Barbarossa Khair ad Din Pasha
Encyclopedia
Hayreddin Barbarossa or Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha ( or Hızır Hayreddin (Hayrettin) Paşa; also Khizr Reis before being promoted to the rank of Pasha
and becoming the Kapudan-i Derya, born Khizr or Khidr, Turkish
: Hızır; c. 1478 – 4 July 1546) was an Ottoman
admiral
who dominated the Mediterranean for decades. He was born on the island of Lesbos
/ Mytilini
and died in Constantinople (Istanbul
), the Ottoman capital.
Hayreddin (Arabic: Khair ad-Din خير الدين, which literally means Goodness or best of the Religion of Islam
) was an honorary name given to him by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent
. He became known as Barbarossa (Redbeard in Italian) in Europe, a name he inherited from his elder brother "Baba Oruç" (Father Aruj) after Aruj
was killed in a battle with the Spanish in Algeria. This name sounded like "Barbarossa" (Redbeard) to the Europeans, and Aruj did have a red beard. The nickname stuck then also to Hayreddin's Turkish name, in the form Barbaros.
) to his father Yakup Ağa to his mother Katerina. His mother was referred as a local Christian Greek woman from Mytilene, the widow of an Orthodox priest. His father Yakup was Turkish
as well as a former Sipahi
from Yenice-i Vardar (modern Yannitsa
) and took part in the Ottoman conquest of Lesbos from the Genoese
in 1462, and as a reward, was granted the fief of the Bonova village in the island. Yakup and Katerina were married and had two daughters and four sons: Ishak, Aruj
, Khizr and Ilyas. Yakup became an established potter and purchased a boat to trade his products. The four sons helped their father with his business, but not much is known about the daughters. At first Aruj helped with the boat, while Khizr helped with pottery.
All four brothers became seamen, engaged in marine affairs and international sea trade. The first brother to become involved in seamanship was Aruj, who was joined by his brother Ilyas. Later, obtaining his own ship, Khizr also began his career at sea. The brothers initially worked as sailors, but then turned privateers in the Mediterranean to counteract the privateering of the Knights of St. John
of the Island of Rhodes
. Aruj and Ilyas operated in the Levant
, between Anatolia
, Syria, and Egypt. Khizr operated in the Aegean Sea
and based his operations mostly in Thessaloniki. Ishak, the eldest, remained on Mytilene
and was involved with the financial affairs of the family business.
was a very successful seaman. He also learned to speak Italian, Spanish, French, Greek and Arabic in the early years of his career. While returning from a trading expedition in Tripoli, Lebanon
with his younger brother Ilyas, they were attacked by the Knights of St. John. Ilyas was killed in the fight, and Aruj was wounded. Their father's boat was captured, and Aruj was taken as a prisoner and detained in the Knights' castle
at Bodrum
for nearly three years. Upon learning the location of his brother, Khizr went to Bodrum and managed to help Aruj escape.
Aruj later went to Antalya
, where he was given 18 galleys by Shehzade Korkud, an Ottoman prince and governor of the city, and charged with fighting against the Knights of St. John who were inflicting serious damage on Ottoman shipping and trade. In the following years, when Shehzade Korkud became governor of Manisa
, he gave Aruj a larger fleet of 24 galleys at the port of İzmir
and ordered him to participate in the Ottoman naval expedition to Apulia
in Italy, where Aruj bombarded several coastal castles and captured two ships. On his way back to Lesbos, he stopped at Euboea
and captured three galleons and another ship. Reaching Mytilene with these captured vessels, Aruj learned that Shehzade Korkud, brother of the new Ottoman sultan, had fled to Egypt in order to avoid being killed because of succession disputes – a common practice at that time. Fearing trouble due to his well-known association with the exiled Ottoman prince, Aruj sailed to Egypt, where he met Shehzade Korkud in Cairo
and managed to get an audience with the Mamluk
Sultan Qansuh al-Ghawri
, who gave him another ship and appointed him with the task of raiding the coasts of Italy and the islands of the Mediterranean that were controlled by Christians. After passing the winter in Cairo, he set sail from Alexandria
and frequently operated along the coasts of Liguria
and Sicily
.
his new base, thus moving his operations to the Western Mediterranean. Khizr joined Aruj at Djerba. In 1504 the brothers contacted Abu Abdullah Mohammed Hamis, Sultan of Tunisia from the Beni Hafs dynasty, and asked permission to use the strategically located port of La Goulette
for their operations. They were granted this right with the condition of leaving one third of their gains to the sultan. Aruj, in command of small galliots, captured two much larger Papal
galleys near the island of Elba
. Later, near Lipari
, the two brothers captured a Sicilian
warship, the Cavalleria, with 380 Spanish soldiers and 60 Spanish knights from Aragon
on board, who were on their way from Spain to Naples
. In 1505 they raided the coasts of Calabria
. These accomplishments increased their fame and they were joined by several other well-known Muslim corsairs, including Kurtoğlu
(known in the West as Curtogoli). In 1508 they raided the coasts of Liguria, particularly Diano Marina
.
In 1509 Ishak also left Mytilene and joined his brothers at La Goulette. The fame of Aruj increased when between 1504 and 1510 he transported Muslim Mudéjar
s from Christian Spain to North Africa. His efforts of helping the Muslims of Spain in need and transporting them to safer lands earned him the honorific name Baba Aruj (Father Aruj), which eventually – due the similarity in sound – evolved in Spain, France and Italy into Barbarossa
(meaning Redbeard in Italian).
In 1510 the three brothers raided Cape Passero in Sicily and repulsed a Spanish attack on Bougie
, Oran
and Algiers
. In August 1511 they raided the areas around Reggio Calabria
in southern Italy. In August 1512 the exiled ruler of Bougie invited the brothers to drive out the Spaniards, and during the battle Aruj lost his left arm. This incident earned him the nickname Gümüş Kol (Silver Arm in Turkish), in reference to the silver prosthetic device which he used in place of his missing limb. Later that year the three brothers raided the coasts of Andalusia
in Spain, capturing a galliot of the Lomellini family of Genoa who owned the Tabarca
island in that area. They subsequently landed on Minorca
and captured a coastal castle, and then headed towards Liguria where they captured four Genoese galleys near Genoa. The Genoese sent a fleet to liberate their ships, but the brothers captured their flagship as well. After capturing a total of 23 ships in less than a month, the brothers sailed back to La Goulette.
There they built three more galliots and a gunpowder production facility. In 1513 they captured four English ships on their way to France, raided Valencia where they captured four more ships, and then headed for Alicante
and captured a Spanish galley near Málaga
. In 1513 and 1514 the three brothers engaged the Spanish fleet on several other occasions and moved to their new base in Cherchell
, east of Algiers. In 1514, with 12 galliots and 1,000 Turks, they destroyed two Spanish fortresses at Bougie, and when the Spanish fleet under the command of Miguel de Gurrea, viceroy of Majorca, arrived for assistance, they headed towards Ceuta
and raided that city before capturing Jijel
in Algeria, which was under Genoese control. They later captured Mahdiya in Tunisia. Afterwards they raided the coasts of Sicily, Sardinia
, the Balearic Islands
and the Spanish mainland, capturing three large ships there. In 1515 they captured several galleons, a galley and three barques at Majorca. Still in 1515 Aruj sent precious gifts to the Ottoman Sultan Selim I
who, in return, sent him two galleys and two swords embellished with diamonds. In 1516, joined by Kurtoğlu (Curtogoli)
, the brothers besieged the Castle of Elba, before heading once more towards Liguria where they captured 12 ships and damaged 28 others.
In 1516 the three brothers succeeded in liberating Jijel and Algiers from the Spaniards, but eventually assumed control over the city and surrounding region, forcing the previous ruler, Abu Hamo Musa III of the Beni Ziyad dynasty, to flee. The Spaniards in Algiers sought refuge on the island of Peñón
off the Moroccan coast and asked Charles V
, King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor, to intervene, but the Spanish fleet failed to force the brothers out of Algiers.
, Medea
and Ténès
. He became known for attaching sails to cannons for transport through the deserts of North Africa. In 1517 the brothers raided Capo Limiti and later the Island of Capo Rizzuto
in Calabria.
For Aruj the best protection against Spain was to join the Ottoman Empire, his homeland and Spain's main rival. For this he had to relinquish his title of Sultan of Algiers to the Ottomans. He did this in 1517 and offered Algiers to the Ottoman Sultan. The Sultan accepted Algiers as an Ottoman Sanjak (Province), appointed Aruj Governor of Algiers and Chief Sea Governor of the Western Mediterranean, and promised to support him with janissaries
, galleys and cannons.
and Oran
, to attack Aruj Reis from land, but Aruj learned of the plan and pre-emptively struck against Tlemcen, capturing the city and executing Abu Zayan in the Fall of Tlemcen (1517)
. The only survivor of Abu Zayan's dynasty was Sheikh Buhammud, who escaped to Oran and called for Spain's assistance.
In May 1518, Emperor Charles V
arrived at Oran
and was received at the port by Sheikh Buhammud and the Spanish governor of the city, Diego de Córdoba, marquess of Comares, who commanded a force of 10,000 Spanish soldiers. Joined by thousands of local Bedouins, the Spaniards marched overland towards Tlemcen. Aruj and Ishak awaited them in the city with 1,500 Turkish and 5,000 Moorish soldiers. They defended Tlemcen for 20 days, but were eventually killed in combat by the forces of Garcia de Tineo.
Khizr Reis, now given the title of Beylerbey
by Sultan Selim I
, along with janissaries, galleys and cannons, inherited his brother's place, his name (Barbarossa
) and his mission.
s from Spain to North Africa, thereby assuring himself of a sizeable following of grateful and loyal Muslims, who harbored an intense hatred for Spain. He captured Bone
, and in 1519 he defeated a Spanish-Italian army that tried to recapture Algiers. In a separate incident he sank a Spanish ship and captured eight others. Still in 1519 he raided Provence
, Toulon
and the Îles d'Hyères
in southern France. In 1521 he raided the Balearic Islands and later captured several Spanish ships returning from the New World
off Cadiz
. In 1522 he sent his ships, under the command of Kurtoğlu
, to participate in the Ottoman conquest of Rhodes
which resulted in the departure of the Knights of St. John from that island on 1 January 1523.
In June 1525 he raided the coasts of Sardinia. In May 1526 he landed at Crotone
in Calabria and sacked the city, sank a Spanish galley and a Spanish fusta
in the harbor, assaulted Castignano
in Marche on the Adriatic Sea
and later landed at Cape Spartivento. In June 1526 he landed at Reggio Calabria and later destroyed the fort at the port of Messina. He then appeared on the coasts of Tuscany
, but retreated after seeing the fleet of Andrea Doria
and the Knights of St. John off the coast of Piombino
. In July 1526 Barbarossa appeared once again in Messina and raided the coasts of Campania
. In 1527 he raided many ports and castles on the coasts of Italy and Spain.
In May 1529 he captured the Spanish fort on the island of Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera
that controlled the north Moroccan coast. In August 1529 he attacked the Mediterranean coasts of Spain and later helped 70,000 Morisco
s to escape from Andalusia
in seven consecutive journeys. In January 1530 he again raided the coasts of Sicily and in March and June of that year the Balearic Islands and Marseilles. In July 1530 he appeared along the coasts of the Provence and Liguria, capturing two Genoese ships. In August 1530 he raided the coasts of Sardinia and in October appeared at Piombino, capturing a barque from Viareggio
and three French galleons, before capturing two more ships off Calabria. In December 1530 he captured the Castle of Cabrera
, in the Balearic Islands, and started to use the island as a logistic base for his operations in the area.
In 1531 he encountered Andrea Doria
, who had been appointed by Charles V to recapture Jijel
and Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera
, and repulsed the Spanish-Genoese fleet of 40 galleys. Still in 1531 he raided the island of Favignana
, where the flagship of the Maltese Knights under the command of Francesco Touchebeuf unsuccessfully attacked his fleet. Barbarossa then sailed eastwards and landed in Calabria and Apulia. On the way back to Algiers he sank a ship of the Maltese Knights near Messina before assaulting Tripoli
which had been given to the Knights of St. John by Charles V in 1530. In October 1531 he again raided the coasts of Spain.
