# Raid on Constantinople

The Raid on Constantinople of 1616 was a Spanish raid on Constantinople, the capital city of the Ottoman Empire. It was performed by Ottavio d'Aragona on the orders of Viceroy of Naples Pedro Téllez-Girón, Duke of Osuna.

## Background

After the success of the battle of Cape Celidonia in July 1616, as well as the defeat of the Turk privateer Arzan in August, Osuna arranged for his lieutenant Ottavio d'Aragona to launch a raiding action in Turk waters. Instead of Osuna's private galleon fleet employed in Celidonia, Ottavio sailed off with nine galleys from the royal fleet on October 12, trusting on their already experienced crews. The expedition was chronicled by captain Diego Duque de Estrada.

## Battle

d'Aragona disguised the galleys as Turk vessels and crossed the Aegean Sea without being detected. Around the same time, the remnants of the Ottoman fleet engaged in Cape Celidonia were returning to their bases in the Dardanelles, so it's possible his fleet was mistaken by some of these ships. They cruised through Candia, Corone, Modon and Negroponte, eventually leaving the Dodecanese and coming to the Sea of Marmara in front of Constantinople.
The fleet entered the city's port still without raising alarms, and once inside they dropped the disguise and starting firing their artillery against the city. After some bombardment, d'Aragona received word the Ottomans had recovered from the surprise and deployed 60 galleys (possibly not as many, given the state of the Turk navy at the time) in order to block the Dardanelles and cut their retreat. After consulting with his captains, Ottavio waited for nightfall to order the fleet to ram one of the two wings of Ottoman galleys. Confusion rose among the Ottoman, who failed at identify the Spanish due to the darkness and the high number of ships.
Free from the blockade and with favorable wind, d'Aragona had the fleet turn off their lanterns and navigate in darkness, while his own ship acted as a decoy with a light on. After eight hours of being chased, he turned his light off as well and escaped in the darkness to their rendezvous point. The ruse was successful, causing the Turk fleet to head for Candia when the Spaniards had actually sailed off towards Alexandria. Capitalizing on the chance, d'Aragona sacked the Egyptian coast, and upon finding ten Turk ships, he attacked them without allowing them to use their superior size and artillery. The resultant booty was a million and half ducats.
Sultan Ahmed I became so indignant at the events that he had many Christians in Constantinople arrested on suspicions of having served as spies. Ottavio decided then to return to Naples, opting to properly brief Osuna before further diplomatic consequences.

## Aftermath

The bombardment caused only minor damage, but its political and strategical resonance was huge. The fleets of the Duke of Osuna were reputed to be fearless and able to back it up. The conflict between the Viceroyalty of Naples and the Ottoman Empire was joined in 1617 by the Republic of Venice, which claimed exclusivity of the Adriatic Sea and kept association with Ottoman, French and Dutch enemies of Spain. The Duke of Osuna proposed the court of Philip III to conquer Venice at the same time he sent letters trying to drive a wedge between Venice and Turkey.
Osuna dealt defeats to both opponents throughout 1617. Fleets captained by d'Aragona and Francisco de Rivera chased off the Venetian armada commanded by Justo Antonio Belegno, and a patrol of three galleys by Pedro Pimentel defeated and killed Mahomed Arzan, son of the previous Arzan and a former captive of Spain himself, whom the new Sultan Osman II had sent with six galleys to sack Calabria. Belegno's successor Giacomo Zane obtained the same result as him, after which Pedro de Gamboa captured a Turk merchant fleet for another million and half ducats. In response, Venetians and Ottomans planned to attack Naples with an armada of 48 Turk galleys, similar in size to tat deployed in Celidonia, but a storm forced it to return. Around this time, Osuna also had the Pasha of Cyprus captured in route, and Rivera fought and defeated the Venetians in Ragusa.