[ManuelD]

Interesting E-Mail I got from a Geneology group I belong to:




Muslim pirates and ransom.

We who have Azorean ancestors, we read about the pirates who constantly raided the villages and towns of the Azores. Many of our ancestors were captured in their villages, put aboard ships, and if ransom could not be paid immediately, they were later sold off in the slave markets of the Barbary Coast. I remember reading once, and wish I could remember the book, about the capture of some people from Santa Maria and the amount of ransom paid for each one. I can't remember if all could meet the ransom. In another book, about pirates and Graciosa, the ransom could not be met. I read these books so long ago.

We nevet think of the dangers our ancestors faced when they left Portugal for the Azores. It was not only the danger of the ships in poor weather but the danger of pirates. It wasn't so bad in the 1400s but by the 1500s the pirates were something to fear. There were English, Dutch and French pirates, but the worse of the pirates were the Muslims of the Barbary Coast. These pirates flourished in the 16th and 17th centuries. They captured ships and passengers by piracy. They raided the towns and villages of the Azores. They captured Azoreans and if ransom could not be paid carried them off to the Barbery Coast where the men were sold off in slavery and many were put to work in the rowing galleys. Women were sent to harems. They were forced to convert to Islam. Many European families beggared themselves to pay the ransom for a family member.

This was a religious revenge because in 1492 the Muslims were expelled from Spain. Interesting that Osama bin Laden calls it "the tragedy of Andulusia".

It was not only the Azores -- the coasts of Spain, Portugal, France and Italy were constantly raided. In 1627- if you can imagine this- 400 men and women from Iceland.

September 24th was the Feast Day of Our Lady of Ransom. She was the patron saint of the Mercedarian Order, a Spanish order where the brothers visited and paid ransom to free slaves in the Barbary Coast. They were known as the Ransom Order. Who knows, possibly an ancestor of mine or yours was ransomed.