Many Jews went to Fez in Morocco at the time of the
expulsion, and one of the families that did so was the Pallaches. One of the progeny
of that family was one Samuel Pallache, who had a remarkable career, and is known to us as the Pirate Rabbi
To fully understand his career we have to understand
dissimulation.
Pallache lived in what is known as the Age of Fear or the Age
of Dissimulation
When he was born in 1550, it was only a half century from
the event that sent shockwaves around the Jewish world, the Expulsion. For 500
years there had been constant anti-Semitism, abuse, violence, murders, but this
was something new. Jews had felt settled in this land. They felt themselves to
be Spanish – for many Spanish first, Jewish second.
So any hopes that a Jew might have of an extended sojourn in
a land came to an end in 1492. It was a path that would lead ultimately to the
founding of the State of Israel.
What was a Jew in the 16th century (and
beyond) to do?
-
Convert
- Emigrate
- Die a martyrs Death
Many uprooted or went to the stake
Alternatively. there were those who played a dangerous game with the Inquisition. Many Jews went to Spain, Portugal and Brazil – the ‘Lands of Idolatry, as the Jewish community leaders called them. Such merchants would become New Christians, and then on return to Amsterdam would make public penitence in the synagogue.
This was a fourth option, but not on the menu – dissimulation
and the choice for hundreds of thousands who didn’t want to die or migrate but
had no stomach for a false creed. In an age of religious wars they found ways
to confuse their enemies – and how they did this was to wear a mask, to
dissimulate.
In Nazi Germany during World War 2 many Jews hid out in
Berlin for the duration of the whole war – around 4,000 of them. Amongst the tricks
they used were attending SS Christmas Parties, pretending to be good Nazis, and
attending Nazi rallies (where a Jew would not be looked for!).
In “Survival in the Shadows”, Barbara Lovenheim tells the
story of Charlotte Lewinsky who, when she had to go in public wore a silk
flower patterned dress two silver fox boas, an “attention grabbing tiered hat
tiered like a wedding cake with flowing veils and chicken feathers on top. When
challenged as why she was wearing them Charlotte said “Who will think that I’m
a Jew in hiding, wearing these clothes. It’s the perfect disguise”
So people wore these masks - “Larvatus prodeo,” said René
Descartes at the beginning of the seventeenth century: “I come forward,
masked.” People like Pallache were well adept at wearing that mask, at not
revealing the inner self to others. It wasn’t that they were pretending to be
what they were not – the art of simulation, but rather hiding what they were,
lying if you like. It wasn’t just the Jews. Nicodemites outwardly practiced the
rites of the church of Rome while following another denomination – the most famous
of whom was Isaac Newton, who was an Arian (did not believe in the Trinity),
Protestants did it in Roman Catholic Countries, Catholics did it in Protestant Countries,
Muslim did it in Christian Countries (for example with the Moriscos in Spain)
Countless men and women found ways to cover up their true
beliefs, and became talented at doing so. There was a “whole continent of
religiously motivated liars” – people who participated in public rituals but practiced
a different faith in private. As with Nazi Germany, a whole organisation (the Inquisition)
was set up to search out and destroy what they saw as those who were
endangering the integrity of Spanish and Portuguese Society. They pursued what
they saw as Christians in name only – a fifth column, concealed enemies of the
state.
However, for those Christians that were involved in trade,
dissimulation was precisely why Jews and Conversos were so highly valued. Jews
and Conversos often had family connections scattered throughout Europe by means
of which they could communicate across borders, and because their religious
identity marked them as despised and disloyal, they could be trusted.
This sounds nonsense, but a Dutch, French, or English advisor
might be suspected of putting his natural loyalties to homeland ahead of his
Moroccan master. A Jew could be treated by Christians and Muslims as the enemy
of all nations, citizen of none. He had few loyalties and few rights.
Christians and Muslims were of the opinion that Jew’s were totally governed by self-interest,
and as long as they had that perception then someone like Pallache was
eminently disposable.
