THE TRAGICALL LIFE AND DEATH OF MVLEY ABDALA MELEK the late King of Barbarie With A PROPOSITION OR PETITION TO ALL Christian Princes annexed therevnto VVritten by a Gentleman imployed into those parts Printed at Delph ANNO 1633. TO THE MOST ILLVSTRIOVS AND HOPEFVLL young Prince CHARLES Prince Elector Palatine of the Rhyne c. MOST ILLVSTRIOVS PRINCE The great respect I receiued from your Highnes at Leyden two severall times after my comming out of Barbarie and the great desire your Highnes expressed as becometh Princes to vnderstand and be informed in foraigne afaires and the State of other countries hath encouraged me hauing novv againe been imployed into that countrie to present to your Highnes for a Nevv-years-gift this short relation of the life death of the late King Muley Abdala Melek as vvas related to me by vvaie of discourse onlie at seuerall times by those vvho for the most part vvere eye-vvitnesses Oculati testes VVhich also may serue your Highnes for matter of discourse and further information likewise to discerne betwixt a blessed Christian gouernment vvhereunto God hath ordained you and a cruell tyrannous Mahometan gouernment as is the Turkish vnder vvhich those miserable mis-belieuers yea and manie Christians likevvise there in most miserable slauerie groane the Lord deliuer them from it And giue vs grace to make vse of it both Prince people and acknovvledge our owne happines Prince vvho commaund ouer Christian obedient and dutifull subiects and subiects vvho liue vnder so peaceable and Christian a gouernement bona si sua norit agricola free from tyrannie rebuel as and tumults vvhereunto that countrie of Barbaric hath this long time been subiect Such is the miserable state and condition of tyrannie and of tyrants euen of Kings as your Highnes may perceiue by the sodaine fearefull and miserable end of this King qualis vita sinis ita his life vvas bloodie and so it ended in blood in his owne blood And thereafter may your Highnes and all other yong Princes vvho haue so good tuitors and ouerseërs to informe them learne as that famous Buchanan tuitor to your grand Father King Iames of blessed memorie in his epistle dedicatorie before his Tragaedie called Baptistes admonisheth vvorthie to be read ouer and ouer and remembred of all yong Princes his vvords as I remember are these maturé odisse quod tibi semper est fugiendum VVhich I pray God both your Highnes and all other Princes may remember and make vse of Hoping your Highnes vvill accept of this small present out of a Barbarous countrie for vvant of a better vvhither I should haue returned for the releasse of the remainder of my poore countrymen in captiuitie vnder the new King Muley Elvvalid vpon a new treatie Hauing alreadie been a means to releasse aboue two hundreth and threescore from Sallie and threescore mee as yet remaining vnder this king at Morocco and Sallie by them taken againe vpon a late breach besides vvhat are dispersed vp and dovvne the countrie all promised by that King to be releassed vpon his treatie VVhither I say I should haue returned long before this time longed and long looked for by those poore captiues For the captiue hasteneth to be loosed c. as it is in the Prophet But vvhether I shall returne at all or those poore captiues be loosed or releassed at all is in Gods hands vvho can make their verie enemies and all those that haue caried them avvaie captiues to pitie them othervvise no hope at all And so I leaue them to Gods mercie and both them all others in like distresse both there and elsvvhere to your Highnes and all other Christian princes to commiscrate according to a proposition or petition I haue hereunto annexed highlie concerning them in honour to consider of vvhich is also in Gods hands For the hearts of Kings as Salomon saith are in Gods hands he turneth thē vvhich vvaiesoeuer he pleaseth In the meane time as my dutie is hauing been imployed in these affaires I can but sollicit and petition though vvithout effect in hope contrarie to hope hauing hitherto receiued so small encouragement but discouragements and so goe on mourning still and like to doe finis vnius mali gradus futuri One crosse after an other still readie to receiue me VVhich I must beare patientlie so commaunded so resolued To take vp the crosse of Christ and follovv him vvhither soeuer he commaundeth from one conntrie to an other from one part of the vvorld to an other and to the vvorlds end Quem statues finem Rex magne laborum And so goe on mourning still as I haue don these manie years Hoc continuis agimus annis a countinuall mourner euer since the death of prince Henry my maister novv renewed by the death of your Royall Father that renovvmed King of Svveden vvho died that verie day of the month prince Henry died the 6. of Nouember the date after the povvder plot ominous For both vvhich the vvhole church of Christ hath cause to mourne and that continuallie not onlie outvvardlie but invvardlie euerie familie a part as vvas that great mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon For that good King Iosiah continuallie continuis annis euen to posteritie to be continued I say as vvas that for these two so good Kings so sodainlie so vntimelie taken avvate To mourne I say continuallie and invvardlie for our sins vvhich are the cause of these disasters Verus luctus est occultus