Jan Janszoon Van
Haarlem, aka Murad Reis
Jan Janszoon Van Haarlem
About 1575 a child, later christened Jan, was born in the city of Haarlem, North Holland, the Netherlands. Jan grew up an average Dutch boy, and when he reached maturity, he married a local girl whose name is unknown. Lysbeth Van Salee was born to this union in 1596. There were likely other children.
Jan Janszoon Van Haarlem was Jan's full Dutch name: Jan his given or Christian name, Jansen his patronymic or patrilineal name, and Van Haarlem his toponymic surname. Jan was the brief Dutch form for Johannes, or John in English. Janszoon or Jansen, a patronymic name, according to Dutch custom, indicated who his father was, literally Jan's son. Sometimes a person's complete name would consist of only two names such as Jan Janszoon. Some persons, usually the upper class, would have an additional name, as we have surnames today. His surname was toponymic, that is, based on his place or origin. Van Haarlem meant that he was from the city of Haarlem.
He was destined to become a pirate king on the Barbary Coast in North Africa. Jan was known in the English speaking world as Captain John, John Barber and Little John Ward. His Arabic names were Caid Morato, Morat, Morat Rais, Murad, Murad Reis, Mutare Reis, Morato Reis and Murat Reis. Reis or rais in Arabic means captain.
About 1600 Jan Janszoon became a merchant seaman, and one of his ports of call was Cartagena, Murcia, Spain. He married a second wife in Cartagena. She was probably a Mudejar, a Muslim who belonged to a family employed by a Christian Spanish noble. Having two wives was permitted by Islam, the Muslim religion. Jan had several children by her, one of which was Anthony Jansen Van Salee.
Anthony Jansen's marriage certificate, dated December 15, 1629, in Amsterdam, North Holland, the Netherlands, gave him permission to marry onboard the vessel on the way to New Amsterdam, New Netherland. That certificate, in the Gemeente Archief in Amsterdam, states that Anthony Jansen was from Cartagena. I believe he was born there. A possible reason for being married aboard ship by the captain was that Anthony's mother in Cartagena was a Muslim, and therefore had raised her child in that faith.
Anthony Jansen is believed to be the ancestor of the Vanderbilts, the Whitneys, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Humphrey Bogart.
Abraham Van Salee was born about 1602 and Philip Van Salee about 1604, both children of Jan's wife in Cartagena.
Jan Janszoon, Privateer
Jan Janszoon sailed from La Rochelle in 1605 with letters of marque to capture Spanish pirates from Duinkerken, a town on the coast of France that is also known as Dunkirk and Dunkerque. In 1559 Spain attacked and conquered it. The port became one of the three main bases of operation for Spanish privateers in the years 1583-1609 and 1621-1646 during the 80-year War between the Dutch Republic and Spain. From 1609 to 1621 a truce existed, but the depredations of the privateers, who turned to piracy, continued unabated.
1607 Anthony Jansen Van Salee was born at Cartagena, Spain in 1607, and Cornelis Jansen Van Salee the next year. The Moriscos and Mudejares were expelled from Spain in 1610, and the Jan Janszoon's Cartagena family certainly moved to Salé, Morocco, as did most of the others.
Jan Janszoon, Pirate King
In 1618 Jan Janszoon was captured at Lancerote, Canary Islands, by the corsairs, and taken to Algiers, Algeria, where he became a corsair himself. His base of operations was Algiers. He sailed with Van Veenboer, aka Sulayman Rais, who quit to shore that same year, and Jan become rais or captain of Sulayman's ship.
Jan Janszoon did not protect the crews of
Dutch ships as De Veenboer did. Attacking a Spanish ship
he flew the Dutch flag, for others he sailed under the
red half moon of the Turks.
Algiers made peace with some of the European nations about 1619, forcing Jan to set up shop in Salé, Morocco. That same year Salé declared a semi-independent pirate republic and became the home base for the Sally Rovers. He was elected Admiral of the corsair fleet at Salé and President of the city. Beginning in 1619 Jan Janszoon built about 17 fast corsairs.
