HUSAYNID DYNASTY

the ruling dynasty of Tunisia from 1705 until the establishment of the Republic of Tunisia in 1957. Al-Husayn ibn 'Ali, an Ottoman officer, was proclaimed bey in 1705 after the Algerians captured the former ruler of Tunis. He received legal recognition by the Ottoman sultan as governor (beylerbeyi) of the province and assured the survival of his line by promulgating a law of succession in 1710. Al-Husayn conducted his affairs without Ottoman interference and with a measure of independence that allowed him to maintain separate treaties with France (1710; 1728), Great Britain (1716), Spain (1720), Austria (1725), and Holland (1728). Intermittent internal struggles for succession and difficulties with the French marred subsequent Husaynid history. In 1756 the Algerians occupied Tunis and beheaded 'Ali Bey (reigned 173556). Hammuda Bey (reigned 17821814) severed ties with Venice after its attacks on the Tunisian coastal towns of Susah (1784) and Halq al-Wadi (1785). He also faced two Algerian invasions (1807; 1813) and a revolt of the Janissaries in 1811, which forced him to disband the elite Ottoman military corps periodically recruited to supplement the local armies. Their European alliances made the Husaynid beys subject to European pressures in the 19th century. Privateering, an important source of Tunisian revenue, was suppressed at European insistence in 1819; slavery and restrictions on Tunisian Jews were abolished under Ahmad Bey (reigned 183755). The Ottoman government also sought to curb Tunisian autonomy, but Ahmad Bey refused to pay tribute. Western-style reforms followed in the second half of the 19th century. With the imposition of a French protectorate over Tunisia in 1883, the Husaynids receded into a purely figurative role. During World War II, Munsif Bey (reigned June 1942May 1943) briefly became leader of the nationalist movement, but the dynasty proved unable to regain any real power. It came to an end with the proclamation of a Tunisian republic (July 25, 1957).