The Stolen Village: Baltimore and the Barbary Pirates

by Des Ekin

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  Zara, Bassano Luigi da (1545) I Costumi&I Modi ParticolariDe La Vita De Turchi. Rome.

  TELEVISION

  Atlantic Jihad (Tyrkjáranid) (2003) director and script, Thorsteinn Helgason, Seylan/Hjálmtyr Heiddal, broadcast on RTÉ TG4 Spring 2003.

  The Battle of Kinsale (2001) RTÉ1 documentary.

  Harem (2003) Paladin Invision documentary for Channel 4, UK.

  WEBSITES

  Rootsweb genealogical website, www.rootsweb.com

  Old Algeria website, www.algerie.info

  Vieil Alger, www.vieilalger.free.fr

  Wikipedia open-source encyclopaedia, www.wikipedia.org.

  Source Notes

  The main sources for this book are the original documents, reports and letters from the period; the personal reminiscences of slaves in Algiers; and some histories written during the Barbary era. However, in these notes I also use the abbreviation ‘rec’, which refers to modern works and should be taken to mean ‘recommended reading for anyone who wishes to read more about this particular topic’.

  PREFACE

  Greatest invasion: King Charles used word ‘invasion’ (CSPI 1625-32, 23/8/1631); Lords Justice said ‘absolutely without precedent’, (ibid, 10/7/31). See ch 14.

  200-strong force, no. of captives: Official Report (for details see chapter 1).

  King’s rage: CSPI 1625-31, 23/8/1631).

  King’s reaction … seeds democracy: See ch 33.

  English settlers: CSPI 1606-08 p100

  Dutch renegade: Jan Jansen. See ch 4.

  Ethnic cleansing plot: Discussed in ch 34.

  Radio programme: On RTÉ 1. I believe the interviewee was Dr Patricia Casey.

  Books with old Irish, Latin: i.e., Genealogy, Coppinger.

  List of names: Based on the official list of captives compiled only days after the raid. I have found four different versions of this list. The one I use is from the Council Book Of Kinsale, which is similar to CSPI 1625-32 pp621-22. The list in J. E. O’Mahony’s Victorian document is inaccurate in that it lists William Gunter as captured. Finally there is Richard Caulfield’s 1892 list.

  CHAPTER 1

  The Sack of Baltimore

  Overview: Most of this chapter drawn directly from the Official Report of the Baltimore raid (hereafter ‘Report’). There are several versions of this report, differing in minor detail. I have used the version in The Council Book Of Kinsale, pp. xxxiv to xxxv, which is signed by the burghers of Baltimore as the latest and most reliable. Another is to be found in CSPI 1625-32 pp 621-2.

  Spanish invasion: ie, Sept 1601. See ch 4 and ch 34.

  Troops’ appearance: Dan; Lane-Poole p224; rec, Turkish Cultural Foundation website, www.turkishculture.org, Earle p62, Spencer p42, Pananti p32+.

  Music struck fear: Dan, 1634; Lane-Poole p253; rec, Wilson pp32-33, Spencer p51.

  ‘The famous Janissaries …’ De Busbecq, Augier Ghislain de (1522-92) Life And Letters. London: Keegan Paul, 1881.

  Threats and obscenities: see chs 10-11; also Pitts p302.

  Harris mentioned: ie, Report.

  Worst fate: eg, Pitts p302; also see illustrations in Dan.

  Nothing like this before: See note above, ‘unprecedented’.

  Naval bungling, delay: Report; and see chs 8, 12, 14.

  CHAPTER 2

  The Last Day

  Overview: In this chapter and in ch 9 I have tried to recreate a typical Sunday among the settlers of Munster in the early 1600s, drawing evidence from disparate sources, notably CSPI, the Earl of Cork’s letters and the Council Books of Kinsale and Youghal. The topography of The Cove, the main town and Tullagh church and the main descriptions are all clearly shown in the Map of Baltimore (hereafter ‘Map’). Depictions of the landscape and coast in the pre-development era have been gleaned from a wide spectrum of sources both contemporary and later. Donovan was especially helpful in evoking the atmosphere, mood and climate of old West Cork. O’Flanagan was of great assistance, especially the description of 1600s Baltimore by O’Flanagan on pp404-5 and his general notes on layout of towns; Canny’s depiction of village life in general on pp262-278; Barnard’s chapter 9 on Cork settler culture; and the notes on town layout and house style on p180+. Cullen and Brady also provided background. Modern re-creations of seventeenth-century villages were also helpful. The people, their names and their family circumstances are accurate and are taken from the list in Report. The Meregeys’ maid, who is nameless in this list, hasbeen given the only pseudonym – ‘Anna’. See special note on Joane in chs 31-32.

  Farm animals: It is clear from the Map, from Smith and from the 1641 depositions that t
he settlers had to augment their fishing by keeping livestock. Also rec, CHASJ LII pp55-56, also Canny in O’Flanagan pp265-270.

  Fair: Genealogy p99; rec, Kingston p46.

  Fairs in general: rec, O’Flanagan p336.

  Midsummer customs: Donovan p235.

  Long-term lease/no blow-ins: See chs 34-35.

  Dissenters/Crooke family: For more, see entries for Thomas Snr, Samuel and Helkiah Crooke in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

  Secret printers: ie, the so-called Martin Marprelate letters in 1589. Rec, www.anglicanlibrary.org.

  Executed: i.e., William Hackett in the Cheapside uprising 1591. One seditious clergyman was also hanged and another died in prison.

  Seditious sermon: i.e, J. Field, 1570s.

  Primary motive religious: Petitions in CSPI 1615-25 pp190-1; Copinger; also rec, E. O’Mahony, who says one of the motives was religious freedom.

  Crooke deal with Fineen: See chs 34-35.

  From West Country: See discussions in ‘The Politics Of The Protestants In Munster’, p1-20 in CHASJ LXXVI July-Dec 1971; also Canny in O’Flanagan p258-262.

  Borough status/pirates: See chs 34-35.

  Church Hierarchy shared outlook: See Ford.

  Harassed/Coppinger: See chs 34-35.

  Crooke died: Oxford Dictionary Of National Biography. As above. (Samuel Crooke died in 1635: Kinsale.)

  Fishing process and fish palace: Smith vol 2 pp310-11. Rec, Arthur Went in CHASJ vol 51 1946. Rec, Patrick O’Flanagan, ‘Town And Village Life’ p398 in O’Flanagan. Rec, Canny’s 1641 Depositions p262 in O’Flanagan. Layout of Cove, Map.