The procession entered the harbour in three divisions of eight galleys: and towing behind each division was one of the captured galleys of the Knights. In memory of his prowess Ali ordered that the shields and bucklers taken from the Maltese galleys, which bore upon them emblazoned the white cross of “the Religion,” should be hung up in the great arched gate of the Marina. Also there was placed here the image of Saint John the Baptist, taken from the Capitana galley, “all of which remain,” says Haedo, “until this day” (i.e. 1612), except the image of Saint John, which in the reign of Hassan Basha, a Venetian renegado, was taken down and burned at the instance of the Morabutos, “los letrados de los Moros” (the learned among the Moors). It is an instructive commentary on the fear and respect in which the Knights of Malta were held that such a man as Ali should have considered it a triumph worth the celebrating when he defeated five of their vessels with twenty-four of his own.
The next occurrence in the life of Ali was one of those to which the Sea-wolves were subjected from time to time, and which do not seem to have caused them much trouble or anxiety. This was a mutiny of the Janissaries in Algiers, who very reasonably objected to being left without their pay. A mutiny of the Janissaries, however, was somewhat a serious matter, as they were accustomed to the enjoyment of many privileges, and were, as we have said elsewhere, a picked corps who had it in their power even to coerce the Sultan himself upon occasions.
Those of them who were in Algiers demanded “Who was this corsair who dared to keep the picked men of the army of the Grand Turk waiting for their pay, as if they were no better than his slaves?” Such a thing as a mutiny was, in the days of which we speak, a matter for which any prudent corsair had to be prepared. Ali was in no means discomposed, and, as the crisis had become acute on shore, he went to sea, where he was under no obligation to pay his men, who paid themselves at the expense of their enemies. He put to sea with twenty galleys, and, shortly after leaving Algiers, he met with a galley from the Levant, from which he received information that a powerful armada was preparing in Constantinople for an expedition against the Christians. He steered for Coron in the Morea, where he was almost immediately joined by the Ottoman fleet, the commander of which force was overjoyed to find so formidable a reinforcement under so renowned a captain as Ali.
Soliman the Magnificent had died in 1566, and had been succeeded by his son, Selim; this prince, bred in the Seraglio, was weak and licentious, given to that strong drink forbidden by the Prophet to an extent which caused him to be nicknamed by the Spaniards as “el ebrio,” or “el bebedor.”
This was a state of affairs which boded ill for the Turkish Empire, and Selim II. had been educated in a very different manner from that which had hitherto been the custom. Speaking of this, Gibbon says, “Instead of the slothful luxury of the Seraglio, the heirs of royalty were educated in the council and the field. From early youth they were entrusted by their fathers with the command of provinces and of armies; and this manly institution, which was often productive of civil war, must have essentially contributed to the discipline and vigour of the monarchy.”
Drunkard and weakling as he was, Selim had his ambitions. He wished to signalise his reign by some great conquest, such as had added lustre to the rule of his father; and in consequence he laid claim to the island of Cyprus, then belonging to Venice, The Venetians, having strengthened the fortifications of the island and fitted out their navy, sought alliances in Europe to curb the pretensions of the Porte. In this they found support, instant and generous, from the Pope Pius V. Of this great ecclesiastic Prescott says: “He was one of those Pontiffs who seemed to have been called forth by the exigencies of the time to uphold the pillars of Catholicism as they were yet trembling under the assaults of Luther.”
The Pope, Philip II. of Spain, and Venice formed what was known as the “Holy League,” and, having formed it, immediately began to quarrel among themselves as to what its functions were to be. The Venetians wished all its efforts to be directed to safeguarding Cyprus, while Philip and his viceroys were anxious to attack the Sea-wolves on the coast of Africa in their strongholds. After much squabbling, an agreement was come to. The principal items of this were, that the Pope should pay one-sixth of the expenses, Venice two-sixths, and Spain three-sixths; that each party should appoint its own Commander-in-Chief, and that Don John of Austria should be in supreme command of the whole forces assembled. The contracting parties were to furnish 200 galleys, 100 transports, 50,000 foot, 4,500 horse, and the requisite artillery and stores.
While the Christians were negotiating and talking, the Turks were acting. It was in May that the Pope caused the treaty to be publicly read in full consistory; in April the Turkish fleet had got to sea and committed terrible ravages in the Adriatic, laying waste to Venetian territory.
While ships and men were gathering, and while the fleet which it was to be his fortune to defeat was pursuing its career in the Mediterranean, Don John of Austria left Madrid for the south on June 6th, 1571. When he arrived at Barcelona he made a pilgrimage to the Hermitage of Our Lady of Montserrat, where his father Charles V. had confessed and received the sacrament before he sailed on his voyage to the Barbary coast in his expedition against Barbarossa. From Barcelona he sailed with thirty galleys to Genoa, where he arrived on the 25th, and was lodged in the palace of Andrea Doria. In August he arrived by water at Naples.
By this time all Europe was aflame with excitement: warriors of noble birth were flocking to serve under the standard of the brother of the King of Spain, who was regarded as the very mirror of chivalry. The following description of Don John, at Naples, is from the pen of that great historian Prescott:
“Arrangements had been made in that city for his reception on a more magnificent scale than any he had witnessed on his journey. Granvelle, who had lately been raised to the post of Viceroy, came forth at the head of a long and brilliant procession to welcome his royal guest. The houses which lined the streets were hung with richly tinted tapestries and gaily festooned with flowers. The windows and verandahs were graced with the beauty and fashion of the pleasure-loving capital, and many a dark eye sparkled as it gazed upon the fine form and features of the youthful hero, who at the age of twenty-four had come to Italy to assume the baton of command and lead the crusade against the Moslems. His splendid dress of white velvet and cloth of gold set off his graceful person to advantage. A crimson scarf floated loosely over his breast, and his snow-white plumes drooping from his cap mingled with the yellow curls that fell in profusion over his shoulders. It was a picture which the Italian maiden might love to look on. It was certainly not the picture of the warrior sheathed in the iron panoply of war. But the young Prince, in his general aspect, might be relieved from the charge of effeminacy by his truly chivalrous bearing and the dauntless spirit which beamed from his clear blue eyes. In his own lineaments he seemed to combine all that was comely in the lineaments of his race.”