When Pallache went to trial later in his career the Dutch
Ambassador said in open court at Pallache’s trial that “As a Jew and a
Barbarian he deserved no better treatment than a dog” that it was not seen as outrageous,
and Pallache himself would not argue. He would have felt it was important that
no-one should know his true face
These days in many articles, talks, and indeed one or two
books he is called the “Pirate Rabbi”, which gives the consumer of such
information the mental image of a Chassid with tziztzis swinging from hips, and
payas and beard flying as he swung with cutlass and flintlock from the yardarm
There is little doubt that he kept the faith and did the odd
bit of privateering, and even a bit of piracy for profit, but was some light
years away from the swashbuckling pirate Rabbi of legend.
His life was an exercise in dissimulation. He was a double
and even triple agent for the Spanish, Dutch, and, and in many ways he can be
compared to the famous British agent during World war 2, Eddie Chapman, made
famous in the film Triple Cross with Christopher Plummer.
No-one really knew with Chapman where his true loyalties
lay. Like a reed he blew with the wind, and at one time he offered his services
to Nazi Germany as a spy but then became a British double agent. In a similar
way Pallache worked at different time as a double agent for the Spanish against
the Moroccans, as a Moroccan agent against the Spanish, as a Dutch agent
against the Spanish; when in Spain was a loyal new Christian, and in Amsterdam
a frum Jew
He finished his days falling out with his master, the Moroccan
Sultan, going on a hunt for Iberian ships, being arrested in England, of all
places, and finally in Holland. He was supported at one time or another by Prince
Maurice of the Netherlands, Sultan Muley Zaydn for Morocco, and his case in
England was presided over by the Privy Council, and came to the attention of
King James I of England.
So it is quite remarkable that no-one has thought to make a
film out of the life of this remarkable Pallache was a shapeshifter who could metamorphise
from a Moroccan Jew to a Spanish Catholic, to a frum Sephardi. To the Sultan of
Morocco he was an agent, to the Dutch he was an ally, and he shapeshifted from
role to role without effort, just doing those things that would give him the
greatest advantage.
Pallach goes to Spain
Pallache was born in Fez, Morocco. his family was an ‘’old’
family, his father a Rabbi. He would have had an education in all the arts,
would have been able to speak Arabic, Castilian (Spanish), and Hebrew with the
best of them, and Spain was still dear in the hearts of his family. It was only
50 years since the expulsion, and after only 50 years, the pull to
the “homeland”, as I have mentioned, was still strong
He was born around 1550, but the first we hear of him is
around 1603 representing the Moroccan Sultans interests in Spain. Muley Zaydan,
needed a representative in Spain to buy jewels, and it made sense to send
someone who understood the culture and the language there, and was fluent in
the languages of both the Barbary Coast and Spain. It could only be a Jew that could
span those two worlds.
Pallache went there with his brother even though Jews were
not allowed to live there - but as with Louis Santangel, the secular Spanish
authorities were willing to bend things if it suited them. Spanish records at
the very beginning of the seventeenth century note them as representatives of
the Moroccan crown sent to buy jewels on behalf of the potentate. This is
interesting in itself, because it is an example of practicing Jews being
allowed to live for a period in Spain after the Expulsion.
In the next few years Pallach seemed to travel between
Morocco and Spain, attempting to sell his services to both sides, even to the
point of suggesting he was willing to convert. Again we see the art of
Dissimulation, but the mad monks (the Inquisition) finally caught up with Pallache
and he had to flee Spain.
In 1609 Pallache next went to Amsterdam on behalf of the
Sultan, and again on behalf of the Sultan, and became a member of Amsterdam’s growing
Jewish community. He styled himself as an ambassador, yet another dissimulation,
as he was really only the Sultan’s agent and it seems that although he did not
do too well with his business dealings, he nonetheless created some links with
the Amsterdam Portuguese community, being described as a Hakham.
