Dirk Leopold

Dirk von Arkensture (1532 - 1580) was a Dutch privateer. He was famous for The Battle of the Lion, a naval attack against a small port town on an island of the Balearic Islands, Las Morris.

Early life
'''Dirk Willem von Arkensture Jr. '''was born September 30, 1532. He was born to beggar Olga Ghuste von Arkensture (Flufer) and military recruit Dirk Willem von Arkensture Sr. in Sint-Anders. His parents were immigrants from Den Haag. During his child years, he always admired his father for being a proud cadet. But, when he 12, Dirk was shot in the right leg, never being able to use that leg ever again. So, when he turned 15, he enrolled in the army.

Adulthood
Dirk always admired King Anders I, mostly because he always sang a tune that made von Arkensture upbeat and cheerful while in the army. It went something like this: "Al mijn soldaten, vrijheid is gratis, zullen we de strijd winnen en hak die kersenboom!" In English it's this: "All my soldiers, liberty is free, we will win this battle and chop that cherry tree!" So, when Dirk became 24, he asked the king to become to a privateer. he said yes, so he got on a boat and destroyed French and English ships. But one day, on April 4, 1557, a Spanish ship heading to the New World thought the Brunanter ship was trying to get there first to the golden city El Dorado, fired at the ship and almost sank it near Galicia, Spain. Dirk and his crew used the wooden bits of the ship to make a raft and go to the nearest allied city. So, he went to Chester Parish barely alive with a case of hypothermia. During his rehabilitation, he met a French volunteer nurse named Marie Florenza. They married after his rehabilition ended in 1558 and had 3 children: Jacques (b. 1559), Andre (b. 1561), and Helena (b. 1562). After that, he wet back into becoming a privateer.

The Battle of the Lion
So, on December 12, 1565, he was patroling Brunant and her islands when suddenly, a Spanish armada of 5 warships attacked and destroyed one of Dirk's 6 warships! So, he went to the Balearic Islands to siege and loot the port town of Las Morris for Brunant. But when he got there, he met an army of 4,000 and a Danish-Spanish general named Filip Floracas. So, he went back to Brunant, bribed a general named Arkun Rilleg and borrowed about 7,000 army recruits from Brunant. So, he sailed back to Las Morris a few days later and met the army again, but with his own army. So, they fought and the Brunanters won and sieged the castle for 14 weeks and looted 39 gold pieces from the castle. When he returned home, he became a national hero! The king himself honored Dirk by giving him a medal saying," A naval hero in the making." Also, he became known as Captain-Privateer Arkensture. But, something tragic happened in the same year, 1565. His wife, Marie, died from heart complications. This mixing of happiness and sadness made Dirk depressed and forgetful for a long time. He even thought he didn't deserve the honorary medal and title. But things went to the extreme when in 1567, he got a pill that he'd use as a weapon and tried to poison himself. But, it was very old and weak, so it only gave him minor stomach aches and headaches.

Later life and death
After quitting his job, he became a beggar on the streets and only got 1 thaler a week. It made even more depresssed. But, he just had enough money form his job as a privateer and begging that he was able to move to original town his parents lived in, Den Haag. He lived there until he died in 1580 of internal bleeding.