On a raiding expedition in 1620, a Dutch merchant ship raised the red flag of no quarter, and bluffed Jan into fleeing for safety.
In 1622 Jan Janszoon is converted to Islam and became a renegado. Sporting the Moccocan flag and claiming diplomatic immunity, he entered the port of Veere, Zealand, the Netherlands, for repairs in November. The Dutch brought his wife and children to the dock to try to convince him to return home. Doubtless he was already supporting the family. A number of Dutch seamen join Jan Janszoon's crew, contrary to the wishes of the Dutch government. Leaving Veere, he attacked several French ships.
About 1623, Sultan Moulay Ziden laid seige to Salé, but failed to capture it. To save face, Moulay Ziden appointed Jan Janszoon Governor of Salé. Jan married a third time to a Moorish woman in 1624, the daughter the Sultan, to cement the friendship. This counted as only two wives because the first was a Christian. He probably had children from her as well.
1626 Jan Janszoon captured a Spanish ship in 1626, and docked at Veere, Zealand, to sell it. The next year he sailed out and moved his base of operations to Algiers. He led a raiding fleet to Reykjavik, the capital city of Iceland the following year, and returned toAlgiers with booty and 400 slaves for sale.
There was a famine in Morocco in 1629, and he sent two of his sons, Abraham and Anthony, to Amsterdam, North Holland, the Netherlands. Anthony Van Salee married Grietje Reyniers onboard a ship in transit to New Amsterdam, New Netherland. In 1635 Jan Janszoon participated in a truce between the Sa'adian Sultan el Walid and Louis XIII.
The Sack of Baltimore
Jan Janszoon was at the Sack of Baltimore at Cork, Ireland, in 1631, and returned to Algiers with booty and 108 slaves for sale.
Oh! Some must tug the galley's oar,
and some must tend the steed;
The maid that Bandon gallant sought
is chosen for the Dey:
From The Sack of Baltimore byThomas
He was captured by the Maltese Knights in 1635. Four year later, his son Anthony Van Salee and wife Grietje Reyniers were expelled from New Amsterdam, finding refuge on Long Island. The next year, Jan Janszoon escaped from the Knights of Malta after five years of captivity.
Jan Janszoon Retired
When Jan returned, the Sultan appointed him Governor of Oualidia in southern Morocco. Jan Janszoon Van Haarlem served as Governor of the Castle of Maladia, on the west coast of Morocco from 1640-1641.
His daughter Lysbeth Van Haarlem and her husband visit Jan during those years at the castle. 1641 was the last year of record for Jan, and he must have died soon after. His body lies in an unmarked grave, according to Muslim custom.
The Moors in Spain
When the Christian conquest of Spain was completed in 1492 by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella la Catolica, they proceeded to expel all Jews an Moors from the kingdom. But the Moiscos and Mudejares were allowed to remain.
The Moors, were a nomadic people of North Africa, Berbers, originally inhabitants of Mauretania. They became Muslims in the 8th century and went to Spain in 711, where they overran the Visigoths. They spread northward across the Pyrenees into France but were turned back by Charles Martel in 732. In Southern Spain, however, they established the Umayyad emirate, later caliphate, at Cordoba. The court grew in wealth, splendor, and culture. Other centers of Moorish culture were Toledo, Granada, and Seville. The Moors never established a stable central government. In the 11th centuty the caliphate fell, and Moorish Spain was captured by the Almoravids, who were supplanted in 1174 by the Almohads. During this period, Christian rulers continued efforts in Northern Spain to recapture the south. In 1085 Alfonso VI of Leon and Castile recovered Toledo. Cordoba fell in 1236, and one by one the Moorish strongholds surrendered. The last Moorish city, Granada, fell to Ferdinand V and Isabella I in 1492. Most of the Moors were driven from Spain, but two groups, the Mudejares and Moriscos, remained.