Some comment is needed here. Once again Pallache was able to
dissimulate – Hakham can mean a Reverend or Rabbi, but can also mean a great
Torah Scholar, and he will have presented himself to the community as such,
especially as they will have had the business contacts that he needed. It is very
unlikely that he will have told them of his offer of conversion to the Spanish,
and very unlikely that he had rabbinical duties, but given his background as
the son of a Rabbi it was very likely he was well versed in Jewish Law.
Pallach’s expedition
Muley Zydan needed all the friends he could get as he was engaged
in a civil war with his brother.
Coincidentally the Dutch were involved in a bitter battle
with Spain, so they looked at Muslim lands who were certainly no friends of the
Spanish, specifically in this case Morocco.
So Morocco developed a Treaty of Friendship with the Low
Countries, and in 1614 the Dutch thought it was time to take action against the
Spanish in their Moroccan territories. On the command of Prince Maurice, a supporter
of Pallache, two ships were outfitted and armed, and Pallache put in charge of
the “George Bonaventura” as ships “General”, which equated in today’s terms to
Commander.
He had two captains underneath him, which is unusual
(unusual for a Jew), the captain on his shop being Jansz Slobbe of Hoorn
Captain of Bonaventura. The outward aim was to take action against pirates off
the coast of Morocco, but the real reason was to prepare the grounds for a
Dutch invasion of possessions held by Spain, notable a town called La Mamora
Mehdya, known as La Mamora, had been abandoned by the Portuguese,
and everyone had their greedy eyes on it. The Moroccans knew they would need
Dutch help against the might of Spain
So Pallache set sail, and one item that seems to be true was
that he had a kosher kitchen, arrived in Morocco and went to Fez, where he met
Muley Zaydn. He was given letters of marque against Spanish ships, but as
mentioned this was not supposed to be the main point of his expedition, but rather
to back up the Dutch invasion.
The Dutch Admiral Jan Evertsen sailed to Morocco and waited
for Pallache……and waited.
At this point everything goes into reverse. Pallache seems
to have had an argument with the Sultan who was critical of his (Pallache’s)
relationship with the Dutch. In an incredible vote face it seems that Pallache now
tells his contacts in Spain about the intentions of the Dutch. The Spanish take
the town with hardly any opposition, the Dutch are furious, and it turns out
that Pallache had been sending information to Spain for years.
At the same time that the Sultan had been negotiating with
the Dutch for the capture of La Mamora, he had been in contact with the Duke of
Medina Sidonia in Spain with Pallache as an intermediary telling them of the
Dutch intentions, and trying to come to an agreement with Phillip III on a swap
of territory.
So the Sultan had been double dealing using the Jew Pallache
as his agent/intermediary, or as Pallache would have it, ambassador, and now he
got nothing. The Spanish had seen though everything and had ratted on their negotiations
and had won the town, which they held for the next 67 years
In the meantime, Pallache, who, as it were, knew where the
bodies were buried needed to get out.
It is not clear whether the Dutch knew of his secret negotiations
with the Spanish and given what happened next it is unlikely that they did, but
they must have been angry with him, and a far as the Sultan was concerned Pallache’s
head was on the block ready for the chop (literally!).so England seemed to be good
place to go.
Then one of Pallache’s volte faces took place.
He must have been low on funds (certainly it transpired that
his crew of Dutch sailors had not been paid) so he sets out from Safi on a Privateering
expedition using the letter of Marque given to him from Muley Zaydn some while
ago, and captured a Portuguese and a Spanish ship returning from San Domingo
(Dominican republic) with cargoes of animal hides and sugar.
He now wanted to go to Rabat. This city had been populated
by Moriscos who had been recently expelled by Spain, it had a sizeable Jewish
population, and was not one of Muley Zaydn’s territories so it would have been
a good place to go for sale and distribution of the booty, but the Spanish were
blocking his route, so he decided to go to Holland instead.
He now had some bad luck. Bad weather forced him into
Plymouth, another shop carrying the seized goods got separated and went to Middleburg
in Holland.
