In the previous articles "Islamic Pirates of the Mediterranean" and "Disciples" of Khair ad-Din Barbarossa, we remembered Aruj-Reis and his younger brother Khair-ad-Din Barbarossa, the Great Jew from Smyrna Sinane Pasha and Turgut-Reis. This one will talk about some of the other famous corsairs and admirals of the Maghreb and the Ottoman Empire, as well as the great battle of Lepanto.
Successors of Barbarossa
The official successor of Khair ad-Din Barbarossa as the beylerbey of North Africa was originally declared his son Hasan (whose mother was a woman from a family of Sephardi Jews expelled from Spain). However, he did not take seriously the alliance of the Port with France and, against the will of the Sultan, attacked the ships of this country. Therefore, in 1548 it was replaced by the already known Turgut-Reis. Later, Suleiman the Magnificent still returned to the son of Barbarossa the post of governor of North Africa, albeit not for long. In 1552, under the pretext that Hassan was not making sufficient efforts to conquer Morocco, he was again removed from the post, which was now occupied by Sala Reis, a Turkish-educated Arab whose family moved to the Aegean coast of Turkey from Alexandria. … But Suleiman, apparently, had some special feelings for the family of the famous pirate and admiral, because he appointed Hasan ruler of Algeria again - in 1557, and again deposed him in 1558. Finally, he was sent to Algeria in 1562 and remained there until 1567, when he was recalled to Constantinople, for some time was the commander of the Ottoman fleet and took part in the battle of Lepanto, unfortunate for the Ottoman Empire (1571).
And in Algeria, he was again replaced by Salah Reis.
Salah Reis
In European sources he was sometimes called Keil Arraez (from Arabic - "leader"). He began his career as a corsair with Barbarossa's older brother, Uruj. He was especially famous for the battle of the island of Formentera (1529), in which the Ottomans defeated the Spanish fleet of Admiral Rodrigo Portundo (who died in battle). Salah then commanded 14 galiots, his ship captured the galley, which was the son of the Spanish admiral.
In 1535 he took part in the defense of Tunisia, which was attacked by the 30-thousandth army of Emperor Charles V (this was described in the article "Disciples" of Hayr ad-Din Barbarossa ").
At the Battle of Preveza (1538), Salah commanded the right flank of Barbarossa's squadron (24 galleys).
What happened next is not entirely clear: sources disagree about the fate of this corsair.
Some Turkish authors claim that in 1540 Salah was in Corsica with Turgut-Reis, was taken prisoner by the Genoese with him, and together with him was ransomed by Barbarossa in 1544 (see the article "Disciples" of Hayr ad-Din Barbarossa) … And the Europeans say that in 1543 Salah was in the squadron of Barbarossa and participated in the attack on the coast of Spain. But there are no further discrepancies.
In 1548 Salah, commanding 18 galiots, attacked the Sicilian city of Capo Passero, after which he joined Turgut Reis, their combined squadrons attacked the island of Gozo.
In the fall of 1550, the envoys of Admiral Andrea Doria offered Salah to transfer to the Spanish service - these negotiations were not successful.
In 1551 he participated in the conquest of Tripoli (together with Turgut Reis and Sinan Pasha). The next year, he joined Turgut Reis, and, together with him, attacked the coast of Italy in the Gulf of Naples and in the regions of Lazio and Tuscany, then independently captured the island of Mallorca.
In 1555 Salah, at the head of a squadron of 22 galleys, acted against Spain in alliance with the French, and, after returning to Constantinople, was awarded an audience with the Sultan. He twice unsuccessfully tried to capture Oman - in 1556 on his own and in 1563 together with Turgut-Reis.
In 1565, Salah took part in the Great Siege of Malta (during which Turgut Reis was mortally wounded at the Fort of St. Elmo) - at the head of 15 thousand soldiers, he stormed the Fort of St. Michael.
