Moslims, ‘morale deuchden’ en commercieel succes: Het slavernijverslag van Emanuel d’Aranda, 1640-1682

Abstract

Historie vande Turckse Slavernie, the narrative of Emanuel d'Aranda's North-Africancaptivity, is a unique case within the genre of early modern captivity tales. Besides several seventeenth-century editions, we can dispose of the recently discovered original manuscript. Compared to the first edition in print, it seems that tone and content of the manuscript were radically altered to accommodate a concept of universal morality, which was further accentuated in all subsequent editions. This article argues that d'Aranda and his publishers transformed Turckse Slavernie to fit the genre of moral prose, aiming to reach a broad and international audience.