In 1532, during Suleiman I's expedition to Habsburg Austria
, Andrea Doria captured Coron
, Patras
and Lepanto
on the coasts of the Morea
(Peloponnese). In response, Suleiman sent the forces of Yahya Pashazade Mehmed Bey, who recaptured these cities. But the event made Suleiman realize the importance of having a powerful commander at sea. He summoned Barbarossa to Constantinople, who set sail in August 1532. Having raided Sardinia, Bonifacio in Corsica, the Islands of Montecristo
, Elba and Lampedusa
, he captured 18 galleys near Messina and learned from the captured prisoners that Doria was headed to Preveza
. Barbarossa proceeded to raid the nearby coasts of Calabria and then sailed towards Preveza. Doria's forces fled after a short battle, but only after Barbarossa had captured seven of their galleys. He arrived at Preveza with a total of 44 galleys, but sent 25 of them back to Algiers and headed to Constantinople with 19 ships. There he was received by Sultan Suleiman at Topkapı Palace
. Suleiman appointed Barbarossa Kapudan-i Derya (Grand Admiral) of the Ottoman Navy and Beylerbey
(Chief Governor) of North Africa. Barbarossa was also given the government of the Sanjak (Province) of Rhodes
and those of Euboea
and Chios
in the Aegean Sea
.
, the Ottoman embassy to France (1533)
. Francis I would in turn dispatch Antonio Rincon
to Barbarossa in North Africa and then to Suleiman the Magnificent
in Asia Minor
. Following a second embassy, the Ottoman embassy to France (1534)
, Francis I sent his ambassador Jehan de la Forest to Hayreddin Barbarossa, asking for his naval support against the Habsburg:
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In 1534 Barbarossa set sail from Constantinople with 80 galleys and in April he recaptured Coron
, Patras
and Lepanto from the Spaniards. In July 1534 he crossed the Strait of Messina
and raided the Calabrian coasts, capturing a substantial number of ships around Reggio Calabria as well as the Castle of San Lucido
. He later destroyed the port of Cetraro
and the ships harbored there. Still in July 1534 he appeared in Campania
and sacked the islands of Capri and Procida
, before bombarding the ports in the Gulf of Naples
. He then appeared in Lazio, shelled Gaeta
and in August landed at Villa Santa Lucia
, Sant'Isidoro, Sperlonga
, Fondi
, Terracina
and Ostia on the River Tiber
, causing the church bells in Rome to ring the alarm. He then sailed south, appearing at Ponza
, Sicily and Sardinia, before capturing Tunis in August 1534 and sending the Hafsid Sultan Mulei Hassan fleeing. He also captured the strategic port of La Goulette
.
Mulei Hassan asked Emperor Charles V for assistance to recover his kingdom, and a Spanish-Italian force of 300 galleys and 24,000 soldiers recaptured Tunis as well as Bone
and Mahdiya in 1535. Recognizing the futility of armed resistance, Barbarossa had abandoned Tunis well before the arrival of the invaders, sailing away into the Tyrrhenian Sea
, where he bombarded ports, landed once again at Capri and reconstructed a fort (which still today carries his name) after largely destroying it during the siege of the island. He then sailed to Algiers, from where he raided the coastal towns of Spain, destroyed the ports of Majorca and Minorca, captured several Spanish and Genoese galleys and liberated their Muslim oar slaves. In September 1535 he repulsed another Spanish attack on Tlemcen
.
In 1536 Barbarossa was called back to Constantinople to take command of 200 ships in a naval attack on the Habsburg
Kingdom of Naples
. In July 1537 he landed at Otranto
and captured the city, as well as the Fortress of Castro and the city of Ugento
in Apulia.
In August 1537, Lütfi Pasha
and Barbarossa led a huge Ottoman force which captured the Aegean
and Ionian
islands belonging to the Republic of Venice
, namely Syros
, Aegina
, Ios
, Paros
, Tinos
, Karpathos
, Kasos
, Kythira
, and Naxos. In the same year Barbarossa raided Corfu
and obliterated the agricultural cultivations of the island while enslaving nearly all the population of the countryside However, the Old Fortress of Corfu was well defended by a 4,000-strong Venetian garrison with 700 guns, and when several assaults failed to capture the fortifications, the Turks reluctantly re-embarked, and once again raided Calabria
. These losses caused Venice to ask Pope Paul III
to organize a "Holy League" against the Ottomans.
In February 1538, Pope Paul III succeeded in assembling a Holy League (composed of the Papacy, Spain, the Holy Roman Empire
, the Republic of Venice and the Maltese Knights) against the Ottomans, but Barbarossa defeated its combined fleet, commanded by Andrea Doria
, at the Battle of Preveza
in September 1538. This victory secured Ottoman dominance over the Mediterranean for the next 33 years, until the Battle of Lepanto
in 1571.
In the summer of 1539 Barbarossa captured the islands of Skiathos
, Skyros
, Andros
and Serifos
and recaptured Castelnuovo
from the Spanish, who had taken it from the Ottomans after the battle of Preveza. He also captured the nearby Castle of Risan
and later assaulted the Venetian fortress of Cattaro and the Spanish fortress of Santa Veneranda near Pesaro
. Barbarossa later took the remaining Christian outposts in the Ionian and Aegean Seas. Venice finally signed a peace treaty with Sultan Suleiman in October 1540, agreeing to recognize the Ottoman territorial gains and to pay 300,000 gold ducats.
In September 1540, Emperor Charles V contacted Barbarossa and offered him to become his Admiral-in-Chief as well as the ruler of Spain's territories in North Africa, but he refused. Unable to persuade Barbarossa to switch sides, in October 1541, Charles himself laid siege to Algiers, seeking to end the corsair threat to the Spanish domains and Christian shipping in the western Mediterranean. The season was not ideal for such a campaign, and both Andrea Doria, who commanded the fleet, and the old Hernan Cortés
, who had been asked by Charles to participate in the campaign, attempted to change the Emperor's mind but failed. Eventually a violent storm disrupted Charles' landing operations. Andrea Doria took his fleet away into open waters to avoid being wrecked on the shore, but much of the Spanish fleet went aground. After some indecisive fighting on land, Charles had to abandon the effort and withdraw his severely battered force.
In 1543 Barbarossa headed towards Marseilles to assist France, then an ally of the Ottoman Empire, and cruised the western Mediterranean with a fleet of 210 ships (70 galleys, 40 galliots and 100 other warships carrying 14,000 Turkish soldiers, thus an overall total of 30,000 Ottoman troops.) On his way, while passing through the Strait of Messina, he asked Diego Gaetani, the governor of Reggio Calabria, to surrender his city. Gaetani responded with cannon fire, which killed three Turkish sailors. Barbarossa, angered by the response, besieged and captured the city. He then landed on the coasts of Campania and Lazio, and from the mouth of the Tiber threatened Rome, but France intervened in favor of the Pope's city. Barbarossa then raided several Italian and Spanish islands and coastal settlements before laying the Siege of Nice
and capturing the city on 5 August 1543 on behalf of the French king Francis I
. The Ottoman captain later landed at Antibes
and the Île Sainte-Marguerite
near Cannes
, before sacking the city of San Remo
, other ports of Liguria, Monaco and La Turbie
. He spent the winter with his fleet and 30,000 Turkish soldiers in Toulon
, but occasionally sent his ships from there to bombard the coasts of Spain. The Christian population had been evacuated and the Cathedral of St. Mary in Toulon was transformed into a mosque for the Turkish soldiers, while Ottoman money was accepted for transactions by the French tradesmen in the city.
In the spring of 1544, after assaulting San Remo for the second time and landing at Borghetto Santo Spirito
and Ceriale
, Barbarossa defeated another Spanish-Italian fleet and raided deeply into the Kingdom of Naples. He then sailed to Genoa with his 210 ships and threatened to attack the city unless it freed Turgut Reis
, who had been serving as a galley slave on a Genoese ship and then imprisoned in the city since his capture in Corsica
by Giannettino Doria in 1540. Barbarossa was invited by Andrea Doria
to discuss the issue at his palace in the Fassolo district of Genoa, and the two admirals negotiated the release of Turgut Reis in exchange for 3,500 gold ducat
s. Barbarossa then successfully repulsed further Spanish attacks on southern France, but was recalled to Constantinople after Charles V and Suleiman had agreed to a truce in 1544.
After leaving the Provence from the port of Île Sainte-Marguerite in May 1544, Barbarossa assaulted San Remo for the third time, and when he appeared before Vado Ligure
, the Republic of Genoa sent him a substantial sum to save other Genoese cities from further attacks. In June 1544 Barbarossa appeared before Elba. Threatening to bombard Piombino
unless the city released the son of Sinan Reis who had been captured 10 years earlier by the Spaniards in Tunis, he obtained his release. He then captured Castiglione della Pescaia
, Talamone
and Orbetello
in the province of Grosseto
in Tuscany. There he destroyed the tomb and burned the remains of Bartolomeo Peretti, who had burned his father's house in Mytilene
the previous year, in 1543. He then captured Montiano
and occupied Porto Ercole and the Isle of Giglio. He later assaulted Civitavecchia
, but Leone Strozzi
, the French envoy, convinced Barbarossa to lift the siege.
The Ottoman fleet then assaulted the coasts of Sardinia before appearing at Ischia
and landing there in July 1544, capturing the city as well as Forio
and the Isle of Procida
before threatening Pozzuoli
. Encountering 30 galleys under Giannettino Doria, Barbarossa forced them to sail away towards Sicily and seek refuge in Messina. Due to strong winds the Ottomans were unable to attack Salerno
but managed to land at Cape Palinuro
nearby. Barbarossa then entered the Strait of Messina and landed at Catona, Fiumara
and Calanna
near Reggio Calabria and later at Cariati
and at Lipari
, which was his final landing on the Italian peninsula. There he bombarded the citadel for 15 days after the city refused to surrender, and eventually captured it.
He finally returned to Constantinople, and in 1545 left the city for his final naval expeditions, during which he bombarded the ports of the Spanish mainland and landed at Majorca and Minorca for the last time. He then sailed back to Constantinople and built a palace on the Bosphorus, in the present-day quarter of Büyükdere in the Sarıyer
district.
as his successor in Algiers. He then dictated his memoirs to Muradi Sinan Reis. They consist of five hand-written volumes known as "Gazavat-ı Hayreddin Paşa" (Conquests of Hayreddin Pasha). Today they are exhibited at the Topkapı Palace
and Istanbul University
Library. They are prepared and published by Babıali Kültür Yayıncılığı
as "Kaptan Paşa'nın Seyir Defteri" (The Logbook of the Captain Pasha) by Prof. Dr. Ahmet Şimşirgil
, a Turkish academic. They are also fictionalised as "Akdeniz Bizimdi" (The Mediterranean was Ours) by M. Ertuğrul Düzdağ. Barbarossa is also one of the main characters in Mika Waltari
's book the Wanderer
(1949).
Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha died in 1546 in his seaside palace in the Büyükdere neighbourhood of Constantinople, on the northwestern shores of the Bosphorus. He is buried in the tall mausoleum
(türbe
) near the ferry port of the district of Beşiktaş
on the European side of Istanbul; which was built in 1541 by the famous architect Mimar Sinan, at the site where his fleet used to assemble. His memorial was built in 1944, next to his mausoleum.
, a Jewish symbol, used by Israel today. However, in medieval times, this star was a popular Islamic symbol known as the Seal of Solomon
(Suleiman) and was widely used by the Beyliks of Anatolia
. The seal was later used by the Ottomans in their mosque decorations, coins and the personal flags of the pasha
s, including Hayreddin Barbarossa. One of the Turkish beyliks known to use the seal on its flag was the Jandarids. According to the Catalan Atlas of 1375 by A. Cresques, the flag of the Karamanids, another Anatolian beylik, consisted of a blue 6-edged star.
in 1571. But even after their defeat in Lepanto, the Ottomans quickly rebuilt their fleet, regained Cyprus and other lost territories in Morea
and Dalmatia
from the Republic of Venice
between 1571 and 1572, and conquered Tunisia from Spain in 1574. Furthermore, the Ottomans ventured into the northern Atlantic Ocean between 1585 and 1660, and continued to be a major Mediterranean sea power for three more centuries, until the reign of Sultan Abdülaziz
, when the Ottoman fleet, which had 21 battleships and 173 other types of warships, ranked as the third largest naval force in the world after the British and French navies.
However, during these centuries of great seamen such as Kemal Reis
before him; his brother Aruj and other contemporaries Turgut Reis
, Salih Reis
, Piri Reis
and Kurtoğlu Muslihiddin Reis
; or Piyale Pasha
, Murat Reis, Seydi Ali Reis
, Uluç Ali Reis and Kurtoğlu Hızır Reis
after him, few other Ottoman admirals ever achieved the overwhelming naval power of Hayreddin Barbarossa.