In the end, as we have already said, Salah Reis was appointed the Beylerbey of North Africa, but soon died of the plague - in 1568.
Kurdoglu Reis
We already spoke about this admiral in the first article, when we talked about the defeat of the Hospitallers on the island of Rhodes. Kurtoğlu Muslihiddin Reis was a native of Anatolia. In 1508, in exchange for a fifth of the booty, he received permission to make Bizerte the base of his squadron. One of his first high-profile operations was the attack on the coast of Liguria, in which 30 ships participated. In 1509, at the head of a squadron of 17 ships, he took part in the unsuccessful siege of Rhodes, on the way back he managed to capture the papal galley. In 1510, he took turns seizing two islands - the Venetian Andros and the Genoese Chios, taking a good ransom on both.
1510 to 1514 he operated in the area between Sicily, Sardinia and Calabria, according to contemporaries, almost paralyzing merchant shipping there.
In 1516 he accepted the offer of the Sultan to enter the Turkish service. Then he received the title of "Reis".
Kurdoglu Reis took part in the campaign against Egypt, with his ships reached from Alexandria to Cairo, after the victory was appointed commander of the Egyptian fleet, which under his leadership was transferred to Suez and became the Indian Ocean fleet. His son Khizir (named after Khair ad-Din Barbarossa) later became the admiral of this fleet, who led his ships even to Sumatra.
Returning to the Mediterranean, Kurdoglu Reis acted in close contact with Piri Reis, jointly patrolling the Aegean Sea between the islands of Imvros (Gokceada) and Chios. Then he participated in the campaign to Rhodes, which ended with the expulsion of the Hospitallers from there. It was Kurdoglu Reis who was appointed the sanjakbey of the conquered Rhodes. In March 1524 he was instructed to suppress the revolt of the Janissaries in Alexandria, which he did - in April of that year. And already in August, commanding a squadron of 18 ships, he ravaged the coasts of Apulia and Sicily and captured 8 ships.
In May 1525, Kurdoglu Reis boarded 4 Venetian ships off the island of Crete, in August he arrived in Constantinople, where he received from Suleiman I three large ships and ten galleys with orders to resist the Knights Hospitallers and "Christian pirates" at sea.
Starting in 1530, based in Rhodes, he operated mainly against Venice.
Kurdoglu Reis died in 1535.
Italian hero of the Maghreb and the Ottoman Empire
Already mentioned by us in the article Disciples of Hayr ad-Din Barbarossa Uluj Ali (Uluch Ali, Kilich Ali Pasha) bore the name of Giovanni Dionigi Galeni from birth.
He was born in 1519 in the Calabrian village of Le Castella and at the age of 17, during a raid by Barbary pirates, he was taken prisoner by Ali Ahmed, one of the captains of the famous Khair ad-Din Barbarossa. For several years he was a slave in a pirate gallery - until he converted to Islam, thus becoming a member of the team. As a corsair, he turned out to be very dashing - so much so that he made a good impression on Turgut Reis himself, and the Turkish admiral Piyale Pasha had a very flattering opinion of him. Already in 1550, Uluj Ali took the post of governor of the island of Samos, by 1565 he rose to beylerbey of Alexandria.
Alexandria on one of the maps of the "Book of the Seas" Piri Reis
He participated in the siege of Malta, during which Turgut was killed, and took his place in Tripoli. As a Pasha of Tripolitania, he led attacks on the shores of Sicily and Calabria, and plundered the environs of Naples. In 1568 he was "promoted" to become a Beylerbey and Pasha of Algeria. In October 1569, he expelled Sultan Hamid from the Hafsid dynasty from Tunisia. In the same year, he defeated a squadron of 5 galleys of the Order of the Hospitallers: 4 were taken on board, Admiral Francisco de Sant Clement managed to leave in fifth - to be executed in Malta for cowardice.
In 1571, Uluj Ali took part in one of the greatest naval battles in world history.