At Naples Don John found a fleet at anchor under the command of Don Alvaro de Bazan, first marquis of Santa Cruz, of whom much was to be heard in the future in his capacity as Admiral of Castile. Here also he received from the hands of Cardinal Granvelle a consecrated banner sent to him by the Pope at a solemn ceremony in the church of the Franciscan Convent of Santa Chiara. On August 25th he left Naples and proceeded to Messina, where he landed under a triumphal arch of colossal dimensions, embossed with rich plates of silver and curiously sculptured with emblematical bas-reliefs. The royal galley in which the hero embarked was built at Barcelona: she was fitted with the greatest luxury, and was remarkable for her strength and speed; her stern was profusely decorated with emblems and devices drawn from history; no such warship had ever been seen in the world before.
Cayetano Rosell, in his Historia del combate naval de Lepanto, says that the number of vessels, great and small, in the Christian armada was over 300, of which 200 were galleys, the ordinary warships of the time. He goes on to say:
“In this spacious harbour [Messina] there were collected the squadrons of the League; the people who managed the oars and sails and the innumerable combatants making an immense number when added together. Since the days of Imperial Rome, never had been seen in these seas so imposing a spectacle, never had there been collected so many ships moving towards a single end dominated by a single will. Never was there a spectacle more gratifying in the eyes of justice, nor of greater incentive to men to fight for the cause of religion.”
The Spanish fleet comprised 90 royal galleys, 24 nefs, and 50 fregatas and brigantines “los mejores que en tiempo alguno se habrian visto” (the finest that ever were seen at any time), as they were described by Don John. The Pope sent 12 galleys and 6 fregatas, under the command of Mark Antony Colonna. The Pope had also made a grant of the “Crusada” and “Excusada,” and other ecclesiastical revenues which he drew from Spain, to the King of that country, to meet expenses.
Venice appointed Sebastian Veniero to the command of her fleet, which consisted of 106 galleys, 6 galeasses of enormous bulk and clumsy construction carrying each 40 guns, 2 nefs, and 20 fregatas. These vessels were, however, so miserably manned and equipped that Don John had to send on board Spaniards and Genoese to complete their complements. In a manuscript of the Bibliothèque du Roi (Number 10088) is an account of the battle of Lepanto by Commandeur de Romegas. He gives the number of the Turkish fleet at 333 ships, of which 230 were galleys, the rest galeasses and smaller craft. The total which he gives for the Christian fleet is 271. Ali Basha was in supreme command of the Turkish forces, “a man of an intrepid spirit, who had given many proofs of a humane and generous mature—qualities more rare among the Turks, perhaps among all nations, than mere physical courage.” With Ali was the Basha of Algiers, that other Ali, the corsair, who since his arrival at Coron had done more than his share of the fighting, marauding, and devastating which were the preliminaries to the battle of Lepanto. In this historic conflict he was to show once again how, on the face of the waters, the Sea-wolves were supreme; as it was he and his corsairs, out of the whole of the Moslem host, who acquitted themselves with the greatest credit on that day so fatal to the arms of the Ottoman Turk.
CHAPTER XXII
LEPANTO
How Ali Basha fought at the battle of Lepanto: his subsequent career—Conclusion.
Lepanto, the last battle of first-class importance in which the Sea-wolves bore a leading part, is memorable in many ways. It is one of the most sanguinary which was ever fought, the element of personal hatred between the combatants, to which we have alluded more than once, being singularly in evidence on this occasion. As we have said, this campaign was brought about at the initiative of the Venetians, and an incident which occurred not long before the battle exacerbated the feelings with which the Turks were regarded by the Christians to the point of madness. The city of Famagusta, in Cyprus, had been captured by that Mustafa of whom we heard so much at the siege of Malta. The Venetian defenders made an honourable capitulation, but when the four principal Venetian captains were brought before Mustafa, that general caused three of them to be beheaded on the spot; the fourth, a noble and gallant gentleman who had been responsible for the magnificent defence of the city entrusted to his charge, he caused to be flayed alive in the market-square. He then363 had the skin stuffed with straw, and, with this ghastly trophy nailed to the prow of his galley, returned in triumph to Constantinople. Bragadino, the defender of Famagusta, did not die in vain; his terrible fate excited such a passion of anger in the whole of the armada of Don John that each individual of which it was composed felt that the sacrifice of his own life would be but a small thing if it only led to the destruction of such fiends as those against whom they were arrayed.
Lepanto was a magnificent triumph for the arms of Christendom, and taught a much-needed lesson to Europe that the Ottoman Turk was not invincible upon the sea; it was not, however, an interesting battle from the point of view of the student of war and its combinations. Of all the high officers in command on that memorable day there was only one who displayed real generalship and a proper appreciation of the tactical necessities of the situation; that officer was Ali Basha, the leader of the Sea-wolves. The account of the battle is somewhat obscured by the fact that on the side of the Moslems the name of the Ottoman Commander-in-Chief was also “Ali”; in order to avoid confusion in this narration, we shall allude to the Basha of Algiers by the name given to him by the Christians, “Occhiali.”