His mausoleum is in the Barbaros Park of Beşiktaş
, Istanbul, where his statue also stands, right next to the Turkish Naval Museum. On the back of the statue are verses by the Turkish poet Yahya Kemal Beyatlı
which may be translated as follows:
Whence on the sea's horizon comes that roar?
Can it be Barbarossa now returning
From Tunis or Algiers or from the Isles?
Two hundred vessels ride upon the waves,
Coming from lands the rising Crescent lights:
O blessed ships, from what seas are ye come?
Barbaros Boulevard starts from his mausoleum on the Bosphorus and runs all the way up to the Levent
and Maslak
business districts and beyond. He gave his name to Üsküdar
and Eminönü
port (before 10 January 2009 Kadıköy
) in Beşiktaş
.
In the centuries following his death, even today, Turkish seamen salute his mausoleum with a cannon shot before leaving for naval operations and battles.
Several warships of the Turkish Navy
and passenger ships have been named after him.
Pasha
Pasha or pascha, formerly bashaw, was a high rank in the Ottoman Empire political system, typically granted to governors, generals and dignitaries. As an honorary title, Pasha, in one of its various ranks, is equivalent to the British title of Lord, and was also one of the highest titles in...
and becoming the Kapudan-i Derya, born Khizr or Khidr, Turkish
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
: Hızır; c. 1478 – 4 July 1546) was an Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
admiral
Admiral
Admiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet . It is usually abbreviated to "Adm" or "ADM"...
who dominated the Mediterranean for decades. He was born on the island of Lesbos
Lesbos Island
Lesbos is a Greek island located in the northeastern Aegean Sea. It has an area of with 320 kilometres of coastline, making it the third largest Greek island. It is separated from Turkey by the narrow Mytilini Strait....
/ Mytilini
Mytilene
Mytilene is a town and a former municipality on the island of Lesbos, North Aegean, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Lesbos, of which it is a municipal unit. It is the capital of the island of Lesbos. Mytilene, whose name is pre-Greek, is built on the...
and died in Constantinople (Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
), the Ottoman capital.
Hayreddin (Arabic: Khair ad-Din خير الدين, which literally means Goodness or best of the Religion of Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
) was an honorary name given to him by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent
Suleiman the Magnificent
Suleiman I was the tenth and longest-reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1520 to his death in 1566. He is known in the West as Suleiman the Magnificent and in the East, as "The Lawgiver" , for his complete reconstruction of the Ottoman legal system...
. He became known as Barbarossa (Redbeard in Italian) in Europe, a name he inherited from his elder brother "Baba Oruç" (Father Aruj) after Aruj
Aruj
Aruj or Arouj was the elder brother of Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha and Ottoman Bey of Algiers and Beylerbey of the West Mediterranean...
was killed in a battle with the Spanish in Algeria. This name sounded like "Barbarossa" (Redbeard) to the Europeans, and Aruj did have a red beard. The nickname stuck then also to Hayreddin's Turkish name, in the form Barbaros.
Background
Khizr was born in the 1470s on the island of Midilli (LesbosLesbos Island
Lesbos is a Greek island located in the northeastern Aegean Sea. It has an area of with 320 kilometres of coastline, making it the third largest Greek island. It is separated from Turkey by the narrow Mytilini Strait....
) to his father Yakup Ağa to his mother Katerina. His mother was referred as a local Christian Greek woman from Mytilene, the widow of an Orthodox priest. His father Yakup was Turkish
Turkish people
Turkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...
as well as a former Sipahi
Sipahi
Sipahi was the name of several Ottoman cavalry corps...
from Yenice-i Vardar (modern Yannitsa
Giannitsa
Giannitsa is the largest town and a former municipality in Pella regional unit, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Pella, of which it is a municipal unit...
) and took part in the Ottoman conquest of Lesbos from the Genoese
Republic of Genoa
The Most Serene Republic of Genoa |Ligurian]]: Repúbrica de Zêna) was an independent state from 1005 to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast, as well as Corsica from 1347 to 1768, and numerous other territories throughout the Mediterranean....
in 1462, and as a reward, was granted the fief of the Bonova village in the island. Yakup and Katerina were married and had two daughters and four sons: Ishak, Aruj
Aruj
Aruj or Arouj was the elder brother of Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha and Ottoman Bey of Algiers and Beylerbey of the West Mediterranean...
, Khizr and Ilyas. Yakup became an established potter and purchased a boat to trade his products. The four sons helped their father with his business, but not much is known about the daughters. At first Aruj helped with the boat, while Khizr helped with pottery.
Early career
Knights Hospitaller
The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta , also known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta , Order of Malta or Knights of Malta, is a Roman Catholic lay religious order, traditionally of military, chivalrous, noble nature. It is the world's...
of the Island of Rhodes
Rhodes
Rhodes is an island in Greece, located in the eastern Aegean Sea. It is the largest of the Dodecanese islands in terms of both land area and population, with a population of 117,007, and also the island group's historical capital. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within...
. Aruj and Ilyas operated in the Levant
Levant
The Levant or ) is the geographic region and culture zone of the "eastern Mediterranean littoral between Anatolia and Egypt" . The Levant includes most of modern Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and sometimes parts of Turkey and Iraq, and corresponds roughly to the...
, between Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
, Syria, and Egypt. Khizr operated in the Aegean Sea
Aegean Sea
The Aegean Sea[p] is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the southern Balkan and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e., between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus...
and based his operations mostly in Thessaloniki. Ishak, the eldest, remained on Mytilene
Mytilene
Mytilene is a town and a former municipality on the island of Lesbos, North Aegean, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Lesbos, of which it is a municipal unit. It is the capital of the island of Lesbos. Mytilene, whose name is pre-Greek, is built on the...
and was involved with the financial affairs of the family business.
Death of Ilyas, captivity and liberation of Aruj
ArujAruj
Aruj or Arouj was the elder brother of Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha and Ottoman Bey of Algiers and Beylerbey of the West Mediterranean...
was a very successful seaman. He also learned to speak Italian, Spanish, French, Greek and Arabic in the early years of his career. While returning from a trading expedition in Tripoli, Lebanon
Tripoli, Lebanon
Tripoli is the largest city in northern Lebanon and the second-largest city in Lebanon. Situated 85 km north of the capital Beirut, Tripoli is the capital of the North Governorate and the Tripoli District. Geographically located on the east of the Mediterranean, the city's history dates back...
with his younger brother Ilyas, they were attacked by the Knights of St. John. Ilyas was killed in the fight, and Aruj was wounded. Their father's boat was captured, and Aruj was taken as a prisoner and detained in the Knights' castle
Bodrum Castle
Bodrum Castle , located in southwest Turkey in the city of Bodrum , was built by the Knights Hospitaller starting in 1402 as the Castle of St. Peter or Petronium.-History:...
at Bodrum
Bodrum
Bodrum is a port city in Muğla Province, in the southwestern Aegean Region of Turkey. It is located on the southern coast of Bodrum Peninsula, at a point that checks the entry into the Gulf of Gökova. The site was called Halicarnassus of Caria in ancient times and was famous for housing the...
for nearly three years. Upon learning the location of his brother, Khizr went to Bodrum and managed to help Aruj escape.
Aruj the corsair
Antalya
Antalya is a city on the Mediterranean coast of southwestern Turkey. With a population 1,001,318 as of 2010. It is the eighth most populous city in Turkey and country's biggest international sea resort.- History :...
, where he was given 18 galleys by Shehzade Korkud, an Ottoman prince and governor of the city, and charged with fighting against the Knights of St. John who were inflicting serious damage on Ottoman shipping and trade. In the following years, when Shehzade Korkud became governor of Manisa
Manisa
Manisa is a large city in Turkey's Aegean Region and the administrative seat of Manisa Province.Modern Manisa is a booming center of industry and services, advantaged by its closeness to the international port city and the regional metropolitan center of İzmir and by its fertile hinterland rich in...
, he gave Aruj a larger fleet of 24 galleys at the port of İzmir
Izmir
Izmir is a large metropolis in the western extremity of Anatolia. The metropolitan area in the entire Izmir Province had a population of 3.35 million as of 2010, making the city third most populous in Turkey...
and ordered him to participate in the Ottoman naval expedition to Apulia
Apulia
Apulia is a region in Southern Italy bordering the Adriatic Sea in the east, the Ionian Sea to the southeast, and the Strait of Òtranto and Gulf of Taranto in the south. Its most southern portion, known as Salento peninsula, forms a high heel on the "boot" of Italy. The region comprises , and...
in Italy, where Aruj bombarded several coastal castles and captured two ships. On his way back to Lesbos, he stopped at Euboea
Euboea
Euboea is the second largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete. The narrow Euripus Strait separates it from Boeotia in mainland Greece. In general outline it is a long and narrow, seahorse-shaped island; it is about long, and varies in breadth from to...
and captured three galleons and another ship. Reaching Mytilene with these captured vessels, Aruj learned that Shehzade Korkud, brother of the new Ottoman sultan, had fled to Egypt in order to avoid being killed because of succession disputes – a common practice at that time. Fearing trouble due to his well-known association with the exiled Ottoman prince, Aruj sailed to Egypt, where he met Shehzade Korkud in Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
and managed to get an audience with the Mamluk
Mamluk
A Mamluk was a soldier of slave origin, who were predominantly Cumans/Kipchaks The "mamluk phenomenon", as David Ayalon dubbed the creation of the specific warrior...
Sultan Qansuh al-Ghawri
Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghawri
Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghawri was the second last of the Mamluk Sultans. One of the last of the Burji dynasty, he reigned from 1501 to 1516.On the disappearance of Sultan Al-Adil Sayf ad-Din Tuman bay I, it was not till after some days that the choice of the Emirs and Mamluks fell upon Al-Ashraf...
, who gave him another ship and appointed him with the task of raiding the coasts of Italy and the islands of the Mediterranean that were controlled by Christians. After passing the winter in Cairo, he set sail from Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
and frequently operated along the coasts of Liguria
Liguria
Liguria is a coastal region of north-western Italy, the third smallest of the Italian regions. Its capital is Genoa. It is a popular region with tourists for its beautiful beaches, picturesque little towns, and good food.-Geography:...
and Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
.
Khizr's career under Aruj
In 1503 Aruj managed to seize three more ships and made the island of DjerbaDjerba
Djerba , also transliterated as Jerba or Jarbah, is, at 514 km², the largest island of North Africa, located in the Gulf of Gabes, off the coast of Tunisia.-Description:...
his new base, thus moving his operations to the Western Mediterranean. Khizr joined Aruj at Djerba. In 1504 the brothers contacted Abu Abdullah Mohammed Hamis, Sultan of Tunisia from the Beni Hafs dynasty, and asked permission to use the strategically located port of La Goulette
La Goulette
La Goulette is the port of Tunis, the capital of Tunisia. The Kasbah fortress was built in 1535 by Charles I of Spain but was captured by the Ottoman Turks in 1574...
for their operations. They were granted this right with the condition of leaving one third of their gains to the sultan. Aruj, in command of small galliots, captured two much larger Papal
Papal States
The Papal State, State of the Church, or Pontifical States were among the major historical states of Italy from roughly the 6th century until the Italian peninsula was unified in 1861 by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia .The Papal States comprised territories under...
galleys near the island of Elba
Elba
Elba is a Mediterranean island in Tuscany, Italy, from the coastal town of Piombino. The largest island of the Tuscan Archipelago, Elba is also part of the National Park of the Tuscan Archipelago and the third largest island in Italy after Sicily and Sardinia...
. Later, near Lipari
Lipari
Lipari is the largest of the Aeolian Islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the north coast of Sicily, and the name of the island's main town. It has a permanent population of 11,231; during the May–September tourist season, its population may reach up to 20,000....
, the two brothers captured a Sicilian
Kingdom of Sicily
The Kingdom of Sicily was a state that existed in the south of Italy from its founding by Roger II in 1130 until 1816. It was a successor state of the County of Sicily, which had been founded in 1071 during the Norman conquest of southern Italy...
warship, the Cavalleria, with 380 Spanish soldiers and 60 Spanish knights from Aragon
Aragon
Aragon is a modern autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. Located in northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces : Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel. Its capital is Zaragoza...
on board, who were on their way from Spain to Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
. In 1505 they raided the coasts of Calabria
Calabria
Calabria , in antiquity known as Bruttium, is a region in southern Italy, south of Naples, located at the "toe" of the Italian Peninsula. The capital city of Calabria is Catanzaro....
