Aruj Barbarossa | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | c. 1474 |
| Died | May 1518 (aged 43–44) |
| Piratical career | |
| Nickname | Barbarossa Red Beard Baba Aruj |
| Years active | c. 1495 – 1518 |
| Rank | Sultan ofAlgiers |
| Base of operations | Mediterranean |
| Battles/wars | |
Aruj Barbarossa (Arabic:عروج بربروس), known asOruç Reis to the Turks, was anOttomancorsair who becameSultan ofAlgiers. The elder brother of the famous Ottoman admiralHayreddin Barbarossa, he was born on the Ottoman island of Midilli (Lesbos in present-day Greece) and died in battle against theSpanish atTlemcen.
He became known asBaba Aruj (Father Aruj) when he transported large numbers ofMorisco, Muslim and Jewish refugees from Spain to North Africa; in Europe he was known asBarbarossa.
His father,Yakup Ağa, was an Ottoman official[2][3][4][5] ofTurkish[6][7][8] orAlbanian[9][10][11] descent. Yakup Ağa took part in the Ottoman conquest ofLesbos (Midilli) from theGenoese in 1462, and as a reward, was granted the fief of the Bonova village in the island. He married a local ChristianGreek woman (fromMytilene), named Katerina, who was the widow of anEastern Orthodox priest.[9][12][13][14][15]
They had two daughters and four sons: Ishak, Aruj,Hızır and Ilyas. Yakup became an established potter and purchased a boat to trade his products. The four sons helped their father with his business, but not much is known about the daughters. At first Aruj helped with the boat, while Hızır helped with pottery.[citation needed]
All four brothers became seamen, engaged in marine affairs and international sea trade. Aruj was the first brother to be involved in seamanship, soon joined by the youngest brother Ilyas. Hızır initially helped their father in the pottery business, but later obtained a ship of his own and also began a career at sea. Ishak, the eldest, remained on Mytilene and was involved with the financial affairs of the family business. The other three brothers initially worked as sailors, but then turnedprivateers in the Mediterranean, counteracting the privateering of theKnights Hospitaller of the Island ofRhodes.[16] Aruj and Ilyas operated in theLevant, betweenAnatolia,Syria andEgypt, while Hızır operated in theAegean Sea and based his operations mostly in Thessaloniki.
Aruj was a very successful seaman. He also learned to speakItalian,Spanish,French,Greek andArabic in the early years of his career. During a trading expedition inTripoli, Lebanon, he and Ilyas were attacked by a galley of the Knights Hospitaller. Ilyas was killed in the fight, and Aruj was wounded.[16] Their father's boat was captured, and Aruj was taken prisoner and detained in the Knights'Bodrum Castle for nearly three years. Hizir tried to help Oruc by ransoming but failed and Oruc was tortured for the first few years of captivity and later he worked as a slave on the Rhodes Ship which transported prisoners. One night when conditions were favorable[clarification needed] he managed to escape from the ship and was able to flee to a village where he lived for ten days. Later he joined Captain Ali.[who?][17]
Aruj later went toAntalya, where he was given 18 galleys byŞehzade Korkut, anOttoman prince and governor of the city, and charged with fighting against theKnights Hospitaller who inflicted serious damage on Ottoman shipping and trade.[16]
In the following years, whenŞehzade Korkut became governor ofManisa, he gave Aruj a larger fleet of 24 galleys at the port ofİzmir and ordered him to participate in the Ottoman naval expedition toApulia in theKingdom of Naples, where Aruj bombarded several coastal forts and captured two ships. On his way back to Lesbos, he stopped atEuboea and captured three galleons and another ship. He then attacked several islands of theKnights Hospitaller and captured many of their small vessel ships. ReachingMytilene with these captured vessels, Aruj learned thatŞehzade Korkut, brother of the new Ottoman sultan, had fled toEgypt to avoid being killed over a succession dispute; a common practice at that time in the House of Osman. Fearing trouble due to his well-known association with the Ottoman prince in exile, Aruj sailed to Egypt where he metŞehzade Korkut inCairo and managed to get an audience with theMamluk SultanQansuh al-Ghawri, who gave him another ship and charged him to raid the coasts of Italy and the islands of the Mediterranean that were controlled byChristian powers. After passing the winter in Cairo, he set sail fromAlexandria and operated along the coasts ofLiguria andSicily.[citation needed]