Almoravid Dynasty, which ruled Morocco from 1055, ended in 1147 with the rise of the Almohad Dynasty. Almohad rule ended in 1269 when a Berber tribe, the Marinids, from the High Plateaus seized control. The Marinid Dynasty ruled until 1465. Piracy began to flourish along the Barbary Coast. Coastal cities reaped benefit from the slaves and treasure taken from merchant ships. The Ottomans protected the corsairs for centuries, and reigned free in the Mediterranean and along the Atlantic coast until the Europeans challenged them in the late 18th century with superior weapons. The Marinid Dynasty was followed by the Wattasid Dynasty (1465-1549), and then the Sa'adian Dynasty 1549-1659. During this dynasty, Jan Janszoon was born. He was to become involved in Sa'adian politics and trade.
The Moriscos, were Moors who had converted to Christianity after the Christian reconquest in the 11th to the 15th centuries in Spain. The religion and customs of Muslims in the Christian parts of Spain were generally respected until the fall of Granada in 1492. Moors who refused conversion were forcibly baptized. They unsuccessfully rebelled between 1500 and 1502. Although most Moors accepted conversion, the others were persecuted by the Inquisition. The Moriscos rose in a bloody rebellion between 1568 and 1571, which was put down by King Philip II. They prospered in spite of persecution, but Philip decreed in 1609 their expulsion for both religious and political reasons. The Moriscos left Spain in 1610 for the Barbary Coast in North Africa.
The Mudejares were the Muslims who cooperated with the Christians in the reconquest of Spain from its Moorish rulers. They remained after the expulsion in 1492, and who worked for Christian nobles on their country estates.
The Barbary Coast
Barbary Coast is not an Arabic place name; it was a name given to the coast of Morocco by the Europeans from 16th century through the 20th century. The word Barbary is derived from the word Berbers, the name of the ancient inhabitants of the region.
The countries of northern Africa that lie along the Mediterranean Sea comprise the Barbary Coast. The countries are Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt. The name became associated with pirates of the 16th through 19th centuries.
The Town of Salé
The twin town of Rabat-Sallee, perhaps the scene of as much misery as any spot between Agadir and Algiers, is built on the banks of the Guerrou, (Bou-ragrag) which falls from the mountains of the Zoavais, and divides into two parts. That on the north part is called by the natives Sela (S'la), but by us Sallee. It is encompassed by good walls, about six fathoms (36 ft) high and two yards and a half (7 ft 6 ins) thick, composed of clay, red sand and lime. On the top of the walls are battlements flanked with good towers. The other part of the town which lies on the south side of the river is called Raval, (Arraval, or, Rabat, 34.0N 7.0W, the side of the river on which the Europeans reside) and occupies a much larger compass than the former. Within the circumference of this town are abundance of gardens, and a large field, where they might sow corn enough to serve 1,500 men. Its walls are very ancient; the natives say they were built by the first Christians who were brought out of Europe by the generals of Jacob Almanzor, king of Arabia Felix who conquered Spain. On the south-east quarter stands a high tower called Hasans, which serves as a landmark for ships to come in. At the foot of this mountain are docks for building ships, and for them to winter in. The ascent of this hill is so gentle that a man may ride on horseback to the top. Sallee has two castles. The old stands directly at the mouth of the river Guerrou. Its walls are built on rocks, and very lofty, sheltering the governor's house, which joins to them, from any cannon shot. This castle is very irregular. Within this castle, and before its principal gate, is a high fort, which commands the town. Below, next to the sea, on the point of the rock facing the bar, is a bastion, mounted with five pieces of cannon, to secure the vessels which come in to an anchor in the road, and cover the retreat of the Corsairs, when pursued by the Christians. The new castle is situated on the south-west of the town. It was built by Murly Archy. There is a communication from one castle to the other by a high wall flanked with two towers, and built upon arches, under which the people pass when they go to walk upon the strand (beach). There are in this castle twelve pieces of brass cannon. The chief riches of this place consist in its piracies, the Sallee Rovers (the Salletines, or Slani, as they call themselves,) being the most expert and daring of any on the Barbary. The town is very well described by Mr. H. C. Browne in the English Illustrated Magazine for February, 1890, pp. 396-402.