. These accomplishments increased their fame and they were joined by several other well-known Muslim corsairs, including Kurtoğlu
Kurtoglu Muslihiddin Reis
Kurtoğlu Muslihiddin Reis was a privateer and admiral of the Ottoman Empire, as well as the Sanjak Bey of Rhodes. He played an important role in the Ottoman conquests of Egypt and Rhodes during which he commanded the Ottoman naval forces...
(known in the West as Curtogoli). In 1508 they raided the coasts of Liguria, particularly Diano Marina
Diano Marina
Diano Marina is a comune in the Province of Imperia in the Italian region Liguria, located about 90 km southwest of Genoa and about 5 km northeast of Imperia...
.
In 1509 Ishak also left Mytilene and joined his brothers at La Goulette. The fame of Aruj increased when between 1504 and 1510 he transported Muslim Mudéjar
Mudéjar
Mudéjar is the name given to individual Moors or Muslims of Al-Andalus who remained in Iberia after the Christian Reconquista but were not converted to Christianity...
s from Christian Spain to North Africa. His efforts of helping the Muslims of Spain in need and transporting them to safer lands earned him the honorific name Baba Aruj (Father Aruj), which eventually – due the similarity in sound – evolved in Spain, France and Italy into Barbarossa
Barbarossa
Barbarossa, a name meaning red beard in Italian, may refer to any of these:-People:* Emperor Barbarossa or Frederick I , Holy Roman Emperor...
(meaning Redbeard in Italian).
In 1510 the three brothers raided Cape Passero in Sicily and repulsed a Spanish attack on Bougie
Béjaïa
Béjaïa, Vgaiet or Bejaya is a Mediterranean port city on the Gulf of Béjaïa in Algeria; it is the capital of Béjaïa Province, Kabylia. Under French rule, it was formerly known under various European names, such as Budschaja in German, Bugia in Italian, and Bougie...
, Oran
Oran
Oran is a major city on the northwestern Mediterranean coast of Algeria, and the second largest city of the country.It is the capital of the Oran Province . The city has a population of 759,645 , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately 1,500,000, making it the second largest...
and Algiers
Algiers
' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...
. In August 1511 they raided the areas around Reggio Calabria
Reggio Calabria
Reggio di Calabria , commonly known as Reggio Calabria or Reggio, is the biggest city and the most populated comune of Calabria, southern Italy, and is the capital of the Province of Reggio Calabria and seat of the Council of Calabrian government.Reggio is located on the "toe" of the Italian...
in southern Italy. In August 1512 the exiled ruler of Bougie invited the brothers to drive out the Spaniards, and during the battle Aruj lost his left arm. This incident earned him the nickname Gümüş Kol (Silver Arm in Turkish), in reference to the silver prosthetic device which he used in place of his missing limb. Later that year the three brothers raided the coasts of Andalusia
Andalusia
Andalusia is the most populous and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a nationality of Spain. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Huelva, Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba, Málaga, Jaén, Granada and...
in Spain, capturing a galliot of the Lomellini family of Genoa who owned the Tabarca
Tabarca
Tabarca , is an islet located in the Mediterranean Sea, close to the town of Santa Pola, in the province of Alicante, Valencian community, Spain...
island in that area. They subsequently landed on Minorca
Minorca
Min Orca or Menorca is one of the Balearic Islands located in the Mediterranean Sea belonging to Spain. It takes its name from being smaller than the nearby island of Majorca....
and captured a coastal castle, and then headed towards Liguria where they captured four Genoese galleys near Genoa. The Genoese sent a fleet to liberate their ships, but the brothers captured their flagship as well. After capturing a total of 23 ships in less than a month, the brothers sailed back to La Goulette.
There they built three more galliots and a gunpowder production facility. In 1513 they captured four English ships on their way to France, raided Valencia where they captured four more ships, and then headed for Alicante
Alicante
Alicante or Alacant is a city in Spain, the capital of the province of Alicante and of the comarca of Alacantí, in the south of the Valencian Community. It is also a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city of Alicante proper was 334,418, estimated , ranking as the second-largest...
and captured a Spanish galley near Málaga
Málaga
Málaga is a city and a municipality in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia, Spain. With a population of 568,507 in 2010, it is the second most populous city of Andalusia and the sixth largest in Spain. This is the southernmost large city in Europe...
. In 1513 and 1514 the three brothers engaged the Spanish fleet on several other occasions and moved to their new base in Cherchell
Cherchell
Cherchell is a seaport town in the Province of Tipaza, Algeria, 55 miles west of Algiers. It is the district seat of Cherchell District. As of 1998, it had a population of 24,400.-Ancient history:...
, east of Algiers. In 1514, with 12 galliots and 1,000 Turks, they destroyed two Spanish fortresses at Bougie, and when the Spanish fleet under the command of Miguel de Gurrea, viceroy of Majorca, arrived for assistance, they headed towards Ceuta
Ceuta
Ceuta is an autonomous city of Spain and an exclave located on the north coast of North Africa surrounded by Morocco. Separated from the Iberian peninsula by the Strait of Gibraltar, Ceuta lies on the border of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Ceuta along with the other Spanish...
and raided that city before capturing Jijel
Jijel
Jijel is the capital of Jijel Province in northeastern Algeria. It is flanked by the Mediterranean Sea in the region of Corniche Jijelienne, and has an estimated population of 148,000 inhabitants .Jijel is the administrative and trade centre for a region specializing in cork processing, leather...
in Algeria, which was under Genoese control. They later captured Mahdiya in Tunisia. Afterwards they raided the coasts of Sicily, Sardinia
Sardinia
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...
, the Balearic Islands
Balearic Islands
The Balearic Islands are an archipelago of Spain in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula.The four largest islands are: Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera. The archipelago forms an autonomous community and a province of Spain with Palma as the capital...
and the Spanish mainland, capturing three large ships there. In 1515 they captured several galleons, a galley and three barques at Majorca. Still in 1515 Aruj sent precious gifts to the Ottoman Sultan Selim I
Selim I
Selim I, Yavuz Sultân Selim Khan, Hâdim-ül Haramain-ish Sharifain , nicknamed Yavuz "the Stern" or "the Steadfast", but often rendered in English as "the Grim" , was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1512 to...
who, in return, sent him two galleys and two swords embellished with diamonds. In 1516, joined by Kurtoğlu (Curtogoli)
Kurtoglu Muslihiddin Reis
Kurtoğlu Muslihiddin Reis was a privateer and admiral of the Ottoman Empire, as well as the Sanjak Bey of Rhodes. He played an important role in the Ottoman conquests of Egypt and Rhodes during which he commanded the Ottoman naval forces...
, the brothers besieged the Castle of Elba, before heading once more towards Liguria where they captured 12 ships and damaged 28 others.
Rulers of Algiers
Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera
Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera , in ancient times Badis or Bades, is a Spanish rock in North Africa off the Moroccan coast . It is part of several Peñones, or rock-fortresses on the coast of Northern Africa. Vélez de la Gomera is administered from Melilla...
off the Moroccan coast and asked Charles V
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...
, King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor, to intervene, but the Spanish fleet failed to force the brothers out of Algiers.
Algiers joins the Ottoman Empire
After consolidating his power and declaring himself Sultan of Algiers, Aruj sought to enhance his territory inlands and took MilianaMiliana
Miliana is a town in Ain Defla Province, northwestern Algeria. It is approximately 160 km southwest of the Algerian capital, Algiers. The population was estimated at 40,000 in 2005...
, Medea
Medea
Medea is a woman in Greek mythology. She was the daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis, niece of Circe, granddaughter of the sun god Helios, and later wife to the hero Jason, with whom she had two children, Mermeros and Pheres. In Euripides's play Medea, Jason leaves Medea when Creon, king of...
and Ténès
Ténès
Tenes is an Algerian seaside resort located about 200 kilometers west of the capital Algiers; it has a population of 35,000 people, .-History:Ténès is an ancient town which existed in the 8th century BC. It was called Kartenas at that time...
. He became known for attaching sails to cannons for transport through the deserts of North Africa. In 1517 the brothers raided Capo Limiti and later the Island of Capo Rizzuto
Isola di Capo Rizzuto
Isola di Capo Rizzuto is a town and comune in the province of Crotone, Calabria, Italy. The population of the town is around 15,000. Despite having the name "Isola" , it is not actually an island, rather an isthmus extending into the sea, which is completely attached to the peninsula.The main...
in Calabria.
For Aruj the best protection against Spain was to join the Ottoman Empire, his homeland and Spain's main rival. For this he had to relinquish his title of Sultan of Algiers to the Ottomans. He did this in 1517 and offered Algiers to the Ottoman Sultan. The Sultan accepted Algiers as an Ottoman Sanjak (Province), appointed Aruj Governor of Algiers and Chief Sea Governor of the Western Mediterranean, and promised to support him with janissaries
Janissary
The Janissaries were infantry units that formed the Ottoman sultan's household troops and bodyguards...
, galleys and cannons.
Final engagements and death of Aruj and Ishak
The Spaniards ordered Abu Zayan, whom they had appointed as the new ruler of TlemcenTlemcen
Tlemcen is a town in Northwestern Algeria, and the capital of the province of the same name. It is located inland in the center of a region known for its olive plantations and vineyards...
and Oran
Oran
Oran is a major city on the northwestern Mediterranean coast of Algeria, and the second largest city of the country.It is the capital of the Oran Province . The city has a population of 759,645 , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately 1,500,000, making it the second largest...
, to attack Aruj Reis from land, but Aruj learned of the plan and pre-emptively struck against Tlemcen, capturing the city and executing Abu Zayan in the Fall of Tlemcen (1517)
Fall of Tlemcen (1517)
The Fall of Tlemcen occurred in 1517, when the Ottoman corsair Uruj Barbarossa captured the city of Tlemcen from its Sultan, Abu Zayan, the last member of the Beni-Zian lineage....
. The only survivor of Abu Zayan's dynasty was Sheikh Buhammud, who escaped to Oran and called for Spain's assistance.
In May 1518, Emperor Charles V
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...
arrived at Oran
Oran
Oran is a major city on the northwestern Mediterranean coast of Algeria, and the second largest city of the country.It is the capital of the Oran Province . The city has a population of 759,645 , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately 1,500,000, making it the second largest...
and was received at the port by Sheikh Buhammud and the Spanish governor of the city, Diego de Córdoba, marquess of Comares, who commanded a force of 10,000 Spanish soldiers. Joined by thousands of local Bedouins, the Spaniards marched overland towards Tlemcen. Aruj and Ishak awaited them in the city with 1,500 Turkish and 5,000 Moorish soldiers. They defended Tlemcen for 20 days, but were eventually killed in combat by the forces of Garcia de Tineo.
Khizr Reis, now given the title of Beylerbey
Beylerbey
Beylerbey is the Ottoman and Safavid title used for the highest rank in the hierarchy of provincial administrators It is in western terms a Governor-general, with authority...
by Sultan Selim I
Selim I
Selim I, Yavuz Sultân Selim Khan, Hâdim-ül Haramain-ish Sharifain , nicknamed Yavuz "the Stern" or "the Steadfast", but often rendered in English as "the Grim" , was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1512 to...
, along with janissaries, galleys and cannons, inherited his brother's place, his name (Barbarossa
Barbarossa
Barbarossa, a name meaning red beard in Italian, may refer to any of these:-People:* Emperor Barbarossa or Frederick I , Holy Roman Emperor...
) and his mission.
Pasha of Algiers
With a fresh force of Turkish soldiers sent by the Ottoman sultan, Barbarossa recaptured Tlemcen in December 1518. He continued the policy of bringing MudéjarMudéjar
Mudéjar is the name given to individual Moors or Muslims of Al-Andalus who remained in Iberia after the Christian Reconquista but were not converted to Christianity...
s from Spain to North Africa, thereby assuring himself of a sizeable following of grateful and loyal Muslims, who harbored an intense hatred for Spain. He captured Bone
Annaba
Annaba is a city in the northeastern corner of Algeria near the river Seybouse. It is located in Annaba Province. With a population of 257,359 , it is the fourth largest city in Algeria. It is a leading industrial centre in eastern Algeria....
, and in 1519 he defeated a Spanish-Italian army that tried to recapture Algiers. In a separate incident he sank a Spanish ship and captured eight others. Still in 1519 he raided Provence
Provence
Provence ; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a region of south eastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...
