Sayyida al Hurra

Sayyida al Hurra, (Arabic: السيدة الحرة‎‎), full name Sayyida al-Hurra bint Ali ibn Rashid al-Alami, Hakimat Titwan, (1485 - after 1542), was a Berber queen of Tétouan in 1515-1542 and a pirate queen in the early 16th century. She is considered to be "one of the most important female figures of the Islamic West in the modern age".

Allied with the Turkish corsair Barbarossa of Algiers, al Hurra controlled the western Mediterranean Sea while Barbarossa controlled the eastern. She was also prefect of Tétouan. In 1515 she became the last person in Islamic history to legitimately hold the title of al Hurra (Queen) following the death of her husband, who ruled Tétouan. She later married the Berber King of Morocco, Ahmed al-Wattasi, but refused to leave Tétouan to do so. This marriage marks the only time in Moroccan history a King married away from the capital, Fez.

The title sayyida al Hurra means "noble lady who is free and independent; the woman sovereign who bows to no superior authority." Hakima Tatwan means governor of Tétouan.

Sayyida al Hurra was born around 1485 (Hijri around 890) to a prominent Muslim family, the Banu Rashid. Her family origins were Berber Moroccan or Andalusian. She fled with her family to Morocco when Ferdinand and Isabella conquered the Muslim kingdom of Granada in 1492, at the end of the Reconquista; they settled in Chaouen.

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