Battle of Lepanto
Historians consider the Battle of Lepanto one of the four largest naval battles in world history and the last major battle of the era of the rowing fleet. The Christian fleet of the Holy League consisted of 206 galleys (108 Venetian, 81 Spanish, 3 Maltese, 3 Savoyard, Pope's galleys), 6 huge Venetian galleys, 12 large Spanish ships, as well as about 100 transport ships. The number of their crews reached 84 thousand people (including 20 thousand soldiers, among whom was Miguel Cervantes de Saavedra, who was three wounded in this battle, as well as his brother Rodrigo).
This huge fleet was commanded by the stepbrother of the Spanish king Philip II don Juan of Austria (the illegitimate son of Charles V).
The admiral of the Spanish ships was the already mentioned Giovanni Andrea Doria, a relative of the famous admiral (he was defeated at the island of Djerba, where he fought against Piiale Pasha and Turgut Reis - review and article "Disciples" of Khair ad-Din Barbarossa). The Venetian ships were commanded by Sebastiano Venier (the oldest of the Christian admirals - he was 75 years old), the galleys of the Pope - Mark Antonio Colonna.
The Ottoman fleet had from 220 to 230 galleys and 50-60 galliots, which accommodated up to 88 thousand people (including about 16 thousand in boarding teams).
Kapudan Pasha at that time was Ali Pasha Muezzinzade - aha Janissary, a man, of course, brave, but completely inexperienced in naval affairs, he received this post after the next revolt of his subordinates, accompanying the ascension to the throne of Sultan Selim II. Turkish historian of the 17th century Mehmed Solak-zade Hamdemi said about him:
"He had not seen a single naval battle and was not aware of the science of piracy."
Ali Pasha Muezzinzadeh was at the head of the center's ships (91 galleys and 5 galiots). The Viceroy of Alexandria Mehmet Sirocco (Sulik Pasha), a Greek by birth, led the right flank (53 galleys and three galiots). Uluj Ali, the Beylerbey of Algeria, commanded the ships of the left flank (61 galleys, three galiots) - mainly the ships of the Barbary corsairs. In addition to Uluj himself, there were three more Europeans among the Algerian captains: Hassan from Venice, the Frenchman Jafar and the Albanian Dali Mami.
In the reserve of the Ottoman fleet, 5 galleys and 25 galiots were left.
The Battle of Lepanto took place on October 7, 1571 in the Gulf of Patras, and the fleets of the opposing sides collided there quite by accident: both the Ottomans and the Europeans did not know about the enemy's movement. The Europeans were the first to see the masts of the Turkish ships, and the first to line up for battle. In the center were 62 galleys of Juan of Austria, ahead of which were followed by powerful "floating fortresses" - galeases. The right wing (58 galleys) was commanded by Doria, the left wing (53 galleys) - by the Venetian admiral Agostino Barbarigo, who, judging by his surname, was a descendant of the Arabs of North Africa who converted to Christianity (not the “Venetian Moor Othello”, of course, but could have become his “grandson "Or great-grandson" in Shakespeare's new tragedy).
Agostino Barbarigo, portrait by one of Veronese's students
Another 30 galleys were left in reserve, commanded by the Marquis of Santa Cruz.
The Turkish fleet was moving towards, lined up.
The outcome of the battle was decided by the battle of the centers, in which the commanders took personal part.
Ali Pasha Muezzinzadeh was an unsurpassed archer, the Spanish bastard Juan was a “master of swords” (straight elf Legolas against Aragorn), and the flagship Christian galley “Real” met in a fierce battle with the Ottoman “Sultana”.
Other ships rushed to the aid of their admirals - and, in the end, the Aragorn won the victory. The fact is that there were more soldiers on the ships of the Holy League - in a boarding battle the Ottomans had no chance. The severed head of Ali Pasha was hoisted on a pole, and this had a depressing effect on the crews of neighboring Turkish ships.
