The Islamic standard raised on British soil

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Just re-reading "White Gold" by Giles Milton, and it contains plenty to surprise those clinging to the notion of Britain ruling the waves in the aftermath of the defeat of the Spanish Armada.

In the summer of 1625 over 1000 villagers from the south-west of England were captured by Moorish Corsairs in raids on mainland ports such as Looe and Weston-Super-Mare. They actually captured and occupied the island of Lundy in the Bristol Channel, and raised the Islamic standard there in a fortified base for the best part of a year.

I'd be interested in hearing the experiences of other nations when it comes to the Corsair raids.

[molly bloom]

The corsairs also raided western and southern Ireland:

In 1631 a galley arrived in Algiers after having raided Baltimore, Ireland. Aboard were eighty-three captives, including children. Father Pierre Dan, a priest who negotiated ransoms, described the selling on an Irish family at the slave mart. “It was a piteous sight to see them exposed for sale at Algiers, for when they parted the wife from the husband, and the father from the child; then, say I, they sell the husband here, and the wife there, tearing from her arms the daughter whom she cannot hope to see ever again.” (Wheelan, page 21) The priests, sometimes called Redemptionists, purchased the freedom of 15,500 captives between 1575 and 1769.

http://www.cindyvallar.com/BCcaptives.html

Explains why it is not so surprising to see red and blond hair and blue eyes looking back at you in the medinas in North Africa.

[Dr Strangelove]

Slavers based on the southern coast of the Mediterranean raided Europe from around 700 AD onward until Europeans colonized North Africa in the 1830s. Cervantes was among those taken captive, he was captured while returning from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Because he could read and write he convinced his captors that he was worth more as a hostage than a slave. After many years in captivity his prisoners finally gave up on their attempts to find someone willing to pay his ransom and they released him and they released him. He was the only member of his pilgrimage group to ever see Spain again. So much for the Islamic apologists who claim that Islamic slaves were only held for 7 years then released. Historically captives from Europe almost never were returned.

[molly bloom]

Iceland was raided a couple of years before Baltimore. It's estimated that about 400 or so captives were taken off, never to return.

A rather late payback for the Viking raid on North Africa which saw the appearance of what were called the 'blamenn' in Viking age Dublin.