that is the true mourning so to condole and mourne And so let vs continue our mourning and goe on mourning still euerie familie a part euerie true Christian a part to beare a part in this so great a mourning vvith our deare mother the church that comfortles Rachel vvho vveepeth for her children and vvill not be comforted because they are not Yea let the vvhole church of Christ renevve her vveeping and mourning againe till it Echo againe not onlie the last vvords vltima verba as it is in Seneca Sed totos reddat Troiae gemitus for her children first and last taken from her one after an other because they are not Queene Elizabeth of famous memorie is not King Iames is not Prince Henry is not And the other hopefull young prince Henry your brother is not Your Royall Father the King of Bohemia is not The King of Svveden is not Hovv is the valiant man fallen that deliuered Israel Besides other vvorthies the old prince of Orange and others they are not Yea manie other poore Christian soules of late slaine massacred perished and lost both vnder the Antichristian Mahometan tyrannie they are not For vvhom the vvhole church of Christ hath cause to mourne neuer more cause neuer more seasonable VVherunto now I betake myself euen to praiers and teares the vveapons of Gods church VVhich shall be the second part And my Account hereafter mentioned the third and last If God permit and other obstacles hinder not And
arme vvhom he had killed broyled it on the coales and did eate it The King of Gagoes son not ouer a day or tvvo before the Kings death some say the same day drinking together because he vvas not able to pledge him so much as he drunk being all aqua vitae for so must euerie one doe as he did and drinke as he did caused the vvhole bole full of aqua vitae to be giuen him backvvard like a glister till it reversed in their faces againe that gaue it Hauing not long before made him to stand tvvo daies and tvvo nights in the vvater And before throvvne dovvne an other of the sons from the vvals of Saffia and broke his thigh Vnder a colour of going a hawking vvould lie vvhole daies and nights abroad in the fields a drinking And before his death manie daies nights together God hauing bereaued him of his vnderstāding as he did Nebuchadnezer and driuen him from men to dwell vvith the beasts of the field Yea he himself not long before hauing driuen avvaie from him all his most trustie servants saue one or tvvo committed to prison And vvithall a vvatchfull dog vvhich he loued fed vvith his ovvne hand for some small offence he tooke likevvise committed to prison vvith them commaunding he should but haue so much bread and vvater a daie All these his vvatchmen at once sequestred from him and the other so ouer toyled vvearied vvith vvatching day night perhaps also vvearie of him as vvere others all seemed to conspire his death Plotted as it seemeth before by some of the Elchies or renegadoes vvhom the King had threatned the next time he came to his house in Morocco to cut and make Eunuches to the number of two hundreth vvhereof they vvere sore affraid And therefore one among the rest a Frenchman as is reported vvatched his opportunitie vvhen the King came back to his tent at night hauing been all the day abroad a drinking and vvith a peece chardged vvith tvvo chained bullets shot him in by the fundament and privie members into the bodie as he vvas lying along in his tent A iust iudgement of God in respect of that glister of aqua vitae he gaue to the King of Gagoes Son threatning likevvise the elchies as before As also in respect of that abhominable impudent and filthie act he did at Saffia to those poore vvomen But chiefly vvhich God in the end vvill punish vpon those Mahometans both Turks and Moores in causing poore Christians boyes and others to be circumcised perforce yea cut and made eunuches A iust iudgement of God I say of all those Tyrants both Turkes Moores and others to be trembled at and so I leaue him Immediatly after his death his younger brother Muley Elvvallid vvas saluted King being at that time a prisoner in the Alcasaua the Kings house in Morocco expecting dailie nothing els but death VVherevpon some of his frends as at such a time and in such a case all are frends happie he that can be the first and svviftest Messenger running in all hast to the prison doore and crying out aloud to him to come forth he thinking it had been to execution to be put to death lingering excusing himself that he vvould but take leaue of his vvife and make himself readie vvhich he did only to die they calling and crying more and more at length he came forth and so vvas pregoned and proclaimed King of a prisoner I say on a sodaine become a King Of a far more soft nature disposition than his brother yet cruell and Tyrannous to poore Christians and to the English vvhom of late he hath most Barbarously entreated some of them Eight at once taken and circumcised perforce beaten vvounded and one mans head almost cut of to make them turne Moores and forsake their faith The rest fearefull dailie expecting the like measure as by letters latelie vvritten from the Merchants there may appeare vvhich I reserue vvith other passages to a further account leauing them to his mercie vvhich indeed is crueltie For the mercies of the vvicked are cruelties and him and them to God to iudge betwixt them which