, Toulon
Toulon
Toulon is a town in southern France and a large military harbor on the Mediterranean coast, with a major French naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region, Toulon is the capital of the Var department in the former province of Provence....
and the Îles d'Hyères
Îles d'Hyères
The Îles d'Hyères is a group of three islands off Hyères in the Var département, in the south-east of France. The three mediterranean islands are named Porquerolles, Port-Cros and Île du Levant. Together, they make up an area of .-See also:...
in southern France. In 1521 he raided the Balearic Islands and later captured several Spanish ships returning from the New World
New World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...
off Cadiz
Cádiz
Cadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the homonymous province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....
. In 1522 he sent his ships, under the command of Kurtoğlu
Kurtoglu Muslihiddin Reis
Kurtoğlu Muslihiddin Reis was a privateer and admiral of the Ottoman Empire, as well as the Sanjak Bey of Rhodes. He played an important role in the Ottoman conquests of Egypt and Rhodes during which he commanded the Ottoman naval forces...
, to participate in the Ottoman conquest of Rhodes
Rhodes
Rhodes is an island in Greece, located in the eastern Aegean Sea. It is the largest of the Dodecanese islands in terms of both land area and population, with a population of 117,007, and also the island group's historical capital. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within...
which resulted in the departure of the Knights of St. John from that island on 1 January 1523.
In June 1525 he raided the coasts of Sardinia. In May 1526 he landed at Crotone
Crotone
Crotone is a city and comune in Calabria, southern Italy, on the Ionian Sea. Founded circa 710 BC as the Achaean colony of Croton , it was known as Cotrone from the Middle Ages until 1928, when its name was changed to the current one. In 1994 it became the capital of the newly established...
in Calabria and sacked the city, sank a Spanish galley and a Spanish fusta
Fusta
The fusta or fuste was a narrow, light and fast ship with shallow draft, powered by both oars and sail -– in essence a small galley. It typically had 12 to 18 two-man rowing benches on each side, a single mast with a lateen sail, and usually carried two or three guns...
in the harbor, assaulted Castignano
Castignano
Castignano is a comune in the Province of Ascoli Piceno in the Italian region Marche, located about 80 km south of Ancona and about 10 km northeast of Ascoli Piceno...
in Marche on the Adriatic Sea
Adriatic Sea
The Adriatic Sea is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan peninsula, and the system of the Apennine Mountains from that of the Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges...
and later landed at Cape Spartivento. In June 1526 he landed at Reggio Calabria and later destroyed the fort at the port of Messina. He then appeared on the coasts of Tuscany
Tuscany
Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....
, but retreated after seeing the fleet of Andrea Doria
Andrea Doria
Andrea Doria was an Italian condottiere and admiral from Genoa.-Early life:Doria was born at Oneglia from the ancient Genoese family, the Doria di Oneglia branch of the old Doria, de Oria or de Auria family. His parents were related: Ceva Doria, co-lord of Oneglia, and Caracosa Doria, of the...
and the Knights of St. John off the coast of Piombino
Piombino
Piombino is an Italian town and comune of circa 35,000 inhabitants in the province of Livorno . It lies on the border between the Ligurian Sea and the Tyrrhenian Sea, in front of Elba Island and at the northern side of Maremma.-Overview:...
. In July 1526 Barbarossa appeared once again in Messina and raided the coasts of Campania
Campania
Campania is a region in southern Italy. The region has a population of around 5.8 million people, making it the second-most-populous region of Italy; its total area of 13,590 km² makes it the most densely populated region in the country...
. In 1527 he raided many ports and castles on the coasts of Italy and Spain.
In May 1529 he captured the Spanish fort on the island of Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera
Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera
Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera , in ancient times Badis or Bades, is a Spanish rock in North Africa off the Moroccan coast . It is part of several Peñones, or rock-fortresses on the coast of Northern Africa. Vélez de la Gomera is administered from Melilla...
that controlled the north Moroccan coast. In August 1529 he attacked the Mediterranean coasts of Spain and later helped 70,000 Morisco
Morisco
Moriscos or Mouriscos , meaning "Moorish", were the converted Christian inhabitants of Spain and Portugal of Muslim heritage. Over time the term was used in a pejorative sense applied to those nominal Catholics who were suspected of secretly practicing Islam.-Demographics:By the beginning of the...
s to escape from Andalusia
Andalusia
Andalusia is the most populous and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a nationality of Spain. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Huelva, Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba, Málaga, Jaén, Granada and...
in seven consecutive journeys. In January 1530 he again raided the coasts of Sicily and in March and June of that year the Balearic Islands and Marseilles. In July 1530 he appeared along the coasts of the Provence and Liguria, capturing two Genoese ships. In August 1530 he raided the coasts of Sardinia and in October appeared at Piombino, capturing a barque from Viareggio
Viareggio
Viareggio is a city and comune located in northern Tuscany, Italy, on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea. With a population of over 64,000 it is the main centre of the northern Tuscan Riviera known as Versilia, and the second largest city within the Province of Lucca.It is known as a seaside resort...
and three French galleons, before capturing two more ships off Calabria. In December 1530 he captured the Castle of Cabrera
Cabrera, Balearic Islands
Cabrera is an uninhabited islet in the Balearic Islands, Spain, located in the Mediterranean Sea off the southern coast of Majorca. It is currently a National Park...
, in the Balearic Islands, and started to use the island as a logistic base for his operations in the area.
In 1531 he encountered Andrea Doria
Andrea Doria
Andrea Doria was an Italian condottiere and admiral from Genoa.-Early life:Doria was born at Oneglia from the ancient Genoese family, the Doria di Oneglia branch of the old Doria, de Oria or de Auria family. His parents were related: Ceva Doria, co-lord of Oneglia, and Caracosa Doria, of the...
, who had been appointed by Charles V to recapture Jijel
Jijel
Jijel is the capital of Jijel Province in northeastern Algeria. It is flanked by the Mediterranean Sea in the region of Corniche Jijelienne, and has an estimated population of 148,000 inhabitants .Jijel is the administrative and trade centre for a region specializing in cork processing, leather...
and Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera
Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera
Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera , in ancient times Badis or Bades, is a Spanish rock in North Africa off the Moroccan coast . It is part of several Peñones, or rock-fortresses on the coast of Northern Africa. Vélez de la Gomera is administered from Melilla...
, and repulsed the Spanish-Genoese fleet of 40 galleys. Still in 1531 he raided the island of Favignana
Favignana
Favignana is a comune including three islands of the Aegadian Islands, southern Italy...
, where the flagship of the Maltese Knights under the command of Francesco Touchebeuf unsuccessfully attacked his fleet. Barbarossa then sailed eastwards and landed in Calabria and Apulia. On the way back to Algiers he sank a ship of the Maltese Knights near Messina before assaulting Tripoli
Tripoli
Tripoli is the capital and largest city in Libya. It is also known as Western Tripoli , to distinguish it from Tripoli, Lebanon. It is affectionately called The Mermaid of the Mediterranean , describing its turquoise waters and its whitewashed buildings. Tripoli is a Greek name that means "Three...
which had been given to the Knights of St. John by Charles V in 1530. In October 1531 he again raided the coasts of Spain.
In 1532, during Suleiman I's expedition to Habsburg Austria
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...
, Andrea Doria captured Coron
Koroni
Koroni or Coroni is a town and a former municipality in Messenia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Pylos-Nestoras, of which it is a municipal unit. Known as Corone by the Venetians and Ottomans, the town of Koroni Koroni or Coroni is a...
, Patras
Patras
Patras , ) is Greece's third largest urban area and the regional capital of West Greece, located in northern Peloponnese, 215 kilometers west of Athens...
and Lepanto
Naupactus
Naupactus or Nafpaktos , is a town and a former municipality in Aetolia-Acarnania, West Greece, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Nafpaktia, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit...
on the coasts of the Morea
Morea
The Morea was the name of the Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece during the Middle Ages and the early modern period. It also referred to a Byzantine province in the region, known as the Despotate of Morea.-Origins of the name:...
(Peloponnese). In response, Suleiman sent the forces of Yahya Pashazade Mehmed Bey, who recaptured these cities. But the event made Suleiman realize the importance of having a powerful commander at sea. He summoned Barbarossa to Constantinople, who set sail in August 1532. Having raided Sardinia, Bonifacio in Corsica, the Islands of Montecristo
Montecristo
Montecristo is a small Italian islet, approximately 4.3 kilometers across at its widest point, located about halfway between Corsica and mainland Italy; south of Elba and west of Giglio. It is part of the Tuscan Archipelago...
, Elba and Lampedusa
Lampedusa
Lampedusa is the largest island of the Italian Pelagie Islands in the Mediterranean Sea. The comune of Lampedusa e Linosa is part of the Sicilian province of Agrigento which also includes the smaller islands of Linosa and Lampione. It is the southernmost part of Italy. Tunisia, which is about ...
, he captured 18 galleys near Messina and learned from the captured prisoners that Doria was headed to Preveza
Preveza
Preveza is a town in the region of Epirus, northwestern Greece, located at the mouth of the Ambracian Gulf. It is the capital of the regional unit of Preveza, which is part of the region of Epirus. An immersed tunnel, completed in 2002 which runs between Preveza and Actium, connects the town...
. Barbarossa proceeded to raid the nearby coasts of Calabria and then sailed towards Preveza. Doria's forces fled after a short battle, but only after Barbarossa had captured seven of their galleys. He arrived at Preveza with a total of 44 galleys, but sent 25 of them back to Algiers and headed to Constantinople with 19 ships. There he was received by Sultan Suleiman at Topkapı Palace
Topkapi Palace
The Topkapı Palace is a large palace in Istanbul, Turkey, that was the primary residence of the Ottoman Sultans for approximately 400 years of their 624-year reign....
. Suleiman appointed Barbarossa Kapudan-i Derya (Grand Admiral) of the Ottoman Navy and Beylerbey
Beylerbey
Beylerbey is the Ottoman and Safavid title used for the highest rank in the hierarchy of provincial administrators It is in western terms a Governor-general, with authority...
(Chief Governor) of North Africa. Barbarossa was also given the government of the Sanjak (Province) of Rhodes
Rhodes
Rhodes is an island in Greece, located in the eastern Aegean Sea. It is the largest of the Dodecanese islands in terms of both land area and population, with a population of 117,007, and also the island group's historical capital. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within...
and those of Euboea
Euboea
Euboea is the second largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete. The narrow Euripus Strait separates it from Boeotia in mainland Greece. In general outline it is a long and narrow, seahorse-shaped island; it is about long, and varies in breadth from to...
and Chios
Chios
Chios is the fifth largest of the Greek islands, situated in the Aegean Sea, seven kilometres off the Asia Minor coast. The island is separated from Turkey by the Chios Strait. The island is noted for its strong merchant shipping community, its unique mastic gum and its medieval villages...
in the Aegean Sea
Aegean Sea
The Aegean Sea[p] is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the southern Balkan and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e., between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus...
.
Diplomacy with France
In 1533, Barbarossa sent an Embassy to the king of France Francis IFrancis I of France
Francis I was King of France from 1515 until his death. During his reign, huge cultural changes took place in France and he has been called France's original Renaissance monarch...
, the Ottoman embassy to France (1533)
Ottoman embassy to France (1533)
An Ottoman embassy to France was sent in 1533 by Hayreddin Barbarossa, the Ottoman Governor of Algiers, vassal of the Ottoman Emperor Suleiman the Magnificent....
. Francis I would in turn dispatch Antonio Rincon
Antonio Rincon
Antonio Rincon , also Antoine de Rincon, was a Spanish-born diplomat in the service of France An influential envoy from the King of France to Sultan Soleyman I of the Ottoman Empire, he made various missions to Istanbul between 1530 and 1541....
to Barbarossa in North Africa and then to Suleiman the Magnificent
Suleiman the Magnificent
Suleiman I was the tenth and longest-reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1520 to his death in 1566. He is known in the West as Suleiman the Magnificent and in the East, as "The Lawgiver" , for his complete reconstruction of the Ottoman legal system...
in Asia Minor
Asia Minor
Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...
. Following a second embassy, the Ottoman embassy to France (1534)
Ottoman embassy to France (1534)
An Ottoman embassy to France occurred in 1534, with the objective to prepare and coordinate Franco-Ottoman offensives for the next year, 1535. The embassy closely followed a first Ottoman embassy to France in 1533, as well as the Conquest of Tunis by Hayreddin Barbarossa on 16 August 1534, which...
