What is Religious About the “Turkish” Corsair Raid on Iceland in 1627?

Abstract

The so-called Turkish Raid in Iceland in the year 1627 was an invasion of multiethnic corsairs from North Africa into the eastern and southern coasts of Iceland to capture the inhabitants as potential ransom slaves. The focus of this article is the religious aspects of these operations and the experience and representations of its contemporaries. These elements prove to be interwoven with religion, beginning with the designation of the events. Turk was the generic term for a Muslim and the Turk was, “together with his associates the arch enemy of all Christendom,” according to the Prayerbook of Bishop Guðbrandur Þorláksson. This kind of religious aversion has a strong presence in the mind of Rev. Ólafur Egilsson and other captives, even if the animosity decreased in some cases following close encounters with the North African invaders. Simultaneously, the raids of the corsairs from North Africa were religious actions of revenge for lost territories as well as occupational activities for profit, as slavery and ransom were primary sources of income. In the eyes of the Icelanders these were “Turkish” phenomena even though they were practiced along the Mediterranean. For example, Europeans enslaved Muslims in galleys and other roles in Europe and around the world. Contemporary accounts describe the corsairs as very cruel, with the converts from Christianity as the worst. However, in comparison to warfare in Europe at the time, casualties were few. The corsairs were eager to collect as many captives as possible in good health. Descriptions of conversion by torture are general in style without reference to definite persons. In North Africa, a number of Icelanders chose to stay and “turn Turk”, at least in clothing and manners. Anna Jasparsdóttir of the Westman Islands is a case in point: she married another convert who paid the ransom for her father and his return to Iceland. In this article the focus will be on the religious understanding of the Raid by Icelanders as a retribution for the sins of humankind, and the search for consolation and hope, in the wake of their experience of tragedy and loss.