From: SEMIBRA@YaleVM.YCC.Yale.Edu
Subject: BARBAROS (his memoirs)
Organization: Yale University
Date: Sat, 22 Aug 92 18:48:56 EDT

  Anyway, his father was a `timarli sipahi' of Mehmed II `Fatih', who
took part in the capture of Midilli (Lesbos) and was awarded land `timar'
there. His *mother* was a local greek woman.
 
  His real name was Hizir (no dots on i's).
He  was  the youngest or second youngest of four brothers, of which the
oldest was Oruc. (no mention of sisters)  They acquired a ship and started
doing trade in the Agean and eastern Mediterennean.  One day Oruc's ship
was ambushed by the Knights of Rhodes, and he taken prisoner. From his
brothers they wanted a ransom much larger than they asked for other
prisoners, and the brother could not afford it.
 
  The prince Korkut (`Yavuz' Selim's brother) would every year buy muslim
slaves from the K's of R and set them free as a charity. Oruc was at one of
the oars of the ship carrying people to be freed; he was not one of them.
But during the confusion of a storm when the ship was anchored close to the
shore, he escaped.
 
  Then Oruc started pirating in the region, especially targeting the ships
of K's of R. Korkut, who heard the story, started supporting them financially.
But when Bayezid II died and Selim became Sultan, everybody that was related
to any of his brothers was persecuted, so they decided to leave the Ottoman
region of influence (At this point there is a dream where an old wise man
tells them what to do).
 
  They went to Tunis  (At that point, Algiers was under Spanish occupation
and Tunis was the main base for muslim pirates)
and started using the port in exchange for a cut from the bounty to the
Sultan of Tunis. In a short time, they became the most powerful group,
and were instrumental in evacuating a lot of Muslims and Jews from Spain.
 
They started fighting the Spaniards on land and captured several coastal
cities, and eventually Algiers, from them. When their relations with the
Sultan of Tunis detoriated, (he hints at jelausy) they moved to Algiers,
which they ruled without an official title. At this point, they could put
30-40 ships to sea.
 
  The other two brothers had died early in their `carrier', and Oruc was
killed by the Spaniards, to whom he had surrendered a minor town in exchange
of his and his soldiers' lives being spared. After that, Hizir wanted to make
amends with the Ottoman Empire and pretty much served Selim Algeria on a
silver platter, and sent some ships to assist his Egypt campaign. He was
of course, made `beylerbeyi' of Algeria.
 
  Later, Suleyman I made him commander of the navy, and bestowed on him the
title `Hayreddin' (Barbaros was the name given to the brothers collectively
by Europeans, because of their red beards). During his time, the Mediterennean
is said to have become an `Ottoman Lake'. He and the navy wintered a few years
in France, and helped their war against Karl V. He beat the combined European
fleet of ~600 ships with his 122 ships in Preveze (European name ?) `sinking
~300 enemy ships, leaving none unscatched, and forcing their commander Andrea
Doria to flee extinguishing his lantern' (supposed to be `unmanly' those days)
[When one reads between the lines, it can be seen that it was a clever
exploitation of slightly superior technology, rather than heroism. For example,
the Turkish cannons had a slightly longer range, the ships smaller and more
manouverable and the wind favorable so that he could keep his ships at the
correct distance to hit them without being hit. He also gives an account of
how his prayers turned the initially unfavorable wind]
 
  An account is given of a big naval campaign by Karl V to retake Algiers,
which was defended by Barbaros' stepson and ~500 soldiers only, who managed
to defeat them (with a lot of help from a terrible storm `hail as big as
chicken eggs'). Apparently Cortez was there too, whom Barbaros describes
as `the cannibal of the new world' (He may even have died there, I don't
remember). He says `in retreat, they ran out of food and the King had to
slaughter and eat his toroughbred horse of great value (he even gives a
figure) and then in despair abdicated his throne and joined a monastery.
 
  Before this, the Spaniards had taken Tunis, which would only be retaken
by Turgut Reis.
 
  If you have any objections to the story, tough luck. I am just relating
his memoirs, take it up with him. But I *do* think it is a tad weird that
Preveze is almost never mentioned in history books around here, whereas
Inebahti (Lepanto) and Navarin(o) are everywhere... And there aren't too
many men who personally carved out their own kingdom...
 
-i
Xref: sparky soc.culture.turkish:8950 talk.politics.mideast:18688 talk.politics.soviet:7035 soc.culture.greek:7595 soc.culture.europe:7380 soc.history:7414