A privateer was either a commander or a member of the crew of an armed vessel commissioned by a government with letters of marque. Letters of marque were given to a private person to fit out an armed ship and use it to attack, capture and plunder enemy merchant ships or war vessels in time of war. Captured ships had to be brought before an admiralty court to ensure they were a legal prize.
A corsair was a pirate who cruised the ocean with an armed vessel, without a commission from any sovereign state, seizing and plundering merchant vessels or making booty on land. A corsair was also a piratical vessel, sometimes a privateer.
A rais, or reis, was a king or captain who commanded Barbary pirate cruisers and ruled an African state.
A renegado was one of the most hated of the raises. They were Europeans who had become leaders of the Turks. From renegado came the terms renegade, a turncoat, and renege, to go back on one's word. Such a person was a former Christian who became a pirate, converted to Islam and preyed on European cargo ships from bases on the North African coast.
Salé was an independent corsair republic, across a small river from Rabat, Morocco. Salé has also been called Salli, Salee Sallee and Sally. Roving pirates from Salé were called the Sally Rovers by the British. There were several British sea shanties about the Rover's fearsome ways.
Judaism, Christianity and Islam were the three great monotheistic religions that came out of the Middle East. Adherents of all three religions were to be found in the Americas in the 17th and 18th centuries. The followers of Islam called the Jews and Christians the People of the Book, because they too believed in the Prophets. The new idea was that Mohammed was the final Prophet, and his teachings replaced that of the others. The holy book of Islam is the Koran.
The religion of Islam, a word which means surrender to God, is far too complicated to explain in detail here. However the Five Pillars of Islam will give us a basis for further study.
The Five Pillars of Islam
1. Profess faith by repeating the phrase, "There is no god but Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet."
2. Pray five times a day, following special rituals, such as washing beforehand, facing Mecca, bowing and kneeling.
3. Give alms and show charity to the poor.
4. Practice the ritual fast during the month of Ramadan.
5. Make the pilgrimage to Mecca, the Hajj, at least once if you have the health and means.
The Moroccan Dynasties
The sultan was the sovereign ruler of the Muslim state. In pre-colonial Morocco sultans resided in Marrakech, Fès and Meknès, the old imperial capitals. Moulay was a title borne by the male members of the sharifian dynasty, except for those named Mohammed, who were always referred to as Sidi Mohammed.
Almoravid Dynasty 1055-1147
The Sa'adian Dynasty
1. Abu Abdallah Mohammed II el Mehdi 1540-1557 __________________|________________________ | | | 2. Abu Mohammed Abdullah I el Ghalib | | | | | 3. Abu Abdallah Mohammed III el Mutawakkil 1574-1576 | | _______________________________________| | | | 4. Abu Merwan Abd el Melik I el Ghazi 1576-1578 | | 5. Abul Abbas Ahmed II el Mansur 1578-1603 ___________________________________________| | | 6. Zidan el Nasir 1603-1628 Marrakech | | | | 7. Mohammed IV el Mamoum 1610-1613 Fès | | | 8. Abdullah II 1613-1624 Fès |___________________________________ | | | | 9. Abu Merwan Abd el Melik II 1623-1631 Marrakech | | ___________________________________| | | | | 10. Abd el Melik III 1624-1626 Fès |__________________ | | 11. El Walid 1631-1636 Marrakech | | 12. Mohammed V el Asghar 1636-1654 | 13. Ahmed III el Abbas 1654-1659
The Alawid Dynasty