in time might haue been preuented by a seasonable dispatch long since expected the losse of so manie poore Christian soules as necessarie I dare say as some other dispatches if the bodies and soules of Christians be esteemed of any value novv a daies as they are in Gods sight right precious precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints And novv vvill I addresse my selfe vvith this Proposition and petition herevnto annexed to Christian Princes to condole and commiserate the distressed or rather desperate estate of these most miserable or rather more than miserable creatures if more may be not only the English but all other nations vvho this long time haue indured a most miserable and intollerable slauerie vnder these infidels both Turks and Moores and are like to doe more and more if not prevented VVhich I pray God at length they may take into their Christian consideration AMEN A PROPOSITION AND PETITION TO ALL CHRISTIAN Princes and States Professours and Defenders of the true Christian faith against all Antichristian povvers and principallities As vvell the Pope and his adherents as the Turk his Vassals the Mahometans both the one the other novv in these last daies to be vtterly destroyed and the Kingdome of Iesus Christ to be erected neuer to be destroyed but to indure and triumph euen to the end of the VVorld according to Daniels Prophecie 2. 44. And our Sauiours likevvise Mat. 24. 14. This Gospel of the Kingdome shall be preached in all the vvorld for a vvitnes vnto all nations and then shall the end come MOST HIGH AND MIGHTIE PRINCES Hauing been heretofore diuers times imployed into Barbarie for the redeeming of poore Christians out of Slauerie and other affaires and hauing been an eye-vvitnes of those great miseries or rather indignities don to those poore Christians in those Countries by that Barbarous people indignities I say not to be vttered not to be expressed but rather vailed ouer as did that painter the sorovvfull and mournefull or rather more than mournefull countenance of that heathen Prince for his daughter adiudged to be sacrificed to that heathen Goddesse or rather Idoll by no painters pensill to be expressed More than mournefull I say maiora lachrymis so manie poore Christians dailie taken by those infidels Turks and Moores and caried captiues into those cruell lions dens as sheepe appointed for the slaughter bought and sold in the merket as beasts and not men and devoured by those blooddie monsters vvhose soules lie vnder the Altar daily sacrificed to those heathen deuills crying Hovv long o Lord holie and true doest thou not iudge and auenge our blood on them that dvvell on the earth Yea beaten and tormented euen to death to make them forsake their faith as not only men but children also haue been
so rest Your Highnes humble seruant IOHN HARRISON THE LIFE AND DEATH OF MVLEY ABDALA MELEK the late King of Barbarie IF Plutarch vvho did vvrite and paralel the lives and acts of the most famous men of those times vvere novv living to vvrite and paralel on the contrarie the lives and acts of the most infamous men of the vvorld I think he vvould haue much adoe to finde out a fit match either auncient or moderne vvherevnto to paralel the late King of Barbarie Muley Abdala Melek yea rather I thinke he vvould leave him vnparalel'd And so must I only setting dovvne so much as in that short time I staid at Morocco vvhich vvas but tvvo monthes hath been related to me by vvay of discourse by such both of our ovvne nation and others as vvere for the most part eye-vvitnesses vvhich is scarce the hundreth part of his cruel acts and mad-pranks he plaid in that short time of his raigne vvhich vvas scarce foure yeares mad-pranks I may call them for so is he commonlie called the mad King He vvas Son to Mulay Sidan by a negra so by complexion a molato The Mores in that respect vvhether of vviues or concubines making no difference of succession but commonlie the eldest though by a concubine carieth the crovvne and sometimes the yonger getteth the blessing from the elder quo iure c. capiat qui capere potest He vvas extraordinarilie giuen to drinke vvine and strong drinke vvhich added to his naturall disposition vvhich needed not inclyned to crueltie euen from his infancie Of a manlie stature and of a most couragious disposition A good horseman vvith his launce target vvould euer be the first man in the face of his enemies vvho indeed durst neuer look him in the face but presently faces about his svvord making vvaie for him vvhich waie soeuer he vvent Such vvas his resolusion viam inveniam aut faciam So that it may be doubted vvhether his courage or crueltie vvere greater and in these tvvo respects I vvil be bold to saie as before not to be paraleld by any As by these fevv passages gessing at Hercules by his foote may easelie appeare And euen before he vvas King began to play his prize like Hercules furens his arme and svvord still in action cutting and killing at his pleasure vpon euery slight occasion At one time he killed one of his ovvne blood the blood royall onlie for tasting a litle of his svveet meates by stealth Sweet meates must haue sowre sauce An other the chieffest of the cast of the Shebanites allied vnto him by mariage of his Praedecessours into that cast hauing vvronged one of his servants he taketh some fevv of his