by Giles Milton
The poem by the mufti of Fez is quoted in ez-Zayyani, Le Maroc. There are many surviving documents about the siege of Ceuta, which continued on and off for many years. The most interesting are in de Castries, Les Sources Inédites, series 2, vols. 4 and 5.
For background material, and an analysis of the Spanish presidios in Morocco, see Friedman, Spanish Captives, and Blunt, Black Sunrise.
5: Into the Slave Pen, See here
See here: The accounts of the Meknes slave pens are many and varied. One of the most interesting is Nolasque Neant, Relation des Voyages au Maroc des Redempteurs de la Merci en 1704, 1708 et 1712, published in de Castries, Les Sources Inédites. There are hundreds of other references to the slave pens scattered throughout de Castries’s work. Brooks, Busnot and St. Olon also provide much additional information about the conditions in which slaves were held.
Accounts of the sufferings of the English slaves are to be found in the PRO. John Willdon’s letter to his wife is in SP71/16, f. 503. John Stocker’s letter is in SP71/16, f. 465. The inadequate food and inedible bread were the subject of numerous complaints. See especially Busnot, History and Ockley, South-West Barbary. Whitehead, “His Relation of Barbary,” is particularly interesting on the inedible food.
Pellow’s account of the terrible conditions in Meknes is amply corroborated by the letters written by his comrades.
See here: For a general account of Meknes palace, see Blunt, Black Sunrise, chapter 6. There is an excellent account of Moulay Ismail’s role in the palace’s construction in ez-Zayyani, Le Maroc, See here. See also al-Nasari, Chronique.
There are good descriptions of Meknes palace, circa 1690, in the Mémoire de Jean-Baptiste Estelle, dated 19 July 1690, in de Castries, Les Sources Inédites, series 2, vol. 3, See here. See also Estelle’s description in vol. 4, p. 389., and a further description in the same volume, p. 689.
Other interesting eyewitness accounts include Busnot, History, See here.; and St. Olon, The Present State, See here. For more on the exquisite gardens of Meknes, see Mouette, Histoire des Conquestes, in de Castries, Les Sources Inédites, series 2, vol. 2, See here.
Descriptions of the terrible daily routine of forced labor are to be found in almost every surviving slave account. Mouette, The Travels of the Sieur Mouette, is particularly perceptive, while Whitehead, “His Relation of Barbary,” recounts the physical hardships endured by the captives. Mouette outlines the hazards of the plague in his Description du Maroc. This forms the third book of his Histoire des Conquestes and is also in de Castries, Les Sources Inedites, series 2, vol. 2, See here.
Thomas Goodman’s letter is in the PRO at SP71/16, f. 506, while Thomas Meggison’s is SP71/16, f. 505. John Willdon’s complaint about having been forgotten in his native England is a common one; most slaves feared that they would never again see their friends and families.
6: Guarding the Concubines, See here
See here: King George I was as unpopular with his subjects as he is with royal biographers. The most comprehensive is Ragnhild Hatton, George I: Elector and King, 1978. See also Sir H. M. Imbert-Terry, A Constitutional King: George the First, 1927. There are some fascinating details about the king in Bruce Graeme, The Story of St. James’s Palace, 1929. For more on life at court, see J. M. Beattie, The English Court in the Reign of George I, Cambridge, 1967, See here. A general picture of the political maneuvrings during the years 1715—18 can be found in W A. Speck, Stability and Strife, 1977.
The petition of the wives and widows of English slaves is in the PRO; SP71/16, f. 497. Jezreel Jones’s tireless devotion to the plight of the slaves is outlined in Rogers, Anglo-Moroccan Relations.
For more information about the political career of Joseph Addison, see Peter Smithers, The Life of Joseph Addison, 1968. Admiral Cornwall’s mission to Gibraltar and Morocco is outlined on p. 405 of Smithers’s book. See also Rogers, Anglo-Moroccan Relations; and Stetson Conn, Gibraltar in British Diplomacy in the Eighteenth Century, New Haven, 1942.
Lancelot Addison’s colorful tales were published in 1671 under the title An Account of West Barbary. Joseph Addison’s essay on Moulay Ismail is in Addison, Works, 6 vols., 1901, edited by Richard Hurd and Henry Bohn, see vol. 4, p. 436. The document that he took to the cabinet meeting on 31 May 1717 is in the PRO; SP71/16, f. 507. Moulay Ismail’s letter to Admiral Cornwall is in J.F.P Hopkins, Letters from Barbary, 1576-1774, Oxford, 1982.
