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
mudéjars from Spain to North Africa, thereby assuring himself of a sizable following of grateful and loyal Muslims who harbored an intense hatred for Spain. He captured
Bône, 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 the coast of
Cádiz. 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, then 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 of Algiers. In August 1529, he attacked the
Mediterranean coasts of Spain, and later, answering Andalusia's requests for help in crossing the
Strait of Gibraltar, he transported 70,000
mudéjars to Algiers 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 began to use the island as a logistic base for his operations on the area. In 1531, he encountered
Andrea Doria, who had been appointed by
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor to recapture
Jijel and the
Peñón of Algiers, and repulsed a 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. He also pillaged the
Îles d'Hyères during the same year. and battles during the
Ottoman–Habsburg wars in the 16th century 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 Istanbul, who set sail in August 1532. Having raided Sardinia,
Bonifacio in Corsica, and 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.
Diplomacy with France In 1533, Barbarossa sent an embassy to the king of France,
Francis I, 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:
Kapudan-i Derya of the Ottoman Navy of
Charles V under the command of
Andrea Doria at the
Battle of Preveza in 1538 on
Capri. The Ottomans eventually departed from Capri, but another famous Ottoman admiral,
Dragut, recaptured both the island and the castle in 1553. on the Bosphorus in Istanbul 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. Also in July 1534, he appeared in
Campania and sacked the islands of Capri and
Procida before bombarding the ports in the Gulf of
Naples, where 7,800 captives were taken. He then appeared at
Fondi, then part of the
Spanish-ruled Kingdom of Naples, causing the church bells in Rome to sound the alarm. In
Sperlonga, also part of the Kingdom of Naples, he took 10,000 captives and when he arrived in Fondi the janissaries entered the city through the main gates and completely ransacked the palace of Giulia Gonzaga. He then sacked, torched and destroyed
Vallecorsa slaughtering some townspeople and taking others captive. He sailed south, appearing at
Ponza, Sicily and Sardinia, before
capturing Tunis in August 1534 and sending the
Hafsid Sultan
Mulay Hassan fleeing. Charles dispatched an agent to offer Barbarossa "the lordship of North Africa" for his changed loyalty, or if that failed, to assassinate him. However, upon rejecting the offer, Barbarossa decapitated the agent with a
scimitar. Mulei Hassan asked Emperor Charles V for help in recovering his kingdom, and a Spanish-Italian force of 300 galleys and 24,000 soldiers
recaptured Tunis as well as
Bône 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
Mallorca and
Menorca, 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 that 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 prompted 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's forces led by
Sinan Reis 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 with Sinan Reis, 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. , 1541,
Istanbul Naval Museum In 1540 Barbarossa led a crew of 2,000 men and captured and ransacked the town of
Gibraltar. He left Gibraltar after taking 75 prisoners which removed a significant percent of Gibraltar's population, he ultimately eliminated the town of almost an entire generation of Gibraltarians. during his campaign in France in 1543–44, at the
Istanbul Naval Museum receiving Barbarossa in Istanbul Barbarossa then successfully repulsed further Spanish attacks on southern France, but was recalled to Istanbul after Charles V and Suleiman had agreed to a truce in 1544. After leaving 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's Lord released the son of
Sinan Reis who had been captured and baptized 10 years earlier by the Spaniards in Tunis, he obtained his release. after which, he threatened
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 Mallorca and Menorca 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.
Retirement and death in the
Beşiktaş district of
Istanbul Barbarossa retired in Constantinople in 1545, leaving his son
Hasan Pasha 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 Istanbul, 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.
The Flag (Sanjak) of Hayreddin Barbarossa The
Arabic calligraphy at the top of the standard reads, "" (''nasrun mina'llāhi wa fatḥhun qarībun wa bashshiri'l-mu’minīna yā muḥammad''), translated as "Victory from Allah and an eminent conquest; and give good tidings to the believers, O Muhammad." The text comes from verse 61:13 of the
Quran, with the addition of "O Muhammad", since the last part of the verse addresses the Islamic prophet,
Muhammad. by
Abraham Cresques Within the four crescents are the names, from right to left, beginning at the top right, of the first four caliphs –
Abu Bakr,
Umar,
Uthman, and
Ali – whose rule of the Islamic state after Muhammad is referred to as the
Rashidun Caliphate. The two-bladed sword represents
Dhu'l-Fiqar, a famous sword in Islamic history, belonging first to Muhammad and then Ali. To the left of the sword's hilt is a small hand. Between the two blades of the sword is a
six-pointed star. The star may be confused with the
Star of David, a Jewish symbol. However, in medieval times, this star was a popular Islamic symbol known as the
Seal of Solomon 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
pashas, 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 six-edged star. ==Legacy==