1. Mohammed I ibn es Cherif 1632-1635 __________________|__________________ | | | 2. Mohammed II 1635-1664 | | | | | 3. Moulay er Rachid 1664-1672 | 4. Moulay Ismael es Samin 1664-1672 __________________| | |__5. Moulay Ahmed ed Dhahabi 1727-1728 | |__6. Moulay Abd el Melik 1728 | |__7. Moulay Abdallah 1729-1735 1736 1740-1745 | 1745-57 1757 | | | |__8. Moulay Ali el Araj 1735-1736 | | | |__9. Sidi Mohammed 1736-1738 | | | |_10. Moulay Moustadi 1738-1740 1759 | | | |_11. Moulay Zein el Abdin 1745 | ___________________| | 12. H. M. Sidi Mohammed III 1757-1790 __________________| | |_13. H. M. Moulay El Yazid 1790-1792 | |_14. H. M. Moulay Hicham 1790-1795 1795-1797 | |_15. H. M. Moulay Sliman 1796-1822
1549 the Sa'adian dynasty assumes rule in
The Barbary Pirates
Barbary Pirates. The coast population of northern
Africa has in past ages been addicted to piratical
attacks on the shores of Europe opposite. Throughout the
decline of the Roman empire, the barbarian invasions, the
Mohommedan conquest and the middle ages, mere piracy
always existed by the side of the great strife of peoples
and religions. In the course of the 14th century, when
the native Berber dynasties were in decadence, piracy
became particularly flagrant. The town of Bougie
was then the most notorious haunt of these skimmers of
the sea. But the savage robber powers which, to the
disgrace of Europe, infested the commerce and the coasts,
not only of the Mediterranean but even for a time of the
ocean; who were not finally suppressed till the 19th
century was well advanced; and who are properly known as
the Barbary pirates, arose in the 16th century, attained
their greatest height in the 17th, declined gradually
throughout the 18th and were extinguished about 1830.
Isolated cases of piracy have occurred on the Rif coast
of Morocco even in our time, but the pirate communities
which lived by plunder and could live by no other
resource, vanished with the French conquest of Algiers in
1830. They are intimately connected with the general
history of northern Africa from about 1492 to their end.
In dealing with the pirates, it will be sufficient to
note a few leading dates. The conquest of Granada in 1492
by the Catholic sovereigns of Spain drove the Moors into
exile. They revenged themselves by piratical attacks on
the Spanish coast. They had the help of Moslem
adventurers from the Levant, of whom the most successful
were Arouj and his brother Khair-ed-Din,
natives of Mitylene, both of whom were known to the
Christians by the nickname of Barbarossa or "Redbeard."
Spain in self-defence began to conquer the coast towns of
Oran, Algiers and Tunis. Arouj having fallen in battle
with the Spaniards in 1518, his brother Khair-ed-Din
appealed to Selim, the sultan of Turkey, who sent him
troops. He drove the Spaniards in 1529 from the rocky
island in front of Algiers, where they had a fort, and
was the founder of the Turkish power. From about 1518
till the death of Uluch Ali in 1587, Algiers was the main
seat of government of the beylerbeys of northern Africa,
who ruled over Tripoli, Tunisia and Algeria. From 1587
till 1659, they were ruled by Turkish pashas, sent from
Constantinople to govern for three years; but in the
latter year a military revolt in Algiers reduced the
pashas to nonentities. From 1659 onwards, these African
cities, though nominally forming parts of the Turkish
empire, were in fact anarchical military republics which
chose their own rulers and lived by plunder.
It may be pointed out that during the first period (15181587)
the beylerbeys were admirals of the sultan, commanding
great fleets and conducting serious operations of war for
political ends. They were slave-hunters and their methods
were ferocious, but their Christian enemies were neither
more humane nor more chivalrous. After 1587, plunder
became the sole object of their successors plunder
of the native tribes on land and of all who went upon the
sea. The maritime side of this long-lived brigandage was
conducted by the captains, or reises, who formed a class
or even a corporation. Cruisers were fitted out by
capitalists and commanded by the reises. Ten per cent of
the value of the prizes was paid to the treasury of the
pasha or his successors, who bore the titles of Agha or
Dey or Bey. Bougie was the chief shipbuilding port and
the timber was mainly drawn from the country behind it.
