Barbary corsairs/swords

Jim McDougall · 22nd July 2008, 03:54 PM

Hi Mark,
I enjoyed revisiting the pirate topic too! Its funny, I've of course been familiar with the term Barbary Pirates for as long as I can remember, but never really thought about them specifically in terms of who they really were or what thier weapons might have been. I really had no idea these pirates had such a vast range of operation, thinking they simply stayed close to the coast of North Africa. It appears they 'went shopping' for slaves not only in the Meditteranean but to England and further north, even to Iceland!

In looking at the term Barbary Pirates, as noted this derives from the Berbers and that association is well known, but became very curious about the term 'corsair'. In considering the pirates from the Golden Age, we have learned of the term Buccaneers as well as Privateers, and know that the Privateers were essentially 'licensed' to prey on shipping with royally issued 'letters of marque'. These often dubious documents would allow the bearer to officially plunder the ships of any 'enemy' power.

The term 'corsair' apparantly derives from this concept, and in French parlance refers to the commissioning document from the French king. The letter of marque in this case was termed 'lettre de course', which means literally 'racing letter' (race= la course). In French euphemism, the 'race' was the chasing down of enemy ships as prey in this sense. With the well established French presence in the Maghreb, it appears the term became associated colloquially to these Barbary pirates, with reference to Ottoman 'corsairs'.

Sometimes it seems like we get sidetracked by terminology, but in many cases when utilizing resources such as contemporary narratives it helps to better understand the variations of terms referring to a particular subject.
With that, returning to our Moroccan nimcha/sa'if , these were used along the entire littoral of the Maghreb, although commonly thought of as Moroccan. I would think that these would have been in use parallel to the variety of familiar Ottoman weapons.

On other discussions on these Moroccan nimchas, it has long been generally held that these hilts were likely influenced by Italian swords with similar quillon development ("A Late 15th Century Italian Sword", Anthony North, Connoisseur magazine, Dec.1975, p.238-241). I had always presumed that this influence was probably through trade contact, but wonder if the influence might have arisen via incursions into Italy of these raiders as well.

Great topic, its great learning more on these guys!!

22nd July 2008, 03:54 PM	#1
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,506	Hi Mark, I enjoyed revisiting the pirate topic too! Its funny, I've of course been familiar with the term Barbary Pirates for as long as I can remember, but never really thought about them specifically in terms of who they really were or what thier weapons might have been. I really had no idea these pirates had such a vast range of operation, thinking they simply stayed close to the coast of North Africa. It appears they 'went shopping' for slaves not only in the Meditteranean but to England and further north, even to Iceland! In looking at the term Barbary Pirates, as noted this derives from the Berbers and that association is well known, but became very curious about the term 'corsair'. In considering the pirates from the Golden Age, we have learned of the term Buccaneers as well as Privateers, and know that the Privateers were essentially 'licensed' to prey on shipping with royally issued 'letters of marque'. These often dubious documents would allow the bearer to officially plunder the ships of any 'enemy' power. The term 'corsair' apparantly derives from this concept, and in French parlance refers to the commissioning document from the French king. The letter of marque in this case was termed 'lettre de course', which means literally 'racing letter' (race= la course). In French euphemism, the 'race' was the chasing down of enemy ships as prey in this sense. With the well established French presence in the Maghreb, it appears the term became associated colloquially to these Barbary pirates, with reference to Ottoman 'corsairs'. Sometimes it seems like we get sidetracked by terminology, but in many cases when utilizing resources such as contemporary narratives it helps to better understand the variations of terms referring to a particular subject. With that, returning to our Moroccan nimcha/sa'if , these were used along the entire littoral of the Maghreb, although commonly thought of as Moroccan. I would think that these would have been in use parallel to the variety of familiar Ottoman weapons. On other discussions on these Moroccan nimchas, it has long been generally held that these hilts were likely influenced by Italian swords with similar quillon development ("A Late 15th Century Italian Sword", Anthony North, Connoisseur magazine, Dec.1975, p.238-241). I had always presumed that this influence was probably through trade contact, but wonder if the influence might have arisen via incursions into Italy of these raiders as well. Great topic, its great learning more on these guys!!