Pirate Queen of the Mediterranean
Sayyida al-Hurra of the Barbary Corsairs
The Barbary Corsairs didn’t have to do very much work when they swooped in on the winds to capture their prey. The wide-ranging fleet of fearsome pirates enjoyed such a vicious reputation that most ships they attacked just threw down their weapons, scared to fight the bold and brash privateers. As allies of the Ottoman Empire, ships from Christian nations were their targets of choice, and the Barbary Corsairs plundered them mercilessly. Like Vikings off the African coast.
“People would say, oh, my gosh, we’re being captured by Barbary Corsairs,” Laura Sook Duncombe, the author of Pirate Women: The Princesses, Prostitutes, and Privateers Who Ruled the Seven Seas, “Because they had this reputation for being so incredibly fierce and a lot of that was just Islamic phobia. They were enslaving Christians, but Christians were doing similar things. Slavery of Africans to work on a sugar plantation is fine, but slavery of Christians by these Muslims, well, you know, they’re monsters.” And surprisingly a female pirate, Sayyida al-Hurra, was one of their leaders.
Sayyida was a Muslim woman who became a pirate and also had the King of Morocco eating out of her hand. She controlled much of the Mediterranean Sea with her ruthless pirate fleet and in 1515, she became the last Islamic Queen. A pivotal figure in the Islamic west, but a footnote in history. Hardly anyone remembers the name of the refugee who was forced to flee her home when Christian invaders sacked her town in the wake of the Reconquista. But Sayyida refused to lay down and vowed revenge on her enemies when she escaped. Establishing herself as a pirate queen to exact retribution.
“As far as a woman in the Muslim world to do what she did, it was not common.” Duncombe says. “As a pirate queen, she was pretty much it. Sayyida joined the Barbary Corsairs by teaming up her fleet with the Barbarossa pirates- two brothers who ran the scene in the Ottoman Empire. Together, Sayyida's fleet and the Barbarossa fleet controlled the Mediterranean Sea. She had the western half, they held the east. She became Queen of Morocco when she married Sultan Ahmad of the Wattasid dynasty.”
As Sayyida Al-Hurra bent a sultan to her will she was spoken of with awe and angst by contemporary European chroniclers. Her unrivaled succession, when her husband died, demonstrated that she had an innate capacity for rule, and that the culture of the time and place accepted a woman ruler. She spearheaded the alliance that helped the Muslims unite in defiance against the European colonization of Morocco. As for the influence of the Barbary pirates, that was pretty huge and lasted for about three centuries, during which time they essentially ruled the Mediterranean.
“To the Europeans, [Sayyida and the Barbery Corsairs] were privateers, brigands, thieves, slavers and murderers. Famed for their aggressiveness and skillful seamanship.” Tom Verde, an expert in Islamic and Middle Eastern history, says. “To the Ottomans, who were their benefactors, and to the Muslim populations of North Africa, they were freedom fighting patriots who stood on the front lines of European attempts to invade and dominate the Maghreb, for political and economic purposes. The truth probably lay somewhere in the middle.”
Fatima Mernissi in The Forgotten Queens of Islam says that Sayyida was "undisputed leader of the pirates in the Western Mediterranean.” But like many rulers, Sayidda was done in by money and politics, Verde says. Shifting alliances in the region and disruptions to commerce under her rule “because of her armed resistance to European invasion,” ultimately led to a coup, loosely orchestrated by her son in-law, Moulay Ahmed al-Hassan al-Mandari in 1542. Effectively ending the Islamic Pirate Queens reign.
“She returned to her home town of Chefchaouen,” Verde says. “Where she lived out her days and died peacefully in 1561. She was said to be the last Islamic woman ruler to hold the title ‘al-Hurra,’ which means a sovereign woman. In Morocco, she’s regarded as a national hero, and a patriot. Culturally, she’s an important figure in the history of the country.” From sailing with the Barbary Corsairs to ruling as an Islamic Queen to being disposed of and dismissed, Sayyida has become a touchstone in Muslim and women’s lore.
“I love Sayyida.” Duncombe says. “I think its just so triumphant to have this powerful, brilliant Muslim woman as a role model. I think it’s very important. The Barbary Corsairs sailed under the jurisdiction of the local rulers on the Barbary coast, pirating European ships, and bringing a share of the treasure home to their cities. They were known as brutal, terrifying pirates, but that reputation was probably largely based in xenophobia.” And this reputation transferred to their ally Sayyida. Making her both an alluring and terrifying pirate queen in the annals of outlaw mythology.