It was on Sunday, October 7th, 1571, that the Christian fleet weighed anchor from Cephalonia and stood southwards along the Albanian coast, which is here fringed with rocky islets. The right wing was commanded by John Andrea Doria, the left wing by the Provéditeur Barbarigo, the centre, or “battle,” as it was called, by Don John in person, who had on the one side of him Mark Antony Colonna, the General of the Galleys of the Pope, and on the other that fiery veteran Sebastian Veniero, the commander of the Venetians. Here also were stationed the Prince of Parma, nephew to Don John, Admiral of Savoy; Duke Urbino, Admiral of Genoa; the Admiral of Naples, and the Commandeur of Castile. The reserve, under the command of the Marquis of Santa Cruz, consisted of thirty-five galleys. Immediately in rear of the Real, or royal galley of Don John, was that of the Grand Commander Requesens. The number of seamen, soldiers, officers, and galley-slaves in the fleet amounted to over eighty thousand persons; twenty-nine thousand infantry had been embarked, of which number nineteen thousand were Spaniards. Opposed to the Christians on this day was a Turkish fleet which had on board no less than one hundred and twenty thousand men embarked in two hundred and fifty galleys, without counting an innumerable host of smaller vessels.
Inset, portraits of Don John and Pope Pius V. Heroic statue of Don John dominating Christian and Turkish Fleets. The breath of the Almighty destroying the Turkish fleet at Lepanto.
The authorities on whose accounts of the battle this description is based are Prescott, the famous historian; P. Daru, a member of the Académie Française, who wrote an exhaustive Histoire de Venise and Don Cayetano Rosell, member of the Spanish Academy, who is responsible for an exposition of the subject, known as Historia del combate naval de Lepanto. From a comparison of the works of these eminent men one fact emerges with great clearness, which is that the battle of Lepanto was an indiscriminate mêlée which was decided by some of the most desperate fighting ever recorded, but which depended hardly at all upon the tactical abilities of the men in chief command. It is true that we are told Don John issued written instructions to the commander of each ship, but we are left in the dark as to what these instructions were, while at the same time we discover that in his line of battle, which in the first instance appears to have been that of “single line ahead,” the galleys of all nationalities were inextricably mixed up; making it thereby impossible for the Papal, Spanish, and Venetian commanders to deal, as they should have done, exclusively with their own men. On the other hand, Occhiali kept together the squadron of the Sea-wolves; he outgeneralled and had all but defeated John Andrea Doria, when the end came and he was obliged to retreat.
We are, however, anticipating. Don John passed down his own line in a light “fregata” giving a few words of exhortation and advice to each ship under his command. If the bastard brother of the King of Spain did not exhibit any large measure of ability as a leader on this occasion, he was perhaps none the less the right man in the right place, as he had about him so winning a way, he was so striking and gallant a figure, that the hearts of all under his command went out to him. The seamen and soldiers of the great armada greeted him with enthusiastic shouts of delight as he bade them remember in whose cause it was that they fought. The last of the Knights-errant must have made a brave show as he passed down that line four miles in length, the sun shining on his damascened armour, and his yellow curls streaming out from beneath his helmet.
Soon after sunrise the Turkish fleet was descried sailing towards the Christians, in such apparently overwhelming force that several of the Spanish commanders represented to Don John that it would be imprudent to risk a battle. To his honour be it recorded that he replied he had come out to fight the Turks and that the time for talk was now over. He then hoisted all his banners, and the executive signal for the combat to begin was given by displaying at his mainmast head the sacred banner blessed by the Pope. As this standard floated out upon the breeze there went up a great shout in unison from all that were under the command of Don John. The scene of the combat was that area of the Ionian Sea which is enclosed on the east by the coasts of Albania and Morea and on the west by the islands of Ithaca and Cephalonia, Just to the northward, at the entrance to the Gulf of Arta, sixteen hundred years before had been fought the battle of Actium between Antony and Octavius; the same spot had witnessed, in 1538, the memorable battle of Prevesa between Andrea Doria and Kheyr-ed-Din Barbarossa.
From the point of view of the seaman, who is naturally anxious to discover the dispositions of their fleets made by the rival Commanders-in-Chief, Lepanto is an almost hopeless puzzle. As far as can be gathered, however, it was that the two armadas approached one another in what is known as “line ahead,” each ship being immediately astern of its next ahead in one long continuous line; and that, when they got within striking distance, these lines turned so that they formed “line abreast,” when each ship, having turned at right angles, simultaneously the line advances abreast, the ships forming it being broadside to broadside.
When the Turks discovered the allies they were issuing from between the islets and the shore. Seeing John Andrea Doria moving to the right, they judged that he was executing a turning movement with the object of escaping to the northwards, from whence he had come; they were, at the time, unable to see the rest of the fleet, which was hidden by the land. With sound tactical judgment they accordingly advanced to attack the allies before they should have time to issue from the strait. They were, however, too far off to accomplish this, and, by the time they arrived within striking distance, the Christian fleet had cleared the strait and was ready for them, “drawn up for battle,” says Monsieur Daru, which is somewhat vague in describing the disposition of a fleet. What is certain, however, is that in advance of the galleys of Don John were six great galeasses, which were armed with guns of immensely superior power to anything which could be mounted in galleys. As the Turks advanced to the attack these vessels opened fire, and did so much execution that Ali, the Turkish Commander-in-Chief, ordered his line to open out and thus avoid their fire. Whatever formation the fleet was in at the time—which was, as far as we can gather, “line abreast”—this opening-out process, to avoid the galeasses, threw it into hopeless confusion. The Turkish right wing, which was hugging the coast, and was the first to come into action, passed on in an endeavour to turn the left wing of the allies. While this manoeuvre was in progress Ali, the Capitan-Basha of the Turks, arrived in his vessel opposite to the royal galley of Don John. At the masthead of the galley of the Capitan-Bashaw floated the sacred standard of the Ottomans. This, the ancient banner of the Caliphs, was covered with texts from the Koran, and had upon it the name of Allah emblazoned no less than twenty-eight thousand nine hundred times in letters of gold. “It was,” says Prescott, “the banner of the Sultan, having passed from father to son since the foundation of the dynasty, and was never seen in the field unless the Grand Seigneur or his lieutenant was there in person.” Ali, the Commander-in-Chief, a favourite of the Sultan, had been entrusted with this most precious of all the possessions of the Padishah, as an incentive to him and all under his command to fight their hardest to do honour to the Prophet, and to prevent this symbol of their religion from falling into the hands of the Christian. Ali, like Don John, was young, and burning to distinguish himself; accordingly, as soon as the ships of the two leaders came opposite to each other neither regarded any enemy save his rival Commander-in-Chief. Ali drove his great galley straight on board of the vessel of Don John, and a most obstinate conflict ensued. Veniero and Colonna hastened to the assistance of their chief, who was sore beset.
