This, be it observed, was the theory. As a matter of fact the
corsairs, who were extraordinarily successful in their abominable trade,
abode beneath an iron and rigid discipline. This was enforced by the lash,
as we shall see later on when it is related how Kheyr-ed-Din Barbarossa
flogged one Hassan, a captain who, he considered, had failed in his duty:
or by the actual penalty of death, which Uruj Barbarossa inflicted on one
who had dared to act independently of his authority.
The theory of equality obtained among the Mediterranean pirates; but the
Barbarossas, Dragut, and Ali believed that, in practice, the less
interference there was with their designs by those, whom Cardinal Granvelle
denominated in a letter to Philip II. as "that mischievous animal the
people," the better it would be for all concerned. The conception held of
rights and duties of "the mischievous animal" by these militant persons
was, that it should behave as did those others recorded of the Roman
centurion in Holy Writ: if it did not, and difficulties arose, the leaders
were not troubled with an undue tenderness either towards the individual or
the theory. Of this we shall see examples as we go on.
This period has been called "The Grand Period of the Moslem Corsairs"
because it was in something less than a century, from the year of the
expulsion of the Moors from Granada in 1492 to the death of Ali Basha in
1580, that the Sea-wolves were at the height of their power, that the
piratical States of the Mediterranean were in the making.
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