In 1503, Aruj managed to seize three more ships and made the island ofDjerba his new base, thus moving his operations to the Western Mediterranean. Hızır joined Aruj at Djerba. In 1504, the two brothers askedAbu Abdallah Muhammad IV al-Mutawakkil,Hafsidcaliph ofTunisia, for permission to use the strategically located port ofLa Goulette for their operations. They were granted this right, with the condition of leaving one third of their booty to the sultan.[citation needed]
Aruj, in command of small galliots, captured two much largerPapal galleys near the island ofElba. Later, nearLipari, the two brothers captured aSicilian warship, theCavalleria, with 380 Spanish soldiers and 60 Spanish knights fromAragon on board, who were on their way fromSpain toNaples. In 1505, they raided the coasts ofCalabria. These accomplishments increased their fame and they were joined by a number of other well-knownMuslim corsairs, including Kurtoğlu (known in the West as Curtogoli) aTurkish corsair fromKayseri. In 1508, they raided the coasts ofLiguria, particularlyDiano Marina.[citation needed]
In 1509, Ishak also left Mytilene and joined his brothers at La Goulette. The fame of Aruj increased when, between 1504 and 1510, he transported Muslims from Spain to North Africa. His helping the Muslims of Spain in need and transporting them to safer lands earned him the honorific nameBaba Aruj (Father Aruj), which eventually—due to the similarity in sound—evolved in Spain, Italy and France intoBarbarossa (Redbeard in Italian).[citation needed]
In 1510, the three brothers raided Cape Passero inSicily and repulsed a Spanish attack onBougie,Oran andAlgiers. In August 1511, they raided the areas aroundReggio Calabria in southern Italy. In August 1512, the exiled ruler of Bougie invited the brothers to drive out the Spaniards, and during the battle Aruj lost his left arm.[18] This incident earned him the nicknameGümüş Kol (Silver Arm inTurkish), in reference to thesilverprosthetic device which he used in place of his missing limb. Later that year the three brothers raided the coasts ofAndalusia in Spain, capturing a galliot of the Lomellini family ofGenoa who owned theTabarca island in that area. They subsequently landed onMenorca and captured a coastal castle,[19] and then headed towardsLiguria and captured four Genoese galleys near Genoa. The Genoese sent a fleet to liberate their ships, but the brothers captured their flagship as well. After capturing a total of 23 ships in less than a month, the brothers sailed back to La Goulette.
There they built three more galliots and a gunpowder production facility. In 1513, they captured four English ships on their way to France, raidedValencia where they captured four more ships, and then headed forAlicante and captured a Spanish galley nearMálaga. Between 1513 and 1514, the three brothers engaged Spanish squadrons on several other occasions and moved to their new base inCherchell, west ofAlgiers. In 1514, with 12 galliots and 1,000 Turks, they destroyed two Spanish fortresses atBougie, and when a Spanish fleet under the command of Miguel de Gurrea, viceroy ofMajorca, arrived for assistance, they headed towardsCeuta and raided that city before capturingJijel in Algeria, which was under Genoese control. They later capturedMahdiya in Tunisia. Afterwards they raided the coasts ofSicily,Sardinia, theBalearic Islands and the Spanish mainland, capturing three large ships there. In 1515, they captured several galleons, a galley and three barques atMajorca. Still in 1515, Aruj sent precious gifts to the Ottoman SultanSelim I who, in return, sent him two galleys and two swords embellished with diamonds. In 1516, joined byKurtoğlu, the brothers besieged the Castle ofElba, before heading once more towards Liguria where they captured 12 ships and damaged 28 others.
In 1516 the three brothers succeeded in liberatingJijel and Algiers from the Spaniards, but eventually assumed control over the cities and surrounding region, forcing the previous ruler, Abu Hammu Musa III of theZayyanid dynasty, to flee.[20] The local Spaniards in Algiers sought refuge in thePeñón of Algiers and asked EmperorCharles V, King of Spain, to intervene, but the Spanish fleet failed to force the brothers out of Algiers.