The combat now became general, and, as has been said, was for the most part nothing but a melee, in which each ship sought out the nearest of her foes and closed with her. For some time the fight went hard with Don John; time and again the galley of the Moslem leader was boarded, but on each occasion the Spaniards were hurled back upon their own decks. Loredano and Malipier, two Venetian captains, fell upon seven Turkish galleys which were hastening to reinforce the attack on Don John, and sank one of them. They then fought with such fury and resolution with the six that remained that, although both captains were killed, it was conceded that they had saved their general, entirely altered the complexion of the battle in their neighbourhood, and facilitated the capture of the Turkish admiral. The determined conduct of the two Venetians allowed the Spanish division to close in on the Turkish flagship, which, after an heroic resistance, was captured, principally because there were practically none left alive to fight. The head of Ali was struck off by a Spanish soldier, the banner of the Moslems was replaced by the flag of the Cross, the head of Ali on a pike being exhibited in derision above it. The conquerors seem to have seen no incongruity in this performance. The lowering of the sacred standard of the Capitan-Basha had a disheartening effect upon the Turks; they knew by this that their Commander-in-Chief was dead and his ship captured, the result being that the resistance of the Ottomans began to weaken. Then thirty galleys took to flight from the neighbourhood of the Christian flagship; so hotly were they pursued that they ran on shore, the crews swimming or wading to the beach and making off inland.
On the right of the Christian line things had not been going so propitiously for them. Here Occhiali had managed, by his apparently persistent attempts to outflank John Andrea Doria, to decoy that commander away from his supports and from the main body of the Christians. This tactical manoeuvre of the corsair was successful; having drawn off some fifteen of the Christian galleys, he suddenly flung the whole of his greatly superior force into the gap and surrounded them. These galleys were Spanish, Venetian, and Maltese, and, although they offered a most vigorous resistance, they were mostly destroyed or captured. Doria, in spite of all his efforts, was on this day both outgeneralled and outfought: the Sea-wolves, under their grim leader, manoeuvring for position, obtaining it, and then falling like a thunderbolt on the foe. They were all brave men at Lepanto on this memorable October day; but few there were like the corsair king, in whom a heart of fire was kept in check by a brain of ice, who, during the whole combat, never gave away a chance, or failed to swoop like an eagle from his eyry when the blunders of his enemy gave him the opportunity for which he watched. It was the old story of “the veritable man of the sea” pitted against gallant soldiers fighting on an unfamiliar element. And yet it was against the best seaman on the Christian side that Occhiali pitted himself on this stricken field; and none can deny that with him rested such honour as was gained by the Turks on this day, the day which broke up for ever the idea of the invincibility of the Ottomans on the water. It needs not to say, to those who have read the story of the siege of Malta, how the Knights comported themselves in the battle; and yet Occhiali captured the Capitana, or principal galley of the Order, He was towing her out of action, a prize, when the Marquis of Santa Cruz bore down upon him with the reserve. By this time the battle was lost; the Moslems were in full retreat.
The corsair recognised that he could do no more: sullenly he cast off the tow, and, forming up some thirty of his galleys, still in a condition to navigate, stood boldly through the centre of where the battle had once raged, and escaped. The Capitana of Malta had been taken; and to the Sultan did Occhiali present the great standard of Saint John, as an earnest of his achievement.
Bernardino de Escalente, in his work Diálogos del arte militar, printed in Seville in 1583, says that the Captain Ojeda, of the galley Guzmana, recaptured the Capitana of Malta; and that, in recognition thereof, “the Religion” pensioned him for life. Ojeda, it is to be presumed, was under the orders of the Marquis of Santa Cruz during the battle.
There remains one incident connected with the battle of Lepanto which must be told. In the Marquesa galley, in the division of Doria, was lying in his bed sick of a fever a young man twenty-four years of age; a Spaniard of Alcala de Henares, “de padres hidalgos y honrados,” we are told, although these parents were poor. When this young man heard that a battle was imminent he rose from his bed and demanded of his captain, Francisco San Pedro, that he should be placed in the post of the greatest danger. The captain, and others, his friends, counselled him to remain in his bed. “Señores,” replied the young man, “what would be said of Miguel de Cervantes should he take this advice? On every occasion up to this day on which his enemies have offered battle to his Majesty I have served like a good soldier; and today I intend to do so in spite of this sickness and fever.” He was given command of twelve soldiers in a shallop, and all day was to be seen where the combat raged most fiercely. He received two wounds in the chest and another which cost him the loss of his left hand. To those to whom he proudly displayed them in after-years he was accustomed to say, “wounds in the face or the chest are like stars which guide one through honour to the skies.” Of him the chronicler says: “He continued the rest of his life with honourable memory of this wonderful occurrence, and, although he lost the use of his left hand, it added to the glory of his right.” How glorious was that right hand is known to all readers of El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha.
The losses at the battle of Lepanto are something so prodigious that imagination boggles at them. It is said that the Christians lost five thousand men and the Turks no less than thirty thousand. Enormous as these numbers are, they represent probably a very conservative estimate of the loss. The Turks lost two hundred vessels, and when we recollect the number of men embarked on board of the sixteenth-century galleys we can see that the numbers are by no means exaggerated, especially as no quarter was given on either side. When the Captain Ojeda recaptured the battered wreck which had been the Capitana of Malta, we are told that on board of her were three hundred dead Turks; if this were the cost of the capture of one galley we need not be surprised at the total.