, Francis I sent his ambassador Jehan de la Forest to Hayreddin Barbarossa, asking for his naval support against the Habsburg:
Kapudan-i Derya of the Ottoman Navy
Koroni
Koroni or Coroni is a town and a former municipality in Messenia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Pylos-Nestoras, of which it is a municipal unit. Known as Corone by the Venetians and Ottomans, the town of Koroni Koroni or Coroni is a...
, Patras
Patras
Patras , ) is Greece's third largest urban area and the regional capital of West Greece, located in northern Peloponnese, 215 kilometers west of Athens...
and Lepanto from the Spaniards. In July 1534 he crossed the Strait of Messina
Strait of Messina
The Strait of Messina is the narrow passage between the eastern tip of Sicily and the southern tip of Calabria in the south of Italy. It connects the Tyrrhenian Sea with the Ionian Sea, within the central Mediterranean...
and raided the Calabrian coasts, capturing a substantial number of ships around Reggio Calabria as well as the Castle of San Lucido
San Lucido
San Lucido is a town and comune in the province of Cosenza in the Calabria region of southern Italy.-Economy:San Lucido is one of the few towns in the area where the town itself is close to the sea. Most of the other towns in the area have the old town or "centro storico" 2-5 km back from the sea...
. He later destroyed the port of Cetraro
Cetraro
Cetraro is a town and comune in the province of Cosenza in the Calabria region of southern Italy.- Waste dumping off Italian coast: Cetraro case :...
and the ships harbored there. Still in July 1534 he appeared in Campania
Campania
Campania is a region in southern Italy. The region has a population of around 5.8 million people, making it the second-most-populous region of Italy; its total area of 13,590 km² makes it the most densely populated region in the country...
and sacked the islands of Capri and Procida
Procida
Procida is one of the Flegrean Islands off the coast of Naples in southern Italy. The island is between Cape Miseno and the island of Ischia. With its tiny satellite island of Vivara, it is a comune of the province of Naples, in the region of Campania. The population is about ten...
, before bombarding the ports in the Gulf of Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
. He then appeared in Lazio, shelled Gaeta
Gaeta
Gaeta is a city and comune in the province of Latina, in Lazio, central Italy. Set on a promontory stretching towards the Gulf of Gaeta, it is 120 km from Rome and 80 km from Naples....
and in August landed at Villa Santa Lucia
Villa Santa Lucia
Villa Santa Lucia is a comune in the Province of Frosinone in the Italian region Lazio, located about 110 km southeast of Rome and about 35 km southeast of Frosinone...
, Sant'Isidoro, Sperlonga
Sperlonga
Sperlonga is a coastal town in the province of Latina, Italy, about half way between Rome and Naples.Surrounding towns include Terracina to the West, Fondi to the North, Itri to the North-East, and Gaeta to the East.-History:...
, Fondi
Fondi
Fondi is a city and comune in the province of Latina, Lazio, central Italy, halfway between Rome and Naples. Before the construction of the highway between the latter cities in the late 1950s, Fondi had been an important settlement on the Roman Via Appia, which was the main connection from Rome to...
, Terracina
Terracina
Terracina is a town and comune of the province of Latina - , Italy, 76 km SE of Rome by rail .-Ancient times:...
and Ostia on the River Tiber
Tiber
The Tiber is the third-longest river in Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Umbria and Lazio to the Tyrrhenian Sea. It drains a basin estimated at...
, causing the church bells in Rome to ring the alarm. He then sailed south, appearing at Ponza
Ponza
Ponza is the largest of the Italian Pontine Islands archipelago, located 33 km south of Cape Circeo in the Tyrrhenian Sea. It also the name of the commune of the island, a part of the province of Latina in the Lazio region....
, Sicily and Sardinia, before capturing Tunis in August 1534 and sending the Hafsid Sultan Mulei Hassan fleeing. He also captured the strategic port of La Goulette
La Goulette
La Goulette is the port of Tunis, the capital of Tunisia. The Kasbah fortress was built in 1535 by Charles I of Spain but was captured by the Ottoman Turks in 1574...
.
Mulei Hassan asked Emperor Charles V for assistance to recover his kingdom, and a Spanish-Italian force of 300 galleys and 24,000 soldiers recaptured Tunis as well as Bone
Bone
Bones are rigid organs that constitute part of the endoskeleton of vertebrates. They support, and protect the various organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells and store minerals. Bone tissue is a type of dense connective tissue...
and Mahdiya in 1535. Recognizing the futility of armed resistance, Barbarossa had abandoned Tunis well before the arrival of the invaders, sailing away into the Tyrrhenian Sea
Tyrrhenian Sea
The Tyrrhenian Sea is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy.-Geography:The sea is bounded by Corsica and Sardinia , Tuscany, Lazio, Campania, Basilicata and Calabria and Sicily ....
, where he bombarded ports, landed once again at Capri and reconstructed a fort (which still today carries his name) after largely destroying it during the siege of the island. He then sailed to Algiers, from where he raided the coastal towns of Spain, destroyed the ports of Majorca and Minorca, captured several Spanish and Genoese galleys and liberated their Muslim oar slaves. In September 1535 he repulsed another Spanish attack on Tlemcen
Tlemcen
Tlemcen is a town in Northwestern Algeria, and the capital of the province of the same name. It is located inland in the center of a region known for its olive plantations and vineyards...
.
In 1536 Barbarossa was called back to Constantinople to take command of 200 ships in a naval attack on the Habsburg
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg , also found as Hapsburg, and also known as House of Austria is one of the most important royal houses of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1438 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian Empire and...
Kingdom of Naples
Kingdom of Naples
The Kingdom of Naples, comprising the southern part of the Italian peninsula, was the remainder of the old Kingdom of Sicily after secession of the island of Sicily as a result of the Sicilian Vespers rebellion of 1282. Known to contemporaries as the Kingdom of Sicily, it is dubbed Kingdom of...
. In July 1537 he landed at Otranto
Otranto
Otranto is a town and comune in the province of Lecce , in a fertile region once famous for its breed of horses.It is located on the east coast of the Salento peninsula. The Strait of Otranto, to which the city gives its name, connects the Adriatic Sea with the Ionian Sea and Italy with Albania...
and captured the city, as well as the Fortress of Castro and the city of Ugento
Ugento
Ugento is a town and comune in Italy. It has a small harbour, and is situated in the province of Lecce, in Apulia, on the Gulf of Taranto . It includes the frazioni of Gemini and Torre San Giovanni.-History:...
in Apulia.
In August 1537, Lütfi Pasha
Lutfi Pasha
Lutfi Pasha was an Ottoman statesman and Grand Vizier.-Life:As a devshirme youth, he entered Bayazid II's harem-i hass, where he received a thorough education in the Islamic sciences...
and Barbarossa led a huge Ottoman force which captured the Aegean
Aegean Sea
The Aegean Sea[p] is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the southern Balkan and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e., between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus...
and Ionian
Ionian Sea
The Ionian Sea , is an arm of the Mediterranean Sea, south of the Adriatic Sea. It is bounded by southern Italy including Calabria, Sicily and the Salento peninsula to the west, southern Albania to the north, and a large number of Greek islands, including Corfu, Zante, Kephalonia, Ithaka, and...
islands belonging to the Republic of Venice
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...
, namely Syros
Syros
Syros , or Siros or Syra is a Greek island in the Cyclades, in the Aegean Sea. It is located south-east of Athens. The area of the island is . The largest towns are Ermoupoli, Ano Syros, and Vari. Ermoupoli is the capital of the island and the Cyclades...
, Aegina
Aegina
Aegina is one of the Saronic Islands of Greece in the Saronic Gulf, from Athens. Tradition derives the name from Aegina, the mother of Aeacus, who was born in and ruled the island. During ancient times, Aegina was a rival to Athens, the great sea power of the era.-Municipality:The municipality...
, Ios
Ios (Island)
Ios is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides, situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about 18 km long and 10 km wide, with an area of about 109 km² . Population was 1,838 in 2001...
, Paros
Paros
Paros is an island of Greece in the central Aegean Sea. One of the Cyclades island group, it lies to the west of Naxos, from which it is separated by a channel about wide. It lies approximately south-east of Piraeus. The Municipality of Paros includes numerous uninhabited offshore islets...
, Tinos
Tinos
Tinos is a Greek island situated in the Aegean Sea. It is located in the Cyclades archipelago. In antiquity, Tinos was also known as Ophiussa and Hydroessa . The closest islands are Andros, Delos, and Mykonos...
, Karpathos
Karpathos
Karpathos is the second largest of the Greek Dodecanese islands, in the southeastern Aegean Sea. Together with the neighboring smaller Saria Island it forms the municipality Karpathos, which is part of the Karpathos peripheral unit. From its remote position Karpathos has preserved many...
, Kasos
Kasos
Kasos is a Greek island municipality in the Dodecanese. It is the southernmost island in the Aegean Sea, and is part of the Karpathos peripheral unit. As of 2001, its population was 990. The island has been called in , .-Geography:...
, Kythira
Kythira
Cythera is an island in Greece, once part of the Ionian Islands. It lies opposite the south-eastern tip of the Peloponnese peninsula. It is administratively part of the Islands regional unit, which is part of the Attica region , Greece.For many centuries, while naval travel was the only means...
, and Naxos. In the same year Barbarossa raided Corfu
Siege of Corfu (1537)
The Siege of Corfu in 1537 was led by the Ottoman Emperor Suleiman the Magnificent, against the Republic of Venice-held island of Corfu. It is part of the Ottoman–Venetian War , one of the numerous Ottoman–Venetian Wars of the period....
and obliterated the agricultural cultivations of the island while enslaving nearly all the population of the countryside However, the Old Fortress of Corfu was well defended by a 4,000-strong Venetian garrison with 700 guns, and when several assaults failed to capture the fortifications, the Turks reluctantly re-embarked, and once again raided Calabria
Calabria
Calabria , in antiquity known as Bruttium, is a region in southern Italy, south of Naples, located at the "toe" of the Italian Peninsula. The capital city of Calabria is Catanzaro....
. These losses caused Venice to ask Pope Paul III
Pope Paul III
Pope Paul III , born Alessandro Farnese, was Pope of the Roman Catholic Church from 1534 to his death in 1549. He came to the papal throne in an era following the sack of Rome in 1527 and rife with uncertainties in the Catholic Church following the Protestant Reformation...
to organize a "Holy League" against the Ottomans.
In February 1538, Pope Paul III succeeded in assembling a Holy League (composed of the Papacy, Spain, the Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
, the Republic of Venice and the Maltese Knights) against the Ottomans, but Barbarossa defeated its combined fleet, commanded by Andrea Doria
Andrea Doria
Andrea Doria was an Italian condottiere and admiral from Genoa.-Early life:Doria was born at Oneglia from the ancient Genoese family, the Doria di Oneglia branch of the old Doria, de Oria or de Auria family. His parents were related: Ceva Doria, co-lord of Oneglia, and Caracosa Doria, of the...
, at the Battle of Preveza
Battle of Preveza
The naval Battle of Preveza took place on 28 September 1538 near Preveza in northwestern Greece between an Ottoman fleet and that of a Christian alliance assembled by Pope Paul III.-Background:...
in September 1538. This victory secured Ottoman dominance over the Mediterranean for the next 33 years, until the Battle of Lepanto
Battle of Lepanto (1571)
The Battle of Lepanto took place on 7 October 1571 when a fleet of the Holy League, a coalition of Catholic maritime states, decisively defeated the main fleet of the Ottoman Empire in five hours of fighting on the northern edge of the Gulf of Patras, off western Greece...
in 1571.
In the summer of 1539 Barbarossa captured the islands of Skiathos
Skiathos
Skiathos is a small Greek island in the northwest Aegean Sea. Skiathos is the westernmost island in the Northern Sporades group, east of the Pelion peninsula in Magnesia on the mainland, and west of the island of Skopelos.-Geography:...
, Skyros
Skyros
Skyros is an island in Greece, the southernmost of the Sporades, an archipelago in the Aegean Sea. Around the 2nd millennium BC and slightly later, the island was known as The Island of the Magnetes where the Magnetes used to live and later Pelasgia and Dolopia and later Skyros...
