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Piali Pasha | |
|---|---|
 Bust of Piyale Pasha | |
| Born | c. 1515 |
| Died | 21 January 1578 (aged 62–63) |
| Branch | Ottoman Navy |
| Years of service | c. 1553–1567 |
| Rank | Admiral |
| Spouse | |
| Children | Ayşe Atike Hanımsultan Sultanzade Mehmed Pasha Sultanzade Mustafa Bey Fatma Hanımsultan Hatice Hanımsultan |
Piali Pasha (Turkish:Piyale Paşa;Hungarian:Piali pasa) (c. 1515–1578) was anOttomanGrand Admiral (Kapudan Pasha) between 1553 and 1567, and aVizier (minister) after 1568. He is also known as Piale Pasha in English.
His exact place of birth is unknown, though he was probably born in Hungary.[1] He was ofHungarian[2][3][4][5][6][7][8] orCroatian[9][10][11][a] origin. It is said that Piali was the son of a shoemaker fromTolna, a Hungarian shoemaker according to Hidden, who speaks of the son of a "Hungarian shoemaker" as early as 1912,[7][3][8] or of a Croatian according to a 2007 entry in the TDV Islam Encyclopedia.[11] He would become a soldier and be captured by the Ottomans in the Hungarian battlefields[7] (in the 1526Battle of Mohács).[12]
Piyale Pasha received his formal education at theEnderun School (Imperial Academy) inConstantinople (modern-day Istanbul),Ottoman Empire. He graduated from the Enderun with the title ofKapıcıbaşı and was appointedSanjak Bey (Province Governor) ofGallipoli.
He was promoted toBahriye Beylerbeyi (i.e. First Lord of Admiralty) and became Admiral-in-Chief of the Ottoman Fleet at the age of 39.
In 1554 he captured the islands ofElba andCorsica with a large fleet which included famous Ottoman admirals likeTurgut Reis andSalih Reis. The following year SultanSuleiman the Magnificent assigned him with the task of helping France against the Spaniards upon request byCatherine de' Medici, mother of KingFrancis II, and Piyale Pasha set sail on 26 June 1555. The Ottoman fleet met the French fleet atPiombino and successfully repulsed a Spanish attack on France while conquering several Spanish fortresses on the Mediterranean Sea.
In June 1558, joined byTurgut Reis, Piyale Pasha sailed to theStrait of Messina and the two admirals capturedReggio Calabria. From there, they went to theAeolian Islands and captured several of them, before landing atAmalfi, the Gulf ofSalerno, and capturingMassa Lubrense, Cantone andSorrento. They later landed atTorre del Greco, the coasts ofTuscany, andPiombino. In September 1558 they assaulted the coasts of Spain before capturingMenorca and inflicting particular damage on the island's ports.
This caused fear throughout the Mediterranean coasts of Spain, and KingPhilip II appealed toPope Paul IV and his allies in Europe to bring an end to the rising Ottoman threat. In 1560 King Philip II succeeded in organizing aHoly League between Spain, theRepublic of Venice, theRepublic of Genoa, thePapal States, theDuchy of Savoy and theKnights of Malta. The joint fleet was assembled atMessina and consisted of 54 galleys and 66 other types of vessels under the command ofGiovanni Andrea Doria, nephew of the famous Genoese admiralAndrea Doria.
On 12 March 1560, the Holy League captured the island ofDjerba which had a strategic location and could control the sea routes betweenAlgiers andTripoli. As a response,Suleiman the Magnificent sent an Ottoman fleet of 86 galleys and galliots under the command of Piyale Pasha, which arrived at Djerba on 11 May 1560 and destroyed the Christian fleet in a matter of hours at theBattle of Djerba. Giovanni Andrea Doria managed to escape with a small vessel, but the surviving Christians, now under the command ofÁlvaro de Sande, took refuge in the fort on the island of Djerba which they had constructed during the expedition. Piyale Pasha andTurgut Reis eventually forced the garrison to surrender and Piyale Pasha took 5,000 prisoners, including de Sande, toConstantinople, where he was met by joyous crowds. He marriedSultana Gevher Han, daughter of Suleiman's sonSelim II.
In 1563 Piyale Pasha capturedNaples and the fortresses around the city on behalf of France, but after the Ottoman forces left the city the French could not hold on to these and the Spaniards eventually took them back.[dubious –discuss]
In 1565 Piyale Pasha, together with the generalKızılahmedli Mustafa Pasha andTurgut Reis, was charged by Suleiman with the capture ofMalta, but the effort failed in the face of determined resistance by theMaltese Knights, costing the Ottoman fleet not only large numbers of casualties, but also the life of Turgut Reis.
In 1566 Piyale captured the island ofChios and brought an end to the Genoese presence in theAegean Sea. He later landed onAbruzzo,Molise, andApulia in Italy and captured several strategic fortresses, includingFrancavilla al Mare,[13]Ortona on August 10,[14] but failing to takePescara[15]
In 1568 he was promoted toVizier, becoming the first admiral in Ottoman history to reach this rank.
In 1570 he set sail forCyprus, then aVenetian possession, with a large invasion force on board his ships. Having left Constantinople on 15 May 1570, the fleet arrived at Cyprus on 1 July 1570. On 22 July the Turks, under the command ofLala Mustafa, commenced the siege ofNicosia, capturing the city on 9 September. After capturingPaphos,Limassol andLarnaca in rapid succession, they surrounded Magosa (Famagusta), the final Venetian stronghold on the island, on 18 September 1570 and finally took it on 1 August 1571, completing the conquest of Cyprus.
After the defeat of the Ottoman fleet under the command ofMüezzinzade Ali Pasha at theBattle of Lepanto in 1571, Piyale Pasha was called to take back the command of the Ottoman navy. The Ottomans managed to rebuild a fleet as large as that lost at Lepanto in less than a year, andUluç Ali Reis reconqueredTunisia from Spain and their Hafsid vassals in 1574.
In 1573 Piyale Pasha once again landed on Apulia in Italy. This was his final naval expedition.
Piyale Pasha died on 21 January 1578 and is buried at thePiyale Pasha Mosque in Istanbul which he had built, under the direction of the architectMimar Sinan, in his final years.
On 17 August 1562 he marriedGevherhan Sultan, daughter of future SultanSelim II andNurbanu Sultan and granddaughter of SultanSüleyman I.
They had two sons and three daughters:
Several warships of theTurkish Navy have been named after him.
Piali Pasha (1520-1571), was born in Hungary.
When the Ottomans, under a renegade Hungarian admiral, Piali Pasha, took Chios in 1566 [...]
[...] and Piali Pasha (a Hungarian by descent), but deadly enemy of the Christians
Turkish ships of war, under the command of Piali Pasha, a Hungarian renegade, appeared off the coast of Cyprus, and anchored in the bay of Limasol.
Also Selim's admiral Piali Pasha - a Hungarian renegade - and his general Mustafa Pasha favoured the enterprise, for in it they saw an opportunity to [...]
[...] save this one tree, which is Tenos'; and accordingly another attempt was made on Tenos by the Turks under Piali Pasha, a Hungarian renegade
Piali Pasha, the renowned admiral, was the son of a Hungarian shoemaker in the city of Torna in Hungary. He was captured in boyhood, reared in the Seraglio, [...]
Piali Pasha, the son-in-law of the Sultan; formerly a Christian, of Hungarian origin.
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