After consolidating his power and declaring himself the new Sultan of Algiers, Aruj sought to enhance his territory inlands and tookMiliana,Medea andTénès. He became known for attaching sails to cannons for transport through the deserts of North Africa. In 1517, the brothers raided Capo Limiti and later the town ofIsola di Capo Rizzuto inCalabria.
Aruj Barbarossa made conquests in the eastern lands of Morocco, in 1518 he conquered and garrisonedOujda and Tibda, he submitted the Beni Amer and Beni Snassen and imposed a tribute on them.[21][22] He entered negotiations and concluded an alliance with the sultan of Morocco who was extremely frightened by the progress of the Turks.[22]
The Spaniards ordered Abu Zayan, whom they had appointed as the new ruler ofTlemcen andOran, to attack Aruj by land, but Aruj learned of the plan and pre-emptively struck against Tlemcen, capturing the city and executing Abu Zayan during theFall of Tlemcen in 1518. The only survivor of Abu Zayan's dynasty was Sheikh Buhammud, who escaped to Oran and called for Spain's assistance.
In May 1518, EmperorCharles V arrived at Oran and was received there by Sheikh Buhammud and the Spanish governor of the city,Diego de Córdoba, Marquess of Comares, who commanded a force of 10,000 Spanish soldiers. Joined by thousands ofBedouins, the Spaniards marched overland on Tlemcen where Aruj and Ishak awaited them with 1,500 levents soldiers and 5,000 Moorish soldiers. Aruj Barbarossa, who obtainedTlemcen in the east of Algeria, under the domination of Spain, defended the places he had won against the Tlemcen emir, who received help from the Spaniards. He defended his lands for six months. Betrayed by the natives, he tried to break through the enemy siege to return to Algiers.
He broke through the enemy and crossed the river with some of his levents. However, about twenty levents (sailors) remained on the enemy's side. Aruj Barbarossa, knowing that he had no hope of salvation, plunged into his enemies again in order not to leave his levents alone. While trying to cross the river, most of his levents died. One-armed Aruj Barbarossa died as a result of the spear wound he received after seeing the last levent next to him die.
According to the diary of Hayreddin Barbarossa, Oruç died as a result of his sympathies for the inhabitants of Algiers and Tlemcen, who formed part of his army.[23] Hayreddin declared that Oruç returned to fight with his soldiers until he died, as he could not bear to hear the cries of those who had fallen into the hands of the forces of Charles V.[23]
The Spaniards, who wanted to prove the death of Aruj Barbarossa to the King of Spain, cut off the head of the corpse and put it in a bag full of honey and took it to Spain. The reason they did this was because the Spaniards, who had clashed with Aruj Barbarossa many times, reported to the Spanish King that they had killed him, but none of this turned out to be true.[16][17]
The last remaining brother, Hızır (Hayreddin Barbarossa), inherited his brother's place, his name (Barbarossa) and his mission and became the most powerful and famous Ottoman admiral by securing the Ottoman dominance over the Mediterranean Sea during the 16th century.
Aruj established theOttoman presence in North Africa which lasted four centuries,de facto until the loss ofAlgeria to France in 1830, ofTunisia to France in 1881, ofLibya to Italy in 1912.
Three submarines (TCGOruç Reis,TCG Oruçreis (S-337) andTCG Oruçreis (RAD-14)) of theTurkish Navy have been named after Aruj.
In 2018, a statue of Aruj Barbarossa was inaugurated inAïn Témouchent, Algeria.[24]
Ottoman admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa (son of a Turkish sipahi [fief-holder in the cavalry service]) from Yenice-i Vardar in Macedonia and a Greek woman from Lesvos/Mytilini...
{{cite book}}:|work= ignored (help)Desperate to find some explanation for the sudden resurgence of Muslim sea power in the Mediterranean after centuries of Christian dominance, Christian commentators in the sixth century (and later) pointed to the supposed Christian roots of the greatest Barbary corsair commanders. It was a strange kind of comfort. The Barbarossas certainly had a Greek Christian mother, but it now seems certain their father was a Muslim Turk.
Hisir was the later Ottoman Chief Admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa. His profile almost exactly matches that of the numerous anonymous Christian and convert sailors just mentioned. His mother was Greek, and his father was a convert from the Albanian lands who had fought in the Sultan's armies.
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