, Andros
Andros
Andros, or Andro is the northernmost island of the Greek Cyclades archipelago, approximately south east of Euboea, and about north of Tinos. It is nearly long, and its greatest breadth is . Its surface is for the most part mountainous, with many fruitful and well-watered valleys. The area is...
and Serifos
Serifos
Serifos is a Greek island municipality in the Aegean Sea, located in the western Cyclades, south of Kythnos and northwest of Sifnos. It is part of the Milos peripheral unit. The area is 75.207 km² and the population was 1,414 at the 2001 census. It is located about ESE of Piraeus...
and recaptured Castelnuovo
Herceg Novi
Herceg Novi is a coastal town in Montenegro located at the entrance to the Bay of Kotor and at the foot of Mount Orjen. It is the administrative center of the Herceg Novi Municipality with around 33,000 inhabitants...
from the Spanish, who had taken it from the Ottomans after the battle of Preveza. He also captured the nearby Castle of Risan
Risan
Risan is a town in the Bay of Kotor, Montenegro...
and later assaulted the Venetian fortress of Cattaro and the Spanish fortress of Santa Veneranda near Pesaro
Pesaro
Pesaro is a town and comune in the Italian region of the Marche, capital of the Pesaro e Urbino province, on the Adriatic. According to the 2007 census, its population was 92,206....
. Barbarossa later took the remaining Christian outposts in the Ionian and Aegean Seas. Venice finally signed a peace treaty with Sultan Suleiman in October 1540, agreeing to recognize the Ottoman territorial gains and to pay 300,000 gold ducats.
In September 1540, Emperor Charles V contacted Barbarossa and offered him to become his Admiral-in-Chief as well as the ruler of Spain's territories in North Africa, but he refused. Unable to persuade Barbarossa to switch sides, in October 1541, Charles himself laid siege to Algiers, seeking to end the corsair threat to the Spanish domains and Christian shipping in the western Mediterranean. The season was not ideal for such a campaign, and both Andrea Doria, who commanded the fleet, and the old Hernan Cortés
Hernán Cortés
Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro, 1st Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca was a Spanish Conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile in the early 16th century...
, who had been asked by Charles to participate in the campaign, attempted to change the Emperor's mind but failed. Eventually a violent storm disrupted Charles' landing operations. Andrea Doria took his fleet away into open waters to avoid being wrecked on the shore, but much of the Spanish fleet went aground. After some indecisive fighting on land, Charles had to abandon the effort and withdraw his severely battered force.
Franco-Ottoman alliance
Siege of Nice
The Siege of Nice occurred in 1543 and was part of the Italian War of 1542–46 in which Francis I and Suleiman the Magnificent collaborated in a Franco-Ottoman alliance against the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, and Henry VIII of England. At that time, Nice was under the control of Charles III, Duke...
and capturing the city on 5 August 1543 on behalf of the French king Francis I
Francis I of France
Francis I was King of France from 1515 until his death. During his reign, huge cultural changes took place in France and he has been called France's original Renaissance monarch...
. The Ottoman captain later landed at Antibes
Antibes
Antibes is a resort town in the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France.It lies on the Mediterranean in the Côte d'Azur, located between Cannes and Nice. The town of Juan-les-Pins is within the commune of Antibes...
and the Île Sainte-Marguerite
Île Sainte-Marguerite
The Île Sainte-Marguerite is the largest of the Lérins Islands, about half a mile off shore from the French Riviera town of Cannes. The island is approximately 3km in length and 900m across....
near Cannes
Cannes
Cannes is one of the best-known cities of the French Riviera, a busy tourist destination and host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. It is a Commune of France in the Alpes-Maritimes department....
, before sacking the city of San Remo
Sanremo
Sanremo or San Remo is a city with about 57,000 inhabitants on the Mediterranean coast of western Liguria in north-western Italy. Founded in Roman times, the city is best known as a tourist destination on the Italian Riviera. It hosts numerous cultural events, such as the Sanremo Music Festival...
, other ports of Liguria, Monaco and La Turbie
La Turbie
La Turbie is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France.-History:...
. He spent the winter with his fleet and 30,000 Turkish soldiers in Toulon
Toulon
Toulon is a town in southern France and a large military harbor on the Mediterranean coast, with a major French naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region, Toulon is the capital of the Var department in the former province of Provence....
, but occasionally sent his ships from there to bombard the coasts of Spain. The Christian population had been evacuated and the Cathedral of St. Mary in Toulon was transformed into a mosque for the Turkish soldiers, while Ottoman money was accepted for transactions by the French tradesmen in the city.
In the spring of 1544, after assaulting San Remo for the second time and landing at Borghetto Santo Spirito
Borghetto Santo Spirito
Borghetto Santo Spirito is a comune in the Province of Savona in the Italian region Liguria, located about 70 km southwest of Genoa and about 30 km southwest of Savona...
and Ceriale
Ceriale
Ceriale is a comune in the Province of Savona in the Italian region Liguria, located about 70 km southwest of Genoa and about 30 km southwest of Savona...
, Barbarossa defeated another Spanish-Italian fleet and raided deeply into the Kingdom of Naples. He then sailed to Genoa with his 210 ships and threatened to attack the city unless it freed Turgut Reis
Turgut Reis
Turgut Reis was an Ottoman Admiral and privateer who also served as Bey of Algiers; Beylerbey of the Mediterranean; and first Bey, later Pasha, of Tripoli. Under his naval command the Ottoman Empire maritime was extended across North Africa...
, who had been serving as a galley slave on a Genoese ship and then imprisoned in the city since his capture in Corsica
Corsica
Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....
by Giannettino Doria in 1540. Barbarossa was invited by Andrea Doria
Andrea Doria
Andrea Doria was an Italian condottiere and admiral from Genoa.-Early life:Doria was born at Oneglia from the ancient Genoese family, the Doria di Oneglia branch of the old Doria, de Oria or de Auria family. His parents were related: Ceva Doria, co-lord of Oneglia, and Caracosa Doria, of the...
to discuss the issue at his palace in the Fassolo district of Genoa, and the two admirals negotiated the release of Turgut Reis in exchange for 3,500 gold ducat
Ducat
The ducat is a gold coin that was used as a trade coin throughout Europe before World War I. Its weight is 3.4909 grams of .986 gold, which is 0.1107 troy ounce, actual gold weight...
s. Barbarossa then successfully repulsed further Spanish attacks on southern France, but was recalled to Constantinople after Charles V and Suleiman had agreed to a truce in 1544.
After leaving the Provence from the port of Île Sainte-Marguerite in May 1544, Barbarossa assaulted San Remo for the third time, and when he appeared before Vado Ligure
Vado Ligure
Vado Ligure, in antiquity Vado Sabatia, is a town and comune in the province of Savona, Liguria, in northern Italy.- Economy :Vado has a large industrial and commercial port....
, the Republic of Genoa sent him a substantial sum to save other Genoese cities from further attacks. In June 1544 Barbarossa appeared before Elba. Threatening to bombard Piombino
Piombino
Piombino is an Italian town and comune of circa 35,000 inhabitants in the province of Livorno . It lies on the border between the Ligurian Sea and the Tyrrhenian Sea, in front of Elba Island and at the northern side of Maremma.-Overview:...
unless the city released the son of Sinan Reis who had been captured 10 years earlier by the Spaniards in Tunis, he obtained his release. He then captured Castiglione della Pescaia
Castiglione della Pescaia
Castiglione della Pescaia is an ancient seaside town in the province of Grosseto , Italy. The modern city grew around a medieval fortress and a large fishery, from which it got its designation...
, Talamone
Talamone
Talamone is a town in Tuscany, central Italy, administratively a frazione of the comune of Orbetello, province of Grosseto, in the Tuscan Maremma....
and Orbetello
Orbetello
Orbetello is a town and comune in the province of Grosseto , Italy. It is located c. 35 km south of Grosseto, on the eponymous lagoon, which is home to an important Natural Reserve.-History:...
in the province of Grosseto
Grosseto
Grosseto is a city and comune in the central Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of the Province of Grosseto. The city lies 14 km from the Tyrrhenian Sea, in the Maremma, at the centre of an alluvial plain, on the Ombrone river....
in Tuscany. There he destroyed the tomb and burned the remains of Bartolomeo Peretti, who had burned his father's house in Mytilene
Mytilene
Mytilene is a town and a former municipality on the island of Lesbos, North Aegean, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Lesbos, of which it is a municipal unit. It is the capital of the island of Lesbos. Mytilene, whose name is pre-Greek, is built on the...
the previous year, in 1543. He then captured Montiano
Montiano
Montiano is a comune in the Province of Forlì-Cesena in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about 90 km southeast of Bologna and about 25 km southeast of Forlì...
and occupied Porto Ercole and the Isle of Giglio. He later assaulted Civitavecchia
Civitavecchia
Civitavecchia is a town and comune of the province of Rome in the central Italian region of Lazio. A sea port on the Tyrrhenian Sea, it is located 80 kilometers west-north-west of Rome, across the Mignone river. The harbor is formed by two piers and a breakwater, on which is a lighthouse...
, but Leone Strozzi
Leone Strozzi
Leone Strozzi was an Italian condottiero belonging to the famous Strozzi family of Florence.-Biography:He was the son of Filippo Strozzi the Younger and Clarice de' Medici, and brother to Piero, Roberto and Lorenzo Strozzi.After his father's defeat in the Battle of Montemurlo, Strozzi fled with...
, the French envoy, convinced Barbarossa to lift the siege.
The Ottoman fleet then assaulted the coasts of Sardinia before appearing at Ischia
Ischia
Ischia is a volcanic island in the Tyrrhenian Sea. It lies at the northern end of the Gulf of Naples, about 30 km from the city of Naples. It is the largest of the Phlegrean Islands. Roughly trapezoidal in shape, it measures around 10 km east to west and 7 km north to south and has...
and landing there in July 1544, capturing the city as well as Forio
Forio
Forio is a town and comune of c. 17,000 inhabitants in the province in Naples, Italy, situated on the island of Ischia....
and the Isle of Procida
Procida
Procida is one of the Flegrean Islands off the coast of Naples in southern Italy. The island is between Cape Miseno and the island of Ischia. With its tiny satellite island of Vivara, it is a comune of the province of Naples, in the region of Campania. The population is about ten...
before threatening Pozzuoli
Pozzuoli
Pozzuoli is a city and comune of the province of Naples, in the Italian region of Campania. It is the main city of the Phlegrean peninsula.-History:Pozzuoli began as the Greek colony of Dicaearchia...
. Encountering 30 galleys under Giannettino Doria, Barbarossa forced them to sail away towards Sicily and seek refuge in Messina. Due to strong winds the Ottomans were unable to attack Salerno
Salerno
Salerno is a city and comune in Campania and is the capital of the province of the same name. It is located on the Gulf of Salerno on the Tyrrhenian Sea....
but managed to land at Cape Palinuro
Cape Palinuro
Cape Palinuro is located in southeastern Italy, approximately 40 miles southwest of Salerno, in southern part of Cilento region. It is supposedly named after Palinurus, the helmsman of Aeneas' ship in Virgil's Aeneid. -Geography:Northern side of the cape is the location of Palinuro, a touristic...
nearby. Barbarossa then entered the Strait of Messina and landed at Catona, Fiumara
Fiumara
Fiumara is a comune in the Province of Reggio Calabria in the Italian region Calabria, located about 110 km southwest of Catanzaro and about 12 km northeast of Reggio Calabria...
and Calanna
Calanna
Calanna is a comune in the Province of Reggio Calabria in the Italian region Calabria, located about 110 km southwest of Catanzaro and about 9 km northeast of Reggio Calabria. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 1,095 and an area of 10.5 km².Calanna borders the following...
near Reggio Calabria and later at Cariati
Cariati
Cariati is a town and comune in the province of Cosenza in the Calabria region of southern Italy.-Notes and references:...
and at Lipari
Lipari
Lipari is the largest of the Aeolian Islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the north coast of Sicily, and the name of the island's main town. It has a permanent population of 11,231; during the May–September tourist season, its population may reach up to 20,000....
, which was his final landing on the Italian peninsula. There he bombarded the citadel for 15 days after the city refused to surrender, and eventually captured it.
He finally returned to Constantinople, and in 1545 left the city for his final naval expeditions, during which he bombarded the ports of the Spanish mainland and landed at Majorca and Minorca for the last time. He then sailed back to Constantinople and built a palace on the Bosphorus, in the present-day quarter of Büyükdere in the Sarıyer
Sariyer
Sarıyer is the northernmost district of Istanbul, Turkey, on the European side of the city. With a long shore along the water, the district boasts both a beautiful coastline and a lush forest. The Sarıyer district is a huge area consisting of the villages on the European side of the Bosphorus from...
district.