On the right flank, the Ottomans had every chance of winning: the European captains, lacking pilots, stayed away from the coast, this allowed Mehmet Cirocco to bypass their ships and attack from the rear. The Ottomans were again let down by the small number of soldiers on the ships - in the ensuing boarding battles they were in the minority and were defeated.
During the battle, the commander of this squadron, Barbarigo, raised his visor, and a Turkish arrow hit his eye: he died from the consequences of this injury 2 days later. Three Italian warships were named in his honor at different times.
Mehmet Sirocco was also killed in action.
On the left flank of the Turkish fleet, the ships of Uluja-Ali operated successfully. The famous admiral managed to cut off Doria's squadron from the main forces, sank several enemy galleys and captured the flagship of the Grand Master Hospitaller. Then, with 30 galleys, he rushed to the aid of the Kapudan Pasha, but the battle in the center had already subsided: the commander was killed, the Ottomans were defeated.
Uluj-Ali retreated with dignity, taking 40 galleys with him. On the way to Constantinople, he found at sea and added to his squadron 47 more ships that had escaped from the battlefield. He presented the standard of the Grandmaster of the Hospitallers to the Sultan, who appointed him admiral of the Turkish fleet and bestowed the title "Kilich" (Sword). Uluj achieved the construction of large ships on the model of the Venetian galeases, in addition, he proposed to put heavier guns on the galleys, and to issue firearms to the sailors.
The victory of the Christian fleet was brilliant: 107 Turkish ships were sunk, 117 were captured, about 15 thousand Ottoman sailors and soldiers were taken prisoner, 12 thousand Christian rowers were freed (about 10 thousand Christian slaves died on the sunken Turkish ships). The allies lost 13 galleys, from 7 to 8 thousand killed, about 8 thousand people were injured.
Despite the defeat in this grandiose naval battle, the victory in that war remained with the Ottoman Empire. The Holy League collapsed, Uluj Ali built a new fleet for the Sultan, in 1573 Venice ceded Cyprus to the Turks and paid an indemnity of a million ducats.
The Battle of Lepanto can be safely compared to the battle on the Kulikovo field. On the one hand, these battles had practically no political significance for the victors. Two years after Lepanto, Venice signed a peace treaty on Ottoman terms, and two years after the Battle of Kulikovo, Tokhtamysh burned Moscow and secured the resumption of tribute payments in the same amount. Tamerlane, who defeated the Golden Horde, saved Moscow from the humiliating consequences of this defeat - it is written about this in the article “Iron Timur. Part 2.
But at the same time, these victories had a huge impact on the morale of the population of Russia and the countries of Catholic Europe.
After the battle of Lepanto, many poems and poems were written. Paintings by many artists are dedicated to the victory at Lepanto, including two allegorical paintings by Titian, commissioned by the Spanish king Philip II.
Pope Pius V initiated the introduction of a new Catholic holiday, which in 1573 (already under Gregory XIII) was named the Virgin Mary - Queen of the Rosary.
However, not everyone in Europe was happy about this victory of the Christian fleet at that time. Dedicated to the Battle of Lepanto, the poem of the Scottish Protestant King James (son of Mary Stuart), written in 1591, caused an explosion of indignation in his homeland. Juan of Austria was called a "foreign papist bastard" by the implacable Protestant leaders and the king a "mercenary poet." It was only later, in the twentieth century, that Chesterton would call don Juan “The Last Knight of Europe”.
But back to our hero - Uluju-Ali. In 1574 he captured Tunisia and the fortress La Goletta (Khalq-el-Oued), lost in 1535, and in 1584 he led his ships to the coast of Crimea.
This admiral died on June 21, 1587 in Constantinople, and was buried in the turba (tomb-mausoleum) of the Kylych Ali Pasha mosque.
It may seem surprising, but a monument to this Ottoman admiral stands in his homeland, in the Italian town of La Castella:
In the next article we will continue the story about the famous Islamic corsairs and admirals of the 16th century.