The account of Coninsby Norbury’s mission to the Moroccan court, including the various reports by Kaid Ahmed ben Ali ben Abdala and others, is in the PRO; SP71/16. There is much about Consul Hatfeild in Rogers, Anglo-Moroccan Relations. A great deal of Hatfeild’s correspondence is contained in SP71/16. See also Dominique Meunier, Le Consulat anglais à Tétouan sous Anthony Hatfeild, Tunis, 1980.
See here: Much of this section was taken from Pellow’s Adventures. Maria Ter Meetelen’s fascinating account of life in the harem was first published in the Netherlands in 1748. This is no longer extant. I used the 1956 French edition, published under the title L’Annotation Ponctu-alle de la description de voyage étonnante et de la captivité remarquable et triste durant douze ans de moi, translated by G.-H. Bousquet and G. W Bousquet-Mirandolle, Paris.
See here: This section is also largely derived from Pellow’s own account. His description of the brutality of Moulay Ismail is amply supported by dozens of other eyewitness accounts. The sultan’s habit of breeding slaves also receives considerable notice. The story of Chastelet des Boyes was published in the Revue Africaine, vol. 12, no. 67, See here., under the title “L‘Odyssee, ou diversite d’aventures, rencontres et voyages en Europe, Asie et Afrique, par le sieur Du Chastelet des Boyes,” L. Piesse (ed.), Paris, 1869.
7: Rebels in the High Atlas, See here
See here: The anonymous letter, which appears to have been written in the first week of March 1717, is in the PRO; SP71/16, f. 499. For more on the ongoing palace building works, see ez-Zayyani, Le Maroc, and al-Nasari, Chronique. There is an interesting description of the stables in St. Olon, The Present State, See here. See also Busnot, History. Busnot noted wryly that “the king of Morocco’s women and children would be happier if he loved them as he does his horses.” The size and scale of the stables, which now lie in ruins, remain extraordinarily impressive.
The sultan’s obsession with cats is noted by several observers. Busnot, History, See here, provides detail.
The slaves who made it home to England wrote little about religious practices inside the Meknes slave pen. Cotton Mather’s sermon, which includes details about the sufferings of the American captives, was first published in Boston in 1703 under the title “The Glory of Goodness.” It was republished in 1999 in Paul Baepler (ed.), White Slaves, African Masters: An Anthology of Barbary Captivity Narratives, Chicago. Joshua Gee’s poignant narrative was first published in Hartford in 1943 under the title Narrative of Joshua Gee, of Boston, Mass., while he was a captive in Algeria of the Barbary pirates, 1680–1687, Charles A. Goodwin (ed.). According to Sumner, White Slavery, Mather was a friend of the Gee family. In January 1715, “he dined with Mr. Gee, to celebrate the anniversary of the return of his son from Algiers.”
Ellen Friedman, Spanish Captives, includes some information about religious practices inside the slave pen and is particularly interesting on the Catholic services that were occasionally tolerated by Moulay Ismail. See here for more information about Father Francisco Silvestre. She also writes in some detail about the Spaniard Father Francisco Jiminez, who was working contemporaneously in the bagnios, or slave prisons, of Algiers. For further information, see her “The Exercise of Religion by Spanish Captives in North Africa,” published in The Sixteenth Century Journal, vol. 6, no. 1, 1975. See also her “Christian Captives at Hard Labour in Algiers,” published in The International Journal of African Historical Studies, vol. 13, 1980.
Brooks, Barbarian Cruelty, gives an eyewitness account of the practices of the English slaves in Meknes (See here). Busnot, History, provides similar info
rmation for the Catholics (See here). One of the most interesting accounts of Christian religious life among the slaves of Algiers was written by the captured pastor Devereux Spratt. His account is published in T.A.B. Spratt, Travels and Researches in Crete, 2 vols., 1865; see vol. 1, appendix II, p. 384. Spratt was eventually freed from slavery, but elected to remain with his erstwhile captives, “considering that I might be more servisable to my country by my continuing in enduring afflictions with the people of God than to enjoy liberty at home.”
See here: Most of this section is from Pellow’s own account. Morsy, La Relation de Thomas Pellow, provides many interesting footnotes about the places to which Pellow travels and the various characters he meets. St. Olon was right to note the important role of European renegades in Moulay Ismail’s army. In common with his late brother Moulay al-Rachid Moulay Ismail was dependent upon military expertise to overcome his many enemies.