servants not aboue ten at the most vvith him goeth desperatlie among all the Shebanites to the â—ent of this man being the valiantest amongst them all challenged him of the vvrong vvho slighted him being then not King mounted on horsebacke discharged his pistoll at him but missed whoÌ„ presently this yong Prince drawing his sword slue hand to haÌ„d maugre al the Shebanits came of cleare An other time a Levantado or rebell one of their saints comming against his Father Muley Sidan vvith 3000. horse like to surprize him on a sodaine he vvith his drums musik and ensignes and not aboue fortie horse vvent out against him chardged so furiously as put them al to flight pursued the victory as they say vvith his ovvne hand vvounded the Levantado that he dyed his head after brought in to Muley Sidan hanged vp in the Alcasaua and quarters likevvise on the vvals of Morocco on the gates of the citie Hauing be ore challenged his Father of neglect and too much securitie of vvhom not only his enemies but euen his Father as they say stood in feare yet his Father calling him Father Such is the praeposterous maner of the Moores to call their eldest Son Father out of a reuerence as they say they giue to him being the first born to be as it seemeth Pater familias Father of the familie for the time to come other reason I can not giue of their praeposterous inversion of that relation or rather confusion for the Father to call his Son Father Our Heauenly Father I am sure did not so the King of Kings Thou art my Son c. as it is in the Psalmes Nor Dauid the King in that his patheticall expression of his Fatherly affection far beyond theirs yea beyond all expression Absalon my Son my Son After his comming to be King some of the frends of the Leuantado hauing by stealth taken dovvne his quarters to bury them he commanded a great number of the neighbours heads who dvvelt neere there aboutes to be cut of executing many vvith his ovvne hands as he met them in the streets And not long after immediatlie vpon the death of his Father being nevvlie proclaimed King his brother Muley Flvvallid this King comming against him vvith a great force better affected of the comminaltie than the other in respect of his crueltie vvhich they greatlie feared and not vvithout cause as aftervvards they found Muley Abdala Melek giuing order first for his ordnance to be dischardged immediatlie after himself being the first man hauing but a fevv horse chardged so furiouslie and so throughlie as he rovvted them all vvhervpon his brother fled tovvards Sallie but not long after vvas betrayed brought back againe by Alkaid Hamuda dvvelling neare Azamore vvhose horma or sanctuarie he tooke invited and encouraged by him to some further attempt but indeed betrayed vvho after vsed him in a verie base vnseemlie manner stripping him beating him and carying him chained vpon a horse to the King VVherevpon the King they say vvhen he savv him relented yea vvept not vsing any extremitie but rather out of his lion-like magnanimitie contemning vvhat either he or any other had don or could doe against him Yet did his brother liue in continuall feare diuers times threatned by the King in his mad humor sending to him to prepare himself and to knovve vvhat kinde of death he vvould dye but by mediation of his sisters and others still put of At one time the King being at Saffia in his drunken humor the sentence pronounced and an Alkaid presentlie sent tovvards Morocco vvhere his brother was then prisonner to execute it but the next morning the King comme to himself and by mediation as before reversed and a messenger dispatched to countermaund the other vvhom he ouertooke but at Tansift a riuer vvithin foure myles of Morocco commanded vpon his life to ouertake him the other making no great hast othervvise it had been executed One time at Saffia his Almahalla or campe vvherein his brother Muley Semyn vvas then comming to pitch neare thereaboutes he in steed of a vvarning piece to remoue further of shot a bullet amongst them An other time as I heard in iest among the market folke yet did no hurt but killed an asse An other time in
his Almahalla hauing been all the daie abroad drinking as he vsed and coming riding in late at night vpon the spur as he passed by the ordnance vvhereof the English had the chardge he commaunded on the sodaine svvearing a great English oath giue fire vvhich they presentlie did they durst doe no othervvise so shot avvaie his ovvne vncle being in companie vvith him all to peeces His yongest brother yea and his ovvne yong sonne sometimes vvould he hang vp by the legs and beate them vvith his ovvne hands No merveile then if he vvere cruell to others being so vnnaturall to his owne flesh and blood Euerie daie must see blood blood shed vvere it but of a hen els not satisfied Possessed as some of the Moores haue told me manie are that he vvas vvith a she deuill frequent amongst them as it seemeth amongst the heathen in times past vvhereof a heathen philosopher writeth a set treatise of Incubus and succubus And the partie vvho told me this said that one daie going a hawking hauing other Moores vvith him one follovving a good distance in the high vvaie on a sodaine stood still and not long after they savv a smoake arise in the same place vvhereat they vvondered vvent back finding the man much amazed Asking the