The Allouite Dynasty had a long run in Fez having avoided Ottoman occupation and being a mercantile center for Barbary pirates and the Timbuctoo gold trade. Then they signed on for French protection and had to flee partly from the strange people they suddenly found themselves dealing with. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
This is a great image of period Fez. You get a sense of it’s ancient status, it’s inland desolateness, and the Picasso style rendering communicates what a wild place it must have been. Sadly all the things that used to make it interesting faded as all diversity there fled after independence and now Fez is just left with masses of poor and a few rich enclaves.
Todays stamp is issue A33, a three Franc stamp issued by French Morocco in 1939. It was a 37 stamp issue in various denominations that lasted over many years. According to the Scott catalog the stamp is worth 30 cents used.
Fez was founded by Berbers in the 8th century AD. It was ruled for most of it’s history by an Arab Sultan. The Sultan was fairly unique in having successfully resisted Ottoman domination. The place really took off when Muslims and Jews were expelled from Spain but welcomed in Fez. The place became a center of somewhat elicit business dealings involving the Timbuctoo gold trade and Barbary pirate loot. The Sultan protected all this in order to take his cut, but there was always much intrigue. There was also some manufacturing including leatherwork and of course the hats named after the place. Early on all Fezzes were made there and the color came from a berry native to the area. In the early 20th century the Sultan of Fez signed on as a French protectorate after French had replaced the Ottomans in neighboring Algeria. Suddenly all hell broke loose.
The Frenchman sent to work with the Sultan was Hubert Lyautey. French Prime Minister Clemenceau referred to Lyautey as an admirable and courageous man who always had balls stuck up his ass. It just a shame that they are not always his. He communicated with the local Arabs through multilingual authoress Isabelle Eberhardt. She was Swiss of Russian anarchist ancestry who wrote dirty stories of sexual deviancy in North Africa often involving necrophilia. She herself professed a conversion to Islam but dressed as a man and was plagued by bouts of syphilis and malaria. When details of the treaty of Fez got out the city reacted immediately with outright rebellion. The French protection turned out to be minimal. Most of the troops they commanded were local Askaris and they mutinied and joined the rebellion. You can read about other Askari troops in the Congo here, https://the-philatelist.com/2018/10/10/belgian-congo-1942-can-colonials-rely-on-askari-soldiers-when-the-home-country-is-occupied/ .
Eventually the city was bought back under French control but not before the Sultan had to flee and set up a new capital at Rabat. The Jewish quarter was especially hard hit and with that the economy collapsed. Isabelle Eberhardt died mysteriously in a flash flood at age 27.
Well my drink is empty and I am left wondering if the French sent there started acting crazy because of how Fez was or in spite of it. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.