In the seat of the Icelandic Parliament is debating a request violently. The inhabitants of the island should take their defence at last. At the least, a capable coast guard would be placed. This also includes the financing of war belong of course ships. Or, at least, of patrol boats. Finally, the dangers of the Mediterranean sea are not yet over. The state and its citizens should, of course, can the external borders properly control it.
no, it is not the year 2018. The request came from the Danish king, Frederick III, and the danger of the pirates from Algiers and Salé was meant to be. In the year 1627 they attacked Island, kidnapped, and enslaved for about four hundred people. Despite the continual threat and trauma memories would in the few years previous attacks, the answer is amazing: We regret it very much, unfortunately, could not even buy the smallest ship of war. The islanders would prefer to wear the care of their offspring by supporting them, rather than financially, to form abroad. Not least because, in order to avoid that “in this country, all in the state of barbarism expires”. What is the ease of people, also you should be burdened with an additional tax burden for the financing of a coast guard. This could mean lead to you, plunged into poverty, “their potential kidnapping by pirates, welcome, lust for adventure, and in anticipation of possible further advantages”.
sense of adventure?, I wonder, used to handling in similar cases, with terms such as victim and perpetrator. I’m at the beginning of my writer’s residence in Reykjavik. Gunnar, a character in my novel “Tears”, I’m currently working on, comes from this city. His Great-great-great – …-grandmother is one of the Abductees. And as luck would have it, writes his Beirut girlfriend Rania her doctoral thesis just about this pirate. The work is progressing slowly. I help out and do the field research for Rania.
In the light of these sources, the spirit of adventure comprehensible
It fits well: on site, a Wealth of sources is preserved Today we would call them eyewitness literature. On behalf of the Danish king, the bishops, or simply out of curiosity have already been collected shortly after the kidnappings, letters, reports, and records.
In the light of these sources, the desire for adventure is understandable. About Algiers and the surrounding area, I read for example: “The quality of the farmland here is so good, the earth is so rich and fertile, and the Vegetation is so lush that you can harvest year. Also the livestock increased twice faster than us. It never snows, and the Grass must not be mowed. The life of the people is like a Paradise on earth.“
this description of the country, as it was then called, “heathen Turks,” (today we would offenders can not, of course, just by saying). The chronicler would hurry up with the punch line: “we are those who can hope for in the joy of the Kingdom in heaven in eternal bliss.”