See here: Most narratives by former slaves include details about the thousands of renegades serving under Moulay Ismail. For more about Carr, see Braithwaite, History. The story of Laureano is in Busnot, History, See here. Joseph Morgan’s comments are to be found in his A Voyage to Barbary, 1736. The second edition of this book was published as Several Voyages to Barbary, by which title it is more commonly known. See also Clissold, The Barbary Slaves, for much information about renegades throughout Barbary.
The infamous black guard was much feared by the European slaves. See Brooks, Barbarian Cruelty; St. Olon, The Present State, See here. and 127-28. There is a most interesting account in ez-Zayyani, Le Maroc, of the manner in which the black guard were reared from childhood. See also Blunt, Black Sunrise; and Budget Meakin, Land of the Moors, 1901, See here.
This account of the Jews in Morocco is drawn from Busnot, History, See here and here.; Ockley, South-West Barbary, See here; St. Olon, The Present State, See here. See also Blunt, Black Sunrise.
It is unfortunate that there is so little information about the monstrous Lala Zidana. This portrait is drawn from the accounts of Busnot and Ockley. Her huge size was, perhaps, what made her so attractive to Moulay Ismail. St. Olon noted that “the fattest and biggest women are the most admir’d in those parts, for which reason that sex never put on any stiff-bodyd gowns.”
The Moroccan poem extolling Moulay Ismail’s virtues is quoted in ez-Zayyani, Le Maroc, See here. The sultan’s religious fervor was genuine. He observed all the fasts and feasts of Islam, prayed frequently in public and was constantly consulting the Koran.
8: Turning Turk, See here
See here: For more about the history of Penryn, see Palmer, Penryn. This also contains invaluable information about Valentine Enys. For further information about Enys, see June Palmer (ed.), Cornwall, the Canaries and the Atlantic: The Letter Book of Valentine Enys, 1704–1719, Institute of Cornish Studies, 1997.
Hatfeild’s list of slaves is in the PRO; SP71/16, ff. 584–7, and is entitled “List of English Captives in Mequinez.”
John Pitts’s letter to his son was published in Pitts, A True and Faithful Account. Services of repentance and thanksgiving were often held for slaves that successfully made it home. The Laudian rite for returned renegades, first published in 1637, is reprinted in Vitkus (ed.), Piracy, Slavery and Redemption.
See here: The Renegado was most recently published in Daniel J. Vitkus (ed.), Three Turk Plays from Early Modern England, New York, 2000. This book also contains Selimus and A Christian Turned Turk. The various petitions of the English wives of slaves are in the PRO; SP71/16.
For more information on Alexander Ross, see Nabil Matar’s excellent book, Islam in Britain, Cambridge, 1998. See also Bernard Lewis, Islam and the West, New York, 1993. The British Library holds a 1688 copy of The Alcoran of Mahomet, Alexander Ross (trans.). Humphrey Prideaux’s book, The True Nature oj Imposture, Fully Displayed in the Life of Mahomet, was published in numerous editions. I referred to the one published in 1697.
Criticism of the Islamic world was not the exclusive preserve of theological and pseudo-historical works. Penelope Aubin, The Noble Slaves, 1722, recounts the fictional tale of four nobles captured by the Barbary corsairs. In the preface to her book, Aubin reminds her readers that white slavery has continued unabated for many decades in North Africa. In the epilogue, she notes that “a large number of Christian slaves are, at this time, expected to return to Europe, redeemed from the hands of those cruel infidels, amongst whom our noble slaves suffer’ d so much, and lived so long.” See also G. A. Starr, “Escape from Barbary: A 17th Century Genre,” in the Huntingdon Library Quarterly, 29, 1965.
Cotton Mather’s 1698 sermon was first published in Boston under the title, “A Pastoral Letter to the English Captives in Africa.” A microfilm copy of this rare pamphlet is in the British Library.
Simon Ockley is a fascinating individual and worthy of further study; see his entry in the Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 41. There is further information about his life in the 1847 edition of his History of the Saracens, 2 vols., 1708-18.
See here: This account of the campaign outside the walls of Guzlan is taken from Pellow’s Adventures.