With the results to Europe of this amazing battle we have nothing to do in this book. That which it demonstrated, as far as the Sea-wolves were concerned, was that they still remained the most competent seamen and sea-fighters in the Mediterranean, and that the legend of the invincibility of the Ottomans at sea rested on what had been accomplished during a long period of years by these insatiable pirates and magnificent warriors.
That which the fighting Pontiff, Pius V., said when he heard of the victory is in character with everything which history has told us of this remarkable occupant of the chair of Saint Peter. It was short but very much to the point, consisting of the one sentence, “Fuit homo misus a Deo cui nomen erat Joannes.”
In a collection of epitaphs printed in Colonia in 1623 (and edited by one Franciscus Swertius) is one in Spanish by an anonymous author on Don John of Austria. In this, which takes the form of question and answer, it is asked of him “who with so much real glory lies so humbly ’neath this stone,” what it is that Spain can do for him, what temple or what statue can she raise to his honour. To this the hero is made to reply that “My temple is found in my works, my statue has been my fame.” This is not only a pretty conceit, but it is very substantially true when we think of the place in history which this man attained.
It remains to speak of the future career of Ali Basha after his experiences at Lepanto. He now returned to Constantinople, where he found that the bitter complaints of the Janissaries concerning their lack of pay had preceded him; this must have been annoying, as by this time so insignificant a circumstance had probably escaped his memory. His old friend and patron Piali Basha was still in power; the Basha used his influence, and the corsair laid at the feet of the Sultan the great Standard of Saint John captured by him from the Knights—which was the only trophy which came to Constantinople from that disastrous battle; and in consequence we are told that “instead of reprimands he was loaded with caresses and applauses.”
There was in Ali the same dauntless quality of never knowing when he was beaten which had distinguished Kheyr-ed-Din Barbarossa. His exploits at Lepanto had secured him the high favour of the Sultan, which he used in a manner most grateful to that sovereign by approaching him with a request that he might be allowed to fit out another fleet to revenge himself on the Christians. The Sultan acceded to his request, and such diligence did he use that in June 1572, only eight months after the crushing defeat of the Turks, Ali took the sea with two hundred and fifty galleys besides smaller vessels. So powerful had he now become that Selim nominated him as his Admiralissimo, allowing him also to retain the Bashalic of Algiers. With his new fleet he sought out the allies once more, finding them at anchor in a port in the Morea. He lay outside the harbour defying them to come out, which they refused to do—“but they parted without bloody noses”—is Morgan’s comment. Haedo attributes this inertia on the part of the allies to dissension among their leaders; but, however that may have been, Ali gained almost as much favour with the Sultan as if he had defeated them in a pitched battle. “But these are the judgments of God and things ordered by His divine providence and infinite wisdom,” says Haedo. The connection is somewhat hard to establish.
In 1573 the Bashalic of Algiers passed into the hands of Arab Ahmed, and in this same year Don John of Austria recaptured Tunis from the Turks. Ali, with a fleet of two hundred and fifty galleys and forty smaller vessels, recaptured it again in a siege lasting forty days, and once more returned to Constantinople in triumph with thousands of Spanish captives. He was yet to live some years to harass the Christians, against whom he ever displayed a most inveterate rancour. In 1576 he set out from Constantinople with sixty galleys and ravaged the Calabrian coast, where he had been born. In 1578, the Janissaries of Algiers having assassinated Arab Ahmed the Basha, he was sent to chastise them, which he did with a heavy hand.
Ali was never married, and left no descendants; in the later years of his life he built himself a sumptuous palace some five miles from Constantinople, and no man in all the realm save the Sultan himself was so great a man as the Calabrian renegado, the unknown waif from Southern Italy who possessed neither name nor kindred. He was tall and robust in stature, but all his life suffered from “scald-head”; for a definition of which ailment we may refer the curious to the dictionary. He possessed, for a chieftain and a fighting man, the disadvantage of a voice so hoarse as to be inaudible at a few paces distant. In default of offspring he maintained at his charges five hundred corsairs, whom he called his children. He died in the year 1580, and with him what has been called the “Grand Period of the Moslem Corsairs” in this book may be said to have come to an end.
By the men whose deeds have been here chronicled the pirate States of Northern Africa were established; and, as we have seen, they maintained an unceasing warfare against all that was mightiest in Christendom, aided and abetted by the Sultans of Constantinople. In the sixteenth century the Sea-wolves had this at least to recommend them, that they feared neither King nor Kaiser, albeit these great ones of the earth were bent on their destruction. Villains as they were, they were none the less men to be feared, men in whom dwelt wonderful capabilities of leadership. Such, however, was not the case with those by whom they were succeeded; and the great and civilised nations of the world tolerated for centuries in their midst a race of savage barbarians whose abominable insolence and fiendish cruelty were only equalled by their material weakness and military impotence. Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli became recognised States, and the Great Powers degraded themselves by actually accrediting diplomatic agents to the “Courts” of these people.
“The Algerines are robbers, and I am their chief,” was the remark made by the Dey of Algiers to the English Consul in 1641, and the man spoke the plain unvarnished truth. Yet at this time the Algerines had no more than sixty-five ships, and no organisation which could have held out for twenty-four hours against such attacks as had been successfully resisted on many occasions in the previous century.
On April 10th, 1682 (O.S.), “Articles of peace and commerce between the most serene and mighty Prince Charles II., by the Grace of God King of Great Britain, etc., and the most illustrious (sic) Lord, the Bashaw, Dey, and Aga, Governor of the famous city of Algiers in Barbary,” were concluded by “Arthur Herbert, Esquire, Admiral of His Majesty’s Fleet.” It need hardly be said that such a treaty as this was not worth the paper on which it was written; that the barbarians by whom it was signed were as ignorant as they were unprincipled, and that the only argument which they understood at that, or any other time, was that of the right of the strongest.
