Rebecca Alexandra Simon - Pirate Queens

Pirate Queens

The Lives of Anne Bonny

& Mary Read

Rebecca Alexandra Simon

First published in Great Britain in 2022 by

Pen & Sword History

An imprint of

Pen & Sword Books Ltd

Yorkshire Philadelphia

Copyright Rebecca Alexandra Simon 2022

ISBN 978 1 52679 130 6

eISBN 978 1 52679 131 3

Mobi ISBN 978 1 52679 131 3

The right of Rebecca Alexandra Simon to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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Dedication

Dedicated to all of the forgotten women

who forged their own lives on land and sea.

A nne Bonny and Mary Read were not the only female pirates to make waves in the maritime world. In fact, female pirates were active ever since the ancient period, and yet they were the ones who would be amongst the most famous pirates of all time. But before we examine their lives, we must take a look at those who came before them.

The first known female pirate was Queen Artemisia I (r.484460 BCE ) of Halicarnassus from the ancient Greek period, born sometime during the fifth century. In 500 BCE she married the king of Halicarnassus and had one son. Shortly after his birth, her husband died and Artemisia assumed the throne, and soon waged numerous wars against rival city-states throughout the Mediterranean Sea. Her success as a pirate is thanks to her privileged status as a queen. She consulted with numerous councils about the best methods when going into war and how to wage attacks.

Ancient Mediterranean piracy was quite different from eighteenth-century piracy. Ancient pirates raided both land and sea as a form of intertribal warfare. Their prowess earned them respect rather than fear and so they were accepted as legitimate mariners in most Mediterranean areas.

Artemisias birthplaced, Caria in southwestern Anatolia, was taken over by the Persians so she had no choice but to sail with them to attack Greek ships. However, she managed to defy these conquerors by turning around and raiding the Persian ships. Artemisia had numerous successes attacking rival city-states

The only sources written about her life are Herodotuss Histories and Polyaenuss Strategems of War . Ancient Greek culture did not have a favourable view of women, so their works painted her in a vicious light as a power-hungry woman set out to destroy anyone in her path. Therefore, we must take her history with a grain of salt. In the end her exploits cursed her reputation in history and the writings claim that she would never receive any love or respect again. Thanks to the Ancient Greek societal prejudices against women.

Approximately 300 years later another female pirate emerged: Teuta of Illyria (r. 231227 BCE ) whose history was captured in Polybioss Histories . Similar to Artemisia, Teuta married a king, Agron of Illyria, who died right after their marriage. Teuta took over and ruled as regent for her young stepson. Her goal: to expand Illyrias borders through raiding and plundering on both land and sea. She gave sailors passes to act as pirates and attack rival ships at will. Teuta sailed on several of her own ships and took an active part in numerous raids on rival city-states throughout the Mediterranean. Word spread about her expansionist goals and she became known as the Terror of the Adriatic. She intended to expand Illyrias borders all the way to Rome. The Romans considered her to be merely a nuisance until she conquered the Greek west coast, opening up the way for her to sail freely towards Rome. The Romans had no choice but to declare war. By then, the Illyrians no longer supported the wars against other city-states so Teuta found herself without allies. Her own governor, Demetrius, refused to support her and betrayed her to the Romans. In a desperate move to save herself, Teuta promised to return Romes hostages. Despite her acquiescence, the Roman fleet pursued her until she was trapped and forced to surrender. Here Polybiouss account of Teutas history ends and no one knows what happened to her for the rest of her life.

Polybios wrote from a Roman perspective, which was very anti-Greek and did not favour women at all. He described Teuta as a volatile woman out for blood with the intent to destroy Rome. Polybios wrote with the intention to warn women about the follies of attempting to take any power.

One thousand years later another pirate queen emerged, Princess Awilda of Scandinavia. Her birthdate has never been listed, but it is estimated that she lived during the fifth century. Her story comes from three sources: the Danish writer Saxo Grammaticuss Gesta Danorum (a twelfth-century sixteen-volume anthology of Danish history, poetry and mythology), the sixteenth-century History of the Northern Peoples by Olaus Magnus, and in Charles Elmss work The Pirates Own Book , published in 1837.

According to Grammaticus, Awilda was the daughter of Siward, king of the Goths, who intended to marry her off to Prince Alf of Denmark. Awilda was so against the marriage that she and several of her maids disguised themselves as men and went to sea to escape. There are several theories as to why she rejected Prince Alfred: one is that she found him physically unattractive; another theory is that he wanted to consummate their engagement before their marriage; and, alternatively, her mother may have convinced her not to marry the man. Shortly after they set out at sea, Awilda and her maids were captured by pirates. Instead of taking her hostage, they were so impressed with her regal air that they elected her as their new captain.

In the meantime Prince Alf sent a fleet after her, which culminated in a major battle in the Gulf of Finland. Alf boarded Awildas ship, kidnapped her and forced her to leave with him for Denmark. The story goes that she was so impressed by his ruthlessness that she ended up marrying him and became queen While the writings suggest she willingly became queen, she may have been taken against her will.

A millennia later, in the sixteenth century, a woman named Sayyida al Hurra emerged as queen regent of the Moroccan coast and as a powerful pirate leader. Born in approximately 1485 in Spain, she and her Muslim family were forced to flee during the Reconquista (a brutal war between Muslims and Catholics) and they settled in Morocco. In 1515, she married a powerful ruler of the city of Toutan, who, like Teutas husband, died right after their marriage. Sayyida took his title and proclaimed herself the new ruler.