Gillian Weiss, Captives and Corsairs France and Slavery in the Early Modern Mediterranean, (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2011), 389 pp. ISBN: 978-008047-7000-2

From the book jacket:

Captives and Corsairs uncovers a forgotten story in the history of relations between Islam and the West: three centuries of corsair raids on French ships and shores and the resulting captivity of tens of thousands of French subjects and citizens in North Africa. Through an analysis of archival materials, writings and images produced by contemporaries, the book fundamentally revises our picture of France’s emergence as a nation and a colonial power, presenting the Mediterranean as an essential vantage point for studying the rise of France.  It reveals how efforts to liberate slaves from North Africa shaped France’s perceptions of the Muslim world and of their own “Frenchness.”  From around 1550 to 1830, freeing these captives evolved from an expression of Christian charity to a method of state building, and, eventually to a rationale for imperial expansion.  Captives and Corsairs thus advances new arguments about the fluid nature of slavery and links captive redemption to state formation-and in turn to the still vital ideology of liberatory conquest.”

Commentary: Ultimately, any advancement of the discussion of the veracity and plausability of Vincent’s alleged Tunisian captivity will depend on an understanding of the background, nature, and details of Barbary captivity in the early 17th century.  This work provides just this sort of fascinating background.  It also contextualizes the activities of Vincent and the early Lazarists in North Africa.  Ed Udovic, C.M.