Book Reviews

The Barbary Corsairs: Warfare in the Mediterranean, 1480-1580,
by Jacques Heers and translated by Jonathan North. Greenhill Books, London, UK, and Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania , 2003. ISBN 1853675520. 304 pp.; 6 1/4” x 9 3/4”; 24 b&w plates; hardbound. $34.95.

This is a well-written, highly readable account of maritime and political competition in the Mediterranean during the 15th and 16th centuries. It focuses on the conflict between Europe and the Ottoman Turkish Empire, the latter epitomized herein by two naval warriors, the brothers Barbarossa, and examines the political struggle within a socio-historical framework. The Barbarossas were renegade Christians serving Ottoman masters, and who sailed from Algiers to attack merchant vessels later to raid and terrorize Mediterranean communities, becoming legendary pirates in the process. As the book documents, the present-day fear of international terrorism is not a new phenomenon, but was in the mind of every sailor, pilgrim and merchant who plied the waters of the Mediterranean Sea during the late Middle Ages and Renaissance.

The book examines the Mediterranean world prior to the Barbarossas' reign of terror, putting the conflict between East and West in historical context. The various machinations of European monarchs and politicians are examined, especially those of King Francis I of France who sought to employ his alliance with the Ottomans against the Holy Roman Empire and Henrician England . The art of war at sea is discussed at length. To the reader unfamiliar with the subject, the book describes the rebirth of slave-propelled war galleys, newly equipped with modern firearms and cannon, to ram one another, culminating in their crews fighting hand to hand on the heaving decks. One of the most interesting chapters covers slavery, a system followed by both cultures. Several accounts of this horrible life are included, among them that of the warrior Miguel de Cervantes, better known to most readers as the author of Don Quixote.