the captive

Also known as: Captain Viedma / Christian / Christian captive / Ruy Perez de Viedma / captain / her Spaniard / the captain · Family: Christian captives · Role: Christian captive · First appears: Part 1, Ch. 37.2

After supper in Part 1, Ch. 38, the captive agrees to tell Don Fernando the story of his life. He recounts joining Duke of Alva, serving under him, witnessing the deaths of Egmont and Horn, and becoming ensign under Diego de Urbina; later, eager for the campaign led by Don John of Austria, he enters the fighting and is captured by El Uchali. At the galley he shares slavery with Don Pedro de Aguilar, and after El Uchali’s death he falls to Hassan Aga, whom he follows from Constantinople to Algiers. There, recognized as a captain and placed among gentlemen awaiting ransom, he is chained “more as a mark of this than to keep me safe.”

In Algiers, Zoraida begins sending him money and Arabic letters through a reed and cloth, eventually asking him to arrange their escape and offering to marry him. He confides in the renegade, who translates her letters, pledges to risk his life for their freedom, and helps organize a common escape; the captive gives him five hundred crowns for a vessel, recruits twelve Spanish rowers, and secures his own release through a Valencian merchant. With further money from Zoraida, they take her from Hadji Morato’s garden, though the captive’s group rescues Hadji Morato when he throws himself into the sea. theFrenchcorsairs destroy their vessel and capture them, but later provide a skiff and supplies near the Spanish coast; the captain gives Zoraida forty gold crowns and protects her garments from his men before they reach shore and recover their liberty.

At Velez Malaga, Pedro de Bustamante helps carry the released captives and shelters the captive, Zoraida, and the renegade with his family. At the inn, the captive recognizes Juan Perez de Viedma as his long-lost brother, while the curate arranges for the recognition to be revealed; the judge then identifies him as his eldest brother. The brothers embrace, Doña Clara de Viedma embraces Zoraida, and Don Fernando, Cardenio, and others offer their help; finally, the captain and Zoraida agree to return to Seville with Juan Perez de Viedma and send word to their father so he can attend her baptism and marriage.