9: At the Court of Moulay Ismail, See here
See here: For more about Hatfeild’s years in Morocco, see his correspondence in PRO; SP71/16. His letter concerning torture in Tetouan was published in Windus, Journey to Mequinez, See here. See also Rogers, Anglo-Moroccan Relations. For the complaints of the London merchants, see Leo Stock (ed.), Proceedings and Debates of British Parliament, respecting North America, Washington, 1924; see vol. 3, p. 432.
Little has been written about Commodore Charles Stewart. There is a brief biography in Edith Johnston-Liik (ed.), History of the Irish Parliament, 1662–1800, 6 vols., Belfast, 2002; see vol. 6. Stewart is also mentioned in Romney Sedgwick (ed.), History of Parliament: The House of Commons, 1715–1754, Members, 2 vols., 1970; see vol. 2, p. 447. See also John Charnock, Biographia Navalis, 6 vols., 1794–98; see vol. 3.
The list of presents that Stewart took to the Moroccan court is in SP71/16, f. 613. Much of the rest of this chapter, dealing with Stewart’s time in Meknes, is taken from Windus, Journey to Mequinez. Windus had an eye for detail and wrote one of the finest descriptions of Meknes palace. For a modern study of the palace’s construction, and a complete survey of the ruins, see Marianne Barreaud, L’Architecture de la Qasba de Moulay Ismail à Meknes, Casablanca, 1976.
10: Escape or Death, See here
See here: The return to England of Commodore Charles Stewart received widespread coverage in the press. The report in the Daily Post, dated Tuesday, 5 December 1721, is the most comprehensive. But see also the items in the London Journal, 16, 23 and 30 December 1721. Daniel Defoe, A Tour, provides a colorful description of London as it was at the time of Stewart’s return. Most other details have been drawn from London newspapers. William Berryman’s sermon was published in London in 1722 under the title “A Sermon Preached at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, December 4, 1721, before the Captives Redeem’ d by the late treaty with the Emperor of Morocco.”
See here: The accounts of Pellow’s two escape attempts have been drawn from his Adventures. Other captives left detailed descriptions of the hazards encountered by slaves escaping from Moulay Ismail’s Morocco. See Mouette, The Travels of the Sieur Mouette; Phelps, A True Account, p. 504; Brooks, Barbarian Cruelty, See here.; Busnot, History, See here and here.
Busnot also gives details of the dramatic escape of two French slaves, John Ladire and William Croissant. The most extraordinary flight from North African slavery was undertaken by William Okeley and a small group of friends. They built a collapsible boat, smuggled it to the seashore and managed to sail it to Majorca. See Vitkus (ed.), Piracy, Slavery and Redemption.
11: Blood Rivals, See here
See here: The account of Jean de la Faye’s mission is to be found in a very rare volume entitled Relation en forme de journal, du voiage pour la redemption des captifs aux Roiaumes de Maroc & D‘Alger pendent les
Années 1723, 1724 & 1725, par les Pères Jean de la Faye, Denis Mackar, Augustin d’Arcisas, Henry le Roy, Paris, 1726. A copy is held by the Middle East Library, St. Anthony’s College, Oxford. For more on Father Garcia Navarra’s missions to North Africa, see M. Garcia Navarra, Redenciones de cautivos en Africa, 1723–5, Madrid, 1946.
See here: For more on John Russell, see Rogers, Anglo-Moroccan Relations. There is a wealth of fascinating detail about Russell’s mission to Meknes, much of it in Braithwaite, History. For more on Moulay Ismail’s death, see Adrian de Manault, Relation de ci qui s‘est passé dans le royaume de Maroc depuis l’année 1727 jusqu’an 1737, Paris, 1742; see especially here. See also Blunt, Black Sunrise.
Pellow provides much detail about the rivalry—and battles—be—tween Abdelmalek and Ahmed ed-Dehebi. His version of events is largely corroborated by Muhammad al-Qadiri, Norman Cigar (ed.), Nashr al-Mathani: The Chronicles, 1981. This gives a year-by-year account of the turmoil that followed Moulay Ismail’s death, and his tight chronology enables key events to be given precise dates. For more on Ahmed ed-Dehebi’s character, see de Manault, Relation. See also al-Nasari, Chronique. There is additional information in Louis de Chenier, The Present State of the Empire of Morocco, 2 vols., 1788.
See here: The account of Russell’s progress toward Meknes is taken from Braithwaite, History. This book contains a wealth of information about European renegades living in Morocco. It also provides additional evidence about Pellow and the way in which he had been changed by his years in Morocco. See especially here. There is much of interest about Russell’s mission in the PRO. See especially SP17/17, part 1.