When we of the present day read of the deeds of the corsairs we are filled with horror, we fail to understand how such things could have been tolerated, we seek for some explanation. When we hear of a “League of Christian Princes,” and find that all its members could accomplish was to turn their arms the one against the other, we are even still more puzzled. What was it, then, that lay at the root of this problem? The answer would appear to be in the ethical standpoint of the sixteenth century. We are so accustomed in the present day to hear of the rights of man that we are apt to forget that, in the time of Barbarossa, of Dragut, of Charles V., and the Medicean Popes such a thing did not exist, and the only rights possessed by the common man were those vouchsafed to him by his sovereign lord. We have also to take another factor into consideration, which is that what we call “humanity” simply did not exist, the result being that the raids of the Sea-wolves were not judged by the great ones of the earth from the standpoint of the amount of suffering which they inflicted, but in what manner these proceedings affected the wealth and power of the lord of the territory which had been despoiled. So differently was society constituted in those days that the very victims acquiesced more or less meekly in their fate, each one unconsciously voicing that most pathetic saying of the Russian peasant that “God is high and the Czar is far away.”
The fact of the intolerable lot of the common man in these times helps us to understand one thing which otherwise would be an insoluble problem: which was, why did Christian soldiers so often become renegadoes and fight for the corsairs under the banner of those who were the fiercest and most irreconcilable foes of themselves and their kindred? The life of the common soldier or sailor did not offer many advantages; it was generally a short and anything but a merry one, and the thing by which it was most profoundly affected was capture by the corsairs.
When this happened he became either a “gallerian,” rowing out his heart on the benches of the Moslem galleys, or he festered in some noisome dungeon in Algiers, Oran, or Tlemcen. For him, however, there was always one avenue of escape open: he had but to acknowledge that Mahomet was the Prophet of God and the prison doors would fly open, or the shackles be knocked off the chain which bound him to the hell of the rower’s bench. Many of the Christian captives had really nothing to bind them to the faith of their fathers—neither home nor lands, wealth nor kindred, and they were doubtless dazzled by the amazing success which accompanied the arms of the leaders of the pirates. Is it wonderful, then, that such men in such an age should grasp at the chance of freedom and throw in their lot with their captors?
It was treachery, it was apostasy, and no amount of sophistry can prove it to have been otherwise; but the man who would sit in judgment in the present day must try to figure to himself what the life of a galley-slave meant—a life so horrible and so terrible that it is impossible, in the interest of decency, to set down a tithe of what it really was.
We who in the present day sit in judgment upon the virtues and vices of a bygone age can, in the ordered security of our modern civilisation, see many things which were hidden from our forefathers, even as in another three hundred years our descendants will be able to point the finger of scorn at the mistakes which we are now committing. We have seen how it was that the pirate States arose; we have seen also how, in future generations, they were allowed to abide. We cannot, in common honesty, echo the words already quoted of the historian that “these are the judgments of God, and things ordered by His divine providence and infinite wisdom,” neither can we acquit the heirs of the ages for that slackness which prevented them from doing their duty; we have, however, to ask ourselves this question, that, had it fallen to our own lot to deal with the problem of the extermination of the pirates, should we have done better?
One word in conclusion. That which they did has been set down here; the record, however, is not complete, as many of their acts of cruelty, lust, and oppression are not fitted for publication in the present day. It has been said, with truth, that no man is much better or much worse than in the age in which he lives; and to hold the scales evenly—if one were tempted to shock contemporary opinion by too literal a transcript of all that was done by the corsairs—it would also be necessary to cite the reprisals of their Christian antagonists. It has seemed better to leave such things unchronicled: to present, with as much fidelity as possible, the public lives and acts of these troublers of the peace of the sixteenth century. Looking back, as we do, over three hundred and fifty years, and judging as fairly as is possible, it would seem that there is little which can be said in their favour.
But we may at least concede that, no matter how infamous were the Barbarossas, Dragut, and Ali, they proved that in them dwelt one rare and supreme quality, which, in all the ages, has covered a multitude of sins. At a time when every one was a warrior and the whole world was an armed camp, men sought great captains in whose following to serve. Among the Moslems of Northern Africa, in ordered succession, there rose to the surface “veritable men of the sea,” in the wake of whose galleys ravened the Sea-wolves. When we consider how undisciplined and how stupidly violent these pirates were by nature, and how they were welded into a homogeneous whole by those of whom we speak, we are forced to the conclusion that seldom, in all the ages, have abler captains arisen to take fortune at the flood, to dominate the minds and the bodies of a vast host, to prove that they were, in deed and in truth, supreme as leaders of men.
AUTHORITIES CONSULTED
Sailing Ships and their Story. E. Keble Chatterton.
Barbary Corsairs: Story of the Nations. Stanley Lane Poole.
Compleat History of the Present Seat of War in Africa between Spaniards
and Algerines. 1632. Joseph Morgan.
History of Philip II. William Hickling Prescott.
History of Charles V. Robertson.
Histoire de Barberousse. Richer.
Vie des plus célèbres marins. Richer.
Histoire de Barberousse. Sander Rang et Ferdinand Denis.
Doria et Barberousse. Les derniers jours de la Marine aux Rames. Admiral
Jurien de la Gravière.
Histoire de Barbarie et ses corsaires. Pierre d’An. Paris, 1637.
Histoire d’Alger. Laugier de Tassy.
Messire Pierre de Bourdeille Seigneur de Brantôme. Vie des hommes
illustres et grands capitaines etrangers de son temps. 1594.
Histoires de les Chevaliers de Malte. Mons l’Abbé de Vertot. Paris, 1726.
Histoire de Venise. P. Daru.
Topografia e Historia general de Argel El Señor Don Diego de Haedo.
Reverendissimo Arcobispo de Palermo. Presidente y Capitan-General del
Reyno de Sicilia por el Rey Felipe Segundo. Nuestro señor.
Valladolid, 1612.
Descripcion general de Africa. Don Luys de Marmol Caravajal. Granada,
1573.
Historia de Carlos Quinto. El Maestro Don Fray Prudencio
de Sandoval, Obispo de Pampluna. 1612.
El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha. Cervantes.
Arte de Navegar. Martin Cortes.