Until the 17th century the pirates used galleys, but a
Flemish renegade of the name of Simon Danser taught them
the advantage of using sailing ships. In this century,
indeed, the main strength of the pirates was supplied by
renegades from all parts of Christendom. An English
gentleman of the distinguished Buckinghamshire family of
Verney was for a time among them at Algiers. This port
was so much the most formidable that the name of Algerine
came to be used as synonymous with Barbary pirate, but
the same trade was carried on, though with less energy,
from Tripoli and Tunis, as also from towns in the empire
of Morocco, of which the most notorious was Salli. The
introduction of sailing ships gave increased scope to the
activity of the pirates. While the galleys, being unfit
for the high seas, were confined to the Mediterranean and
the coast, the sailing vessels ranged into the Atlantic
as far as the Canaries or even to Iceland. In 1631 a
Flemish renegade, known as Murad Reis,
sacked Baltimore in Ireland. and carried away a number of
captives who were seen in the slave-market of Algiers by
the French historian Pierre Dan.
The first half of the 17th century may be described as
the flowering time of the Barbary pirates. More than 20,000
captives were said to be imprisoned in Algiers alone. The
rich were allowed to redeem themselves, but the poor were
condemned to slavery. Their masters would not in many
cases allow them to secure freedom by professing
Mahommedanism. A long list might be given of people of
good social position, not only Italians or Spaniards, but
German or English travelers in the south, who were
captives for a time. The chief sufferers were the
inhabitants of the coasts of Sicily, Naples and Spain.
But all traders belonging to nations which did not pay
blackmail in order to secure immunity were liable to be
taken at sea. The payment of blackmail, disguised as
presents or ransoms, did not always secure safety with
these faithless barbarians. The most powerful states in
Europe condescended to make payments to them and to
tolerate their insults. Religious orders the
Redemptionists and Lazarites were engaged in
working for the redemption of captives and large legacies
were left for that purpose in many countries. The
continued existence of this African piracy was indeed a
disgrace to Europe, for it was due to the jealousies of
the powers themselves. France encouraged them during her
rivalry with Spain; and when, she had no further need of
them they were supported against her by Great Britain and
Holland. In the 18th century British public men were not
ashamed to say that Barbary piracy was a useful check on
the competition of the weaker Mediterranean nations in
the carrying trade. When Lord Exmouth sailed to coerce
Algiers in 1816, he expressed doubts in a private letter
whether the suppression of piracy would be acceptable to
the trading community. Every power was, indeed, desirous
to secure immunity for itself and more or less ready to
compel Tripoli, Tunis, Algiers, Salé and the rest to
respect its trade and its subjects. In 1655 the British
admiral, Robert Blake, was sent to teach them a lesson,
and he gave the Tunisians a severe heating. A long series
of expeditions was undertaken by the British fleet during
the reign of Charles II, sometimes single-handed,
sometimes in combination with the Dutch. In 1682 and 1683
the French bombarded Algiers. On the second occasion the
Algerines blew the French consul from a gun during the
action. An extensive list of such punitive expeditions
could be made out, down to the American operations of
1801-5 and 1815. But in no case was the attack pushed
home, and it rarely happened that the aggrieved Christian
state refused in the end to make a money payment in order
to secure peace. The frequent wars among them gave the
pirates numerous opportunities of breaking their
engagements, of which they never failed to take advantage.
Burkes Royal Families of the World II Africa & The Middle East, London 1980.
Grosse, Philip, The History of Piracy, Tudor, 1934.
R. F. Tapsell, Monarch Rulers Dynasties and Kingdoms of the World, Thames and Hudson, London 1983.
Peter Lamborn Wilson, Pirate Utopias: Moorish
Corsairs & European Renegadoes. 1995 Autonomedia.
210 pp. The author focuses on the corsairs most
impressive accomplishment, the independent Pirate
republic of Salé, in Morocco, in the 17th century.
Roll Family Database Link
Jansen Van Salee