Retirement and death
Barbarossa retired in Constantinople in 1545, leaving his son Hasan PashaHasan Pasha (son of Barbarossa)
Hasan Pasha was the son of Hayreddin Barbarossa and three-times Beylerbey of Algiers, Algeria. His mother was a Morisco. He succeeded his father as ruler of Algiers, and replaced Barbarossa's deputy Hasan Agha who had been effectively holding the position of ruler of Algiers since 1533.-Ruler of...
as his successor in Algiers. He then dictated his memoirs to Muradi Sinan Reis. They consist of five hand-written volumes known as "Gazavat-ı Hayreddin Paşa" (Conquests of Hayreddin Pasha). Today they are exhibited at the Topkapı Palace
Topkapi Palace
The Topkapı Palace is a large palace in Istanbul, Turkey, that was the primary residence of the Ottoman Sultans for approximately 400 years of their 624-year reign....
and Istanbul University
Istanbul University
Istanbul University is a Turkish university located in Istanbul. The main campus is adjacent to Beyazıt Square.- Synopsis :A madrasa, a religious school, was established sometime in the 15th century after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople. An institution of higher education named the...
Library. They are prepared and published by Babıali Kültür Yayıncılığı
Babiali Cultural Publications
Babıali Kültür Yayıncılığı is a publishing company based in Istanbul, Turkey. The company publishes many different kinds of books and also Haber Kuşağı , an online newspaper....
as "Kaptan Paşa'nın Seyir Defteri" (The Logbook of the Captain Pasha) by Prof. Dr. Ahmet Şimşirgil
Ahmet Simsirgil
Ahmet Şimşirgil is a Turkish academic. He is a professor of Ottoman history on the historical period which extends from the conquest of Istanbul in the Faculty of Science and Literature at the Marmara University....
, a Turkish academic. They are also fictionalised as "Akdeniz Bizimdi" (The Mediterranean was Ours) by M. Ertuğrul Düzdağ. Barbarossa is also one of the main characters in Mika Waltari
Mika Waltari
Mika Toimi Waltari was a Finnish writer, best known for his best-selling novel The Egyptian .- Early life :...
's book the Wanderer
The Wanderer (Waltari)
The Wanderer or The Sultan's Renegade is a 1949 novel by Mika Waltari, part 2 of 2, telling of the adventures of a young Finnish man, Mikael Karvajalka, in 16th century Europe. It tells the story how Mikael turns from Christianity to Islam and rises to a high state in the court of Suleiman the...
(1949).
Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha died in 1546 in his seaside palace in the Büyükdere neighbourhood of Constantinople, on the northwestern shores of the Bosphorus. He is buried in the tall mausoleum
Mausoleum
A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or persons. A monument without the interment is a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type of tomb or the tomb may be considered to be within the...
(türbe
Turbe
Türbe is the Turkish word for "tomb", and for the characteristic mausoleums, often relatively small, of Ottoman royalty and notables. It is related to the Arabic turba, which can also mean a mausoleum, but more often a funerary complex, or a plot in a cemetery.-Characteristics:A typical türbe...
) near the ferry port of the district of Beşiktaş
Besiktas
Beşiktaş is a municipality of Istanbul, Turkey, located on the European shore of the Bosphorus. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and Şişli, on the west by Kağıthane and Şişli, on the south by Beyoğlu, and on the east by the Bosphorus...
on the European side of Istanbul; which was built in 1541 by the famous architect Mimar Sinan, at the site where his fleet used to assemble. His memorial was built in 1944, next to his mausoleum.
The Flag (Sanjak) of Hayreddin Barbarossa
The star on the flag of Hayreddin Barbarossa may be confused with the Star of DavidStar of David
The Star of David, known in Hebrew as the Shield of David or Magen David is a generally recognized symbol of Jewish identity and Judaism.Its shape is that of a hexagram, the compound of two equilateral triangles...
, a Jewish symbol, used by Israel today. However, in medieval times, this star was a popular Islamic symbol known as the Seal of Solomon
Seal of Solomon
In Medieval Jewish, Christian and Islamic legends, the Seal of Solomon was a magical signet ring said to have been possessed by King Solomon, which variously gave him the power to command demons, genies , or to speak with animals.-In legend :...
(Suleiman) and was widely used by the Beyliks of Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
. The seal was later used by the Ottomans in their mosque decorations, coins and the personal flags of the pasha
Pasha
Pasha or pascha, formerly bashaw, was a high rank in the Ottoman Empire political system, typically granted to governors, generals and dignitaries. As an honorary title, Pasha, in one of its various ranks, is equivalent to the British title of Lord, and was also one of the highest titles in...
s, including Hayreddin Barbarossa. One of the Turkish beyliks known to use the seal on its flag was the Jandarids. According to the Catalan Atlas of 1375 by A. Cresques, the flag of the Karamanids, another Anatolian beylik, consisted of a blue 6-edged star.
Legacy
Hayreddin Barbarossa established the Ottoman supremacy in the Mediterranean which lasted until the Battle of LepantoBattle of Lepanto (1571)
The Battle of Lepanto took place on 7 October 1571 when a fleet of the Holy League, a coalition of Catholic maritime states, decisively defeated the main fleet of the Ottoman Empire in five hours of fighting on the northern edge of the Gulf of Patras, off western Greece...
in 1571. But even after their defeat in Lepanto, the Ottomans quickly rebuilt their fleet, regained Cyprus and other lost territories in Morea
Morea
The Morea was the name of the Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece during the Middle Ages and the early modern period. It also referred to a Byzantine province in the region, known as the Despotate of Morea.-Origins of the name:...
and Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
from the Republic of Venice
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...
between 1571 and 1572, and conquered Tunisia from Spain in 1574. Furthermore, the Ottomans ventured into the northern Atlantic Ocean between 1585 and 1660, and continued to be a major Mediterranean sea power for three more centuries, until the reign of Sultan Abdülaziz
Abdülâziz
Abdülaziz I or Abd Al-Aziz, His Imperial Majesty was the 32nd Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and reigned between 25 June 1861 and 30 May 1876...
, when the Ottoman fleet, which had 21 battleships and 173 other types of warships, ranked as the third largest naval force in the world after the British and French navies.
However, during these centuries of great seamen such as Kemal Reis
Kemal Reis
Kemal Reis was a Turkish privateer and admiral of the Ottoman Empire. He was also the paternal uncle of the famous Ottoman admiral and cartographer Piri Reis who accompanied him in most of his important naval expeditions....
before him; his brother Aruj and other contemporaries Turgut Reis
Turgut Reis
Turgut Reis was an Ottoman Admiral and privateer who also served as Bey of Algiers; Beylerbey of the Mediterranean; and first Bey, later Pasha, of Tripoli. Under his naval command the Ottoman Empire maritime was extended across North Africa...
, Salih Reis
Salih Reis
Salih Reis was a Turkish privateer and Ottoman admiral. He is alternatively referred to as Salah Rais, Sala Reis, Salih Rais, Salek Rais and Cale Arraez in several European resources, particularly in Spain, France and Italy.In 1529, together with Aydın Reis, he took part in the Turkish-Spanish...
, Piri Reis
Piri Reis
Piri Reis was an Turkish Ottoman admiral, geographer and cartographer born between 1465 and 1470 and died in 1554 or 1555....
and Kurtoğlu Muslihiddin Reis
Kurtoglu Muslihiddin Reis
Kurtoğlu Muslihiddin Reis was a privateer and admiral of the Ottoman Empire, as well as the Sanjak Bey of Rhodes. He played an important role in the Ottoman conquests of Egypt and Rhodes during which he commanded the Ottoman naval forces...
; or Piyale Pasha
Piyale Pasha
Piyale Pasha , born in Viganj on the Pelješac peninsula, was a Croatian Ottoman admiral between 1553 and 1567 and an Ottoman Vizier after 1568. He was also known as Piale Pasha in the West or Pialí Bajá in Spain; )....
, Murat Reis, Seydi Ali Reis
Seydi Ali Reis
Seydi Ali Reis was an Ottoman admiral.He commanded the left wing of the Ottoman fleet at the naval Battle of Preveza in 1538....
, Uluç Ali Reis and Kurtoğlu Hızır Reis
Kurtoglu Hizir Reis
Kurtoğlu Hızır Reis was an Ottoman admiral who is best known for commanding the Ottoman naval expedition to Sumatra in Indonesia .-Background and family origins:...
after him, few other Ottoman admirals ever achieved the overwhelming naval power of Hayreddin Barbarossa.
His mausoleum is in the Barbaros Park of Beşiktaş
Besiktas
Beşiktaş is a municipality of Istanbul, Turkey, located on the European shore of the Bosphorus. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and Şişli, on the west by Kağıthane and Şişli, on the south by Beyoğlu, and on the east by the Bosphorus...
, Istanbul, where his statue also stands, right next to the Turkish Naval Museum. On the back of the statue are verses by the Turkish poet Yahya Kemal Beyatlı
Yahya Kemal Beyatli
Yahya Kemal Beyatlı , born Ahmed Agâh, was a leading Turkish poet and author, as well as a politician.-Biography:...
which may be translated as follows:
Whence on the sea's horizon comes that roar?
Can it be Barbarossa now returning
From Tunis or Algiers or from the Isles?
Two hundred vessels ride upon the waves,
Coming from lands the rising Crescent lights:
O blessed ships, from what seas are ye come?
Barbaros Boulevard starts from his mausoleum on the Bosphorus and runs all the way up to the Levent
Levent
Levent is a neighbourhood and one of the main business districts of Istanbul, Turkey, located on the European side of the city. It is a part of the municipality of Beşiktaş which is situated to the north of the Golden Horn, at the western shore of the Bosporus strait.Levent is in direct...
and Maslak
Maslak
Maslak is a neighbourhood and one of the main business districts of Istanbul, Turkey, located on the European side of the city. It is an exclave of the municipality of Şişli, though being far north and actually closer to the municipalities of Beşiktaş and Sarıyer.Maslak is in direct competition...
business districts and beyond. He gave his name to Üsküdar
Üsküdar
Üsküdar is a large and densely populated municipality of Istanbul, Turkey, on the Anatolian shore of the Bosphorus. It is bordered on the north by Beykoz, on the east by Ümraniye, on the southeast by Ataşehir, on the south by Kadıköy, and on the west by the Bosphorus, with the areas of Beşiktaş,...
and Eminönü
Eminönü
Eminönü is a former district of Istanbul in Turkey, now a neighbourhood of Fatih district. This is the heart of the walled city of Constantine, the focus of a history of incredible richness. Eminönü covers the point on which the Byzantine capital was built. The Galata Bridge crosses the Golden Horn...
port (before 10 January 2009 Kadıköy
Kadiköy
Kadıköy is a large, populous, and cosmopolitan district of İstanbul, Turkey on the Asian side of the Sea of Marmara, facing the historic city centre on the European side of the Bosporus...
) in Beşiktaş
Besiktas
Beşiktaş is a municipality of Istanbul, Turkey, located on the European shore of the Bosphorus. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and Şişli, on the west by Kağıthane and Şişli, on the south by Beyoğlu, and on the east by the Bosphorus...
.
In the centuries following his death, even today, Turkish seamen salute his mausoleum with a cannon shot before leaving for naval operations and battles.
Several warships of the Turkish Navy
Turkish Navy
The Turkish Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the Turkish Armed Forces.- Ottoman fleet after Mudros :Following the demise of the Ottoman Empire in the aftermath of World War I, on November 3, 1918, the fleet commander of the Ottoman Navy, Liva Amiral Arif Pasha, ordered all flags to be...
and passenger ships have been named after him.
See also
- Ottoman NavyOttoman NavyThe Ottoman Navy was established in the early 14th century. During its long existence it was involved in many conflicts; refer to list of Ottoman sieges and landings and list of Admirals in the Ottoman Empire for a brief chronology.- Pre-Ottoman:...
- Hector BarbossaHector BarbossaHector Barbossa is a fictional character and pirate in the Disney film series Pirates of the Caribbean. Barbossa was first introduced in the series as the main antagonist of the first film, and pirate captain of the Black Pearl after committing mutiny against the ship's former captain, Jack...
, a fictional character partly inspired by Barbarossa
External links
- The Life of Barbarossa in www.ottomannavy.com
- Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
- A brief article
- An article on the Barbarossa brothers
- Another article on the Barbarossa brothers
- Original Gazawat by Seyyid Muradi
- Hayreddin Barbarossa's tomb in Beşiktaş
- Hayreddin Barbarossa'nın Hatıraları (Memoirs of Hayreddin Barbarossa in Turkish)