves. Their caps are of red wool and so is most of their overgarment. Their stockings are of various colors, but mostly made of wool. Then they wear a burricchetto, belted with a striped sash over their camicia, which hangs outside their bracche like a pleated skirt or apron and has wide, hanging sleeves of very thin linen. The rest of their attire is similar to that of the Turks', though different sorts of men wear this style of dress. But it is usually worn by people who live by the sea, and also by prosperous men and other soldiers."