reason he said a vvoman met him there verie faire in good attyre vvho offered herself to be his wife he ansvvered he had one alreadie she replyed he might take an other for so the Moores may by their lavv being verie importunate vvith him at length looking dovvnevvards perceiued her clubbed feet vvhat she vvas wherevpon he vvent back and absolutly refused and therevpon she vanished in that maner in a great snuffe The man presently therevpon falling sick and so continued a good vvhile Hovv true this is I can not say but vvas reported to me verie seriously and for a certaintie But of this I am sure that the deuill can transforme himself into an Angel of light much more take vpon him the shape of a man or a vvoman as God permitteth to delude those that obey not the truth And this likevvise I knovve to be true and certaine that he is both a lyer the Father of lyes and a murderer from the beginning euer a thirst and neuer satisfied vvith blood And therefore no merveile if this tyrant vvere so possessed as before that euerie daie he must see blood els not satisfied And if euery day hovv much blood may be thought he shed in that time of his life raigne Sometimes he vvould cut of mens heads vvith his ovvne hands and vvith his ovvne sharp svvord saying those vvhom he commaunded did not cut them of vvell and at once vvhich don vvould aske one of the Englishmen if it vvere not vvell done he must say yea Muley Yea six or seauen mens heads in one day Once by euermuch drinking distempered in his bodie hauing his armes and hands benummed his Doctor persvvaded him to enter into a bath After his bathing meeting vvith one of his concubines drevv out his svvord and cut of her head to trie the strength of his arme if it vvere sound againe Also an other for going out of her bite or chamber to the next doore to one of her fellovves for the Moores are iealous euen of their vvomen and vvill not suffer them to companie together Made one man stand still vvhile he threvv stones at his face threatning if he offered to stir or moue he vvould cut of his head So likevvise abroad in the fields ofttimes vvould cause some one of his seruants to lie dovvne grovelling sit vpon him in steed of a stoole a vvhole night together drinking and the man durst not for his life stir And some to stand by him vvhole daies and nights vvithout moouing hand or foote othervvise vvould haue cut of their heads VVould cause men to be drubbed or beaten almost to death in his presence vvhich vvas but a common gentle correction fiue or six hundreth blovves at once and after they must kisse the ground giue him thanks To whom in this particular others likevvise I may paralel a great Lord in this part of the vvorld vvho hauing slaine an other in a privat duell and vpon iust occasion offered taxed by one to vvhom he had don vvrong disgracing disabling him and that in an open assemblie displacing him too and therefore had the partie reason there also to right himself and reply par pari referre and disable him likevvise for shedding of blood vvhich by the Lavv of God is murder caused the partie to be committed to prison closse prisoner at the first and there kept and fed vvith the bread of affliction till in the end he vvas forced his imprisonment and punishment both of bodie and purse besides the disgrace no sufficient satisfaction to kisse the ground that is make an humble submission and subscribe that he had offended and abused his Lordship vvith opprobrious and vnciuill language c. that is to say that the Lavv of God is an opprobrious vnciuill language vvhich saith He that smiteth an other vvith an instrument of yron that he dy is a murderer c. vvhich submission he novv vtterly disclaimeth as most blasphaemous against God his Lavv don of infirmity and by dares of imprisonment hauing no meanes at all to maintaine himself any longer in prison but there to starve praying God to forgiue him and them likevvise vvho imposed it To vvhom euen to that great God that great Lord ought rather to make submission for violating his holie Lavv as David did a King and vvas not ashamed I haue sinned c. yea and after fell to the ground and kissed the ground vvith manie teares Therefore is he a saint in heauen and Muley Abdala Melek and all such bloodie tyrants murderers vvithout repentance deuills in hell For Topheth is praepared of old euen for Kings and Lords too if they repent not For vvith God there is no respect of persons Nor vvas vvith this King Muley Abdala Melek in the cruell course of his tyrannie vvherevnto all both great and small vvere subject Yea he vvould cause some to be beaten on the soles of their feet and after make them run vp and dovvne among the stones and thornes And so also vsed some that vvere lame hurt pulling of there shooes making them run barefooted in such places or els vvould cut of their heads Did cause one of his Alkaids his chieffe falconer to be drubbed and beaten manie hundreth blovves on the buttocks as himself told me and after forced him to ride in that painfull maner after him a havvking Also the same Alkaid told me that the girth of his sadle being broken and he allighted an other Alkaid comming to help him and holding his stirrop the King called that Alkaid to him and caused him to be drubbed for holding his stirrop and not long after the like occasion falling out againe caused the same