Diálogos del arte militar. Bernardino de Escalante.
Seville, 1583.
Historia del combate naval de Lepanto. Cayetano Rosell.
Epitaphia joco-seria. Francisco Swertius. 1623.
La Guerra dei pirati e la marina Pontifica dal 1500 al 1560.
Padre Alberto Guglielmotti.
Storia della sacra religione et illustrissima milizia de San
Giovanii Gerosolimitano. Jacopo Bosio.
Lo Assedio di Malta, 18 Maggio-8, Settembre, 1565. Conte
Carlo, Sanminiatelli, Zabarella, Colonello.
LIST OF THE KINGS OF ENGLAND, FRANCE, SPAIN, SULTANS OF TURKEY, POPES OF ROME, AND GRAND MASTERS OF MALTA, BETWEEN THE DATES 1492–1580, THE PERIOD COVERED IN THIS BOOK.
| England | France |
| Henry VII., 1485–1509. | Charles VIII., 1483–98. |
| Henry VIII., 1509–47. | Louis XII., 1498–1515. |
| Edward VI., 1547–53. | Francis I., 1515–47. |
| Mary, 1553–58. | Henry II., 1547–59. |
| Elizabeth, 1558–1603. | Francis II., 1559–60. |
| Charles IX., 1560–74. | |
| Henry III., 1574–89. |
Spain
Granada, taken by Ferdinand and Isabella, the sovereigns of Aragon and
Castile (“Los Reyes Catolicos”) in 1492. Their daughter, Joanna, married
Philip, son of the Emperor Maximilian of Germany. Ferdinand died 1516, and
was succeeded by Charles V., son of Philip and Joanna, as King of Spain, in
1517. On the death of his grandfather Maximilian, in 1519, Charles was
elected Emperor of Germany. He resigned all his dignities and retired to
the monastery of Yuste in 1555, and was succeeded by his son, Philip II.
Charles died 1558. Philip II., who married as his first wife Mary Tudor, of
England, reigned from 1555 till 1598.
Sultans of Turkey
Bajazet II., 1481–1512; Selim the Cruel, 1512–20; Soliman the Magnificent,
1520–66; Selim II., known to the Spaniards as “el bebedor” (the
drunkard), 1566–74; Murad III., 1574–95.
Popes of Rome
Pius III., 1503; Julius II., 1503; Leo X., 1513; Hadrian VI., 1522; Clement
VII., 1523; Paul III., 1534; Julius III., 1550; Marcellus II., 1555; Paul
IV., 1555; Pius IV., 1559; Pius V., 1566; Gregory XIII., 1572; Sixtus V.,
1585.
Grand Masters of the Knights of Malta
Pierre d’Aubusson, 1476–1503; Emeri d’Amboise, 1503–13; Fabrice Carette, 1513–21; Villiers de L’Isle Adam, 1521–36; Juan d’Omedes, 1536–53; Claude de la Sangle, 1553–57; Jean Parisot de la Valette, 1557–68; Pierre Dumont, 1568–72; Jean Levesque de la Cassière, 1572–82.
DISTANCES IN SEA MILES ON THE COAST OF NORTHERN AFRICA
| Gibraltar to Oran | 225’ |
| Oran to Tenes | 110’ |
| Tenes to Shershell | 41’ |
| Shershell to Algiers | 40’ |
| Algiers to Bona | 104’ |
| Bona to Jigelli | 30’ |
| Jigelli to Bizerta | 205’ |
| Bizerta to Tunis | 55’ |
| Tunis to Susa | 120’ |
| Susa to Sfax | 86’ |
| Sfax to Jerbah, otherwise known as Los Gelues | 54’ |
| Jerbah to Tripoli | 130’ |
| Gibraltar to Algiers | 410’ |
| Algiers to Tunis | 391’ |
| Algiers to Tenes | 91’ |
| Tunis to Malta | 232’ |
| Malta to Tripoli in Barbary | 200’ |
| Tripoli to Cape Serrano | 350’ |
| Jerbah to Malta | 210’ |
INDEX
- Abdahar, 141.
- Abu-Abd-Allah-Mahomed, 40.
- Actium, battle of, 189, 199, 366.
- Adam, Prince Philippe Villiers L’Isle, Grand Master of the Knights of St. John, 42, 124, 299.
- Adorno, Antony, 103.
- Adriatic, coasts of the, 182.
- Adrumentum, 251.
- “Africa,” town of, position and fortifications, 251,
-
Ahmed, Arab, Basha of Algiers, 375,
- assassinated, 375.
- Albania, coast of, 363, 366.
- Al-Burdon, 350.
- Alcadaar, Alcaid, 349.
- Alcala, Duke of, 311.
- Alcala de Henares, 371.
- Alcaudite, Count of, his defence of Marzaquivir, 10.
- Aldemar, St., Geoffrey de, 291.
- Aleppo, 120, 125.
- Alexander IV., Pope, 290.
- Alexander VI., Pope, 99.
- Alexander VII., Pope, initiates the “Alliance of Christian Princes,” 38.
- Alexandria, 49.
-
“Alexandria, The Young Moor of,” defeated, 177,
- released, 178.
- Alfonso, King of Navarre and Aragon, 291.
- Alghieri, Bay of, 235.
- Algiers, 2,
- Ali Ahamed, Admiral of Algiers, 345.
- Ali, at the siege of Malta, 328.
-
Ali Basha, or Occhiali or Uluchali, 6, 14, 22,
- present at the conference held by Soliman, 316;
- his birthplace, 345;
- endures the life of a galley-slave, 345;
- becomes a Mussulman, 346;
- enters the service of Dragut, 346;
- at the siege of Malta, 346;
- appointed Viceroy of Tripoli, 347;
- Governor of Algiers, 347;
- view of his duties, 347;
- offered the sovereignty of Tunis, 349;
- expedition against Hamid, 349;
- captures Tunis, 350, 375;
- captures galleys of the Knights, 352–355;
- at the battle of Lepanto, 363, 368–371;
- his banner, 368;
- captures the Capitana, 370;
- withdraws and escapes, 371;
- returns to Constantinople, 373, 375;
- nominated Admiralissimo, 374;
- his palace, 375;
- ailment of “scald-head,” 375;
- death, 376.
