Thursday, April 9, 2015

H IS FOR HUZZAH! IT'S SAYYIDA AL HURRA!


     Folks, when I promise a pirate queen, I deliver a pirate queen - and when I say queen, I'm referring to an actual Royal.  Allow me to present to you the one, the only, Sayyida al Hurra bint Ali ibn Rashid al-Alami, Hakimat Titwan (also spelled Tetouan).  She looks awfully demure in the painting above, but she was one of a kind.
     Sayyida was born about 1485 to a well-to-do Muslim family living in Granada, which was then a Muslim emirate.  But in 1492, Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain conquered Granada, murdering or enslaving up to 100,000 Muslims and forcing another 20,000 to flee.  Sayyida's family was among those who escaped with their lives.  They ended up in Morocco.
     At age 16 Sayyida was married to a friend of her father's who was then in his mid-forties.  They ruled Tetouan (a region at the very northern tip of Morocco) as partners, gradually reconstructing the city which had been destroyed in 1490.  After her husband died in 1515, Sayyida declared herself the governor of Tetouan, thus becoming the last Muslim woman to assume the title "al hurrah" - queen.  At some point after that she got married again, this time to the King of Morocco.  But just to make sure he knew where things stood between them, she made him travel to Tetouan to marry her, rather than vice versa.  It was the only time in history that a Moroccan king got married outside of Fez, the capital.
     It bears noting that Sayyida al Hurra is a title, not a given name, and it means "noble lady who is free and independent."  The primary way she demonstrated that independence was in her method of avenging herself against the Christians of Spain and Portugal, whom she held responsible for her family's being forced to flee Granada when she was a child.  Some time around the year 1515 (the same year her first husband died and she assumed the solo governorship - which seems to suggest that he was holding her in check while he was alive), she reached out to Barbarossa (literally, "Redbeard" in Italian) of Algiers, a Turkish pirate who, along with his two brothers, ruthlessly controlled sea travel throughout the eastern Mediterranean.  Evidently Sayyida and Barbarossa reached an agreement, and Sayyida enthusiastically entered the pirate's life, assembling her own fleet and wreaking havoc on Spanish and Portuguese trade.  She became the ruler of the western Mediterranean region, accepted as the boss by Muslims and Christians alike, and was the person with whom the release of Spanish and Portuguese captives had to be negotiated. To great Portuguese humiliation, in 1520 one of those captives was the wife of the Portuguese governor.  I'll admit Sayyida may never have personally attacked a ship, but still, it's the thought that counts.   She was an extremely bold and successful pirate, and used all of the booty and ransom money acquired to restore and beautify Tetouan, making her very popular with the people she governed.
     Sayyida remained the ruler of Tetouan until 1542, when she was forcefully deposed by what is described as her son-in-law, but (because I could not find any mention of her ever having had children) to me sounds more like her stepson, the son of the Moroccan king.  Immediately she lost all her wealth and power, and disappeared from historical accounts.  It was the ultimate reversal of fortune, and no one knows what became of her.
     On the other hand, since Sayyida's death has never been reported, maybe she's still out there somewhere on the open sea, buckling her swash (??), gleefully plundering European ships and generally raising hell.  I'd like to think so.  Wouldn't you?



    

14 comments:

  1. What a story! Now if there was only some way to turn it into a children's book... ;)

    Yvonne

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    1. Yvonne: hard to do that without glorifying pirates, which I guess is exactly what I've done with this post...

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  2. "Noble lady that is free and independent" WOW. That's some powerful name, great story.

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    1. Thanks, Jaybird! By the way, I'm really enjoying your posts about New Jersey, my adoptive home!

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  3. Wow, that is very fascinating! Love that I got to learn some history today! I'll have to share with some of the History teachers at my school. If you have time you should stop by and check out my H Post.

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    1. Thank you for visiting, Lisa! I like learning and writing about the kind of people who would never make it into history textbooks. I find them so much more interesting than the usual kings, queens and emperors!

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  4. just rolling by on A to Z. Cool theme and stories. This was in extra cool. I'm thinking still swashbuckling.

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    1. Hey, thanks, Joanne! Yeah, I'd say Sayyida qualifies as extra cool. You know, I said she looked demure in that painting, but when I looked closer I thought there might be a dagger tucked into her belt!

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  5. I totally love how you've managed to dig up all of these 16th century feminists! And a Muslim feminist to boot!

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    1. Thanks, EcoCat! I don't think I realized how much my own inclinations were influencing my choice of people to post about, but now it does seem kind of obvious!

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  6. I need to read a book about this woman. Like, right the hell now :D

    @TarkabarkaHolgy from
    Multicolored Diary - Epics from A to Z
    MopDog - 26 Ways to Die in Medieval Hungary

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  7. Let me know if you find one! I only did online research, but maybe there's a book out there somewhere! She certainly deserves one.

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  8. Ha! Yes, I hope she's out there somewhere buckling her swash. What an awesome lady!

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    1. Thanks, Annalee! I think someone like you needs to design the Sayyida Handbag! (Extra-large, to hold all the booty!)

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