In 1614 the Anglo Spanish war had been over for some years,
and relationships were warming between the two countries, so much so that the
marriage of Prince Charles (later Charles I) and Infanta Maria Anna of Spain.
So when the owners of the ships that Pallache seized complained, the English
were persuaded to arrest Pallache and bring him to trial.
It became a high level affair with the Spanish writing to
the Privy Council on October 25th 1614 in Spanish saying that ”a
vassal of the King…..a Jew…………became a
corsair as an ally to the Moors, and has now captured two ships from vassals of
the king my lord”.
We have a quote from John Chamberlain “A Jew pirat (sic),
that brought three prizes of Spaniards into Plymouth (in fact only 2 ships
which had been sent to Holland). He was sent out buy the King of Morocco and
used Hollander ships and for the most part, their Mariners. But………..he pretendeth
to have leave and license under the Kings hand for his free egresse and regress
which he was not believed until he made proof of it.
Pallache now was able to get help from the Dutch, by playing
them off against the Spanish. He argued that what he did was legal because of
the letters of Marque, and he also noted that his papers had been taken
including copies of letters between him and Prince Maurice (i.e. if he fell
into Spanish hands certain Dutch state secrets might be at risk), He insisted that
everything he did was as a representative of the Moroccan government – he was a
Privateer, not a Pirate.
The Dutch gave him support. The Dutch ambassador represented
him in court, and at the highest level the States General wrote to James I and called
for the release of the papers, and Pallache. There can be no doubt that his supporter
Prince Maurice had a massive influence in getting him released.
There can also be no doubt that the tensions between England’s
Protestants and Spanish Catholics aided Pallache’s release. On one occasion Admiralty
Judge Sir Daniel Dun pointedly asked Pallache to sit next to him. Gondomar (the
Spanish Ambassador) is reputed to have become angry and said that the English
favoured Jews and Barbarians over Christians. Caro the Dutch ambassador said to
James I that Spaniards considered “People of Religion” (i.e. Protestants) no
better and no worse than Jews or Turks and were in the habit of burning them at
stakes.
In the end Caro argued that Pallache “was an ambassador of a
king, and as such travelled on an authentic commission to make war on the
nation of Spain. Therefore he should be respected, just as Queen Elizabeth had
in the past respected ambassadors from Sultan of Morocco even though he was a Jew
and a barbarian, and the English, who perhaps had less love for Catholics than
Jews were happy to accept that argument.
After the trial
He was now destitute, and back in Amsterdam. He must have
been in his mid-sixties. He gained very little from the ships he had captured
and looked for another employer. The Dutch had backed him, perhaps because of Prince
Maurice, but were not willing to support him financially. He was virtually
bankrupt and looking for employment.
So where does this Pirate Rabbi go next who was neither a
Pirate nor a Rabbi (although undoubtedly a practising Jew?
Gondomatr, the very same man who had prosecuted him, now decided
to recruit Pallache to Spanish Court in November 1615.
Once again the dissimulation. Anyone who thought they knew
Pallache were totally mistaken. His loyalties were multiple and extremely
flexible. It seems the Dutch never learnt about his double dealings with the
Spanish, and were more loyal to him than he was to them.
At the end of the day, I think the most likely explanation
was that Pallache had a yearning to be Spanish again. There is an old saying
that goes “You can take the Jew out of the Shtetl but you can’t take the Shtetel
out of the Jew”. In this case I think it was that “You can take the Pallache out
of Spain, but you can’t take the Spain out of the Pallache”
Death
No sooner than he had begun the next phase of his life, than
he died, in February 1615. The Oudenkerk Cemetery Register has him down as a hakham
or reverend , The tombstone states “This is to mark the resting place of the
wise, pious, and noteworthy man who fulfilled his duties to God and men, the hakham
Samuel Pallache MHRIP called to the bosom of God 5376
In death, once again it seems that all his dissimulation had
been successful.
So ended Samuel Pallache, the first and last Pirate Rabbi!
So ended Samuel Pallache, the first and last Pirate Rabbi!
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