- Ali Basha, in command of the Turkish forces, 361,
- Ali-Chabelli defeated, 180.
- Al-Mehedi, his fortifications of “Africa” blown up, 268.
- Amalfi, 287.
- Ambracian Gulf, 189.
- Amburac, Ibrahim, his plot with Dragut, 253, 256.
- Ampasta, Rio de, 83.
- An, Rev. Frere Pierre d’, on the dangers from the corsairs of
- Andalusia, 4, 15.
- Andior, 246.
- Andrade, Captain Diego de, 73.
- Andros, island of, 187.
- Angelo, Michel, 139.
- Aponte, Antonio de, “Electo Mayor” of “Africa,” 268.
- Aragon, Alfonso d’, 235.
-
Aragon, Ferdinand of, acquires Granada, 29,
- attempts to recover Naples, 99.
- Arba, Francisco d’, 210, 217.
-
Archipelago, islands of the, 182,
- raid on, 187.
- Arta, Gulf of, 189, 191, 195, 366.
- Aubusson Pierre D’, Grand Master of the Knights of St. John, 37, 38, 39, 298.
- Augustus Caesar, at the battle of Actium, 189, 199.
- Austria, Don John of, 23, 230,
- Baetio, 141.
- Bairan-Ogli, the Reis, in command of the “puissant galleon,” 313.
- Balearic Islands, 32, 66.
- Barbarigo, Provéditeur, at the battle of Lepanto, 363.
- Barbarossa, Hassan, left in charge of Algiers, 312.
-
Barbarossa, Khoyr-ed-Din, 6, 14, 17, 22, 108,
- King of the Sea, 24;
- his birth, 43;
- title, 45, 51;
- joins his brother at the island of Jerba, 50;
- attacks The Galley of Naples, 51–54;
- his wealth, 56;
- captures Jigelli, 56–58;
- his embassy to Soliman, 60, 76;
- character, 67, 75, 114–116, 127, 219;
- treatment of Hassan, 85–87;
- defeated by Venalcadi, 87;
- his allies, 88;
- fight against Venalcadi, 88;
- assisted by Spanish captives, 89;
- captures Algiers, 89;
- lays siege to the fortress of Navarro, 92–95;
- his plunder of the Christians, 108;
- requested to take the command of the Ottoman fleet, 111;
- voyage to Constantinople, 112–117;
- his captures, 113, 133;
- cruelty, 115, 133, 220;
- entry into Constantinople, 117;
- gifts to Soliman, 118;
- reception, 120;
- at Aleppo, 125;
- appointed head of the fleet, 127;
- his age, 127, 190;
- appearance, 127;
- speech to the Sultan, 128–130;
- raids on the coast of Italy, 133–137;
- sacks Reggio, 133;
- captures 11,000 Christian slaves, 133;
- his attempt to capture Julia Gonzaga, 134–136;
- enters Tunis 138;
- massacre of the inhabitants, 141;
- his fame, 142;
- appeal for help against the Christian hosts, 146;
- preparations for defence, 152;
- joined by the tribesmen, 153;
- defeated, 158;
- flight, 159;
- sufferings of his army, 163;
- at Bona, 164;
- embarks, 165;
- retires to Algiers, 168;
- return of his men, 169;
- captures the castle of Minorca, 172;
- recalled to Constantinople, 173, 178, 182;
- ravages, 182;
- number of slaves, 182;
- sets sail, 185;
- his innovation in the manning of galleys, 185–187;
- raid on the islands of the Archipelago, 187;
- his age, 190;
- hesitates to fight, 193;
- anchored in the Gulf of Arta, 194–207;
- at the battle of Prevesa, 208–216;
- withdraws from the battle, 213, 215, 217;
- his death, 220, 250;
- ransoms Dragut, 248.
-
Barbarossa, Uruj, 7, 74,
- his birth, 43;
- character, 44;
- first attempt at piracy, 45;
- taken prisoner, 46;
- escapes, 47, 48;
- presented with a ship, 48;
- winters at Alexandria, 49;
- at the island of Jerba, 50;
- joined by his brother, 50;
- treaty with the Sultan of Tunis, 51;
- attackes The Galley of Naples, 51–54;
- wounded, 54;
- attacks on Bougie, 55, 58;
- loses an arm, 55;
- appeal from the Algerines, 66;
- treatment of Kara-Hassan, 66;
- besieges Navarre’s Tower, 67;
- slaughters the Berbers, 68–70;
- defeats Don Diego, 71;
- marches on Tlemcen, 72;
- blockaded, 73;
- killed, 73.
- Barbary, coast of, 236.
- Barbary, corsairs of, their character, 21.
- Barbezieux, his attempt to seize Andrea Doria, 104.
- Barcelona, 148, 357.
-
Bazan, Don Alvaro de, General of the Galleys of Spain, at Barcelona, 149,
- Admiral of Castile, 359.
- Beachy Head, battle of, 283.
- Beja, 350.
- Bengabara, Alcaid, 349.
- Berber tribes, their character, 57,
- Bergerac, Jean Marteille de, on the treatment of slaves on board the galleys, 224.
- Bianco, Cape, 189.
- Biba, island of, 113.
- Bizerta, 2, 40,
- Boabdil el Chico, yields up Granada, 29.
-
Bona, 153, 164, 350,
- Cape, 264.
- Bonifacio, Straits of, 113, 136.
- Borgo, Il, fortress, siege of, 32, 324, 342.
- Bosworth, battle of, 215.
- Botaybo, Alcaid, 349.
- Bougaroni, Cape, 56.
- Bougie, 2, 153,
- Bouillon, Godfrey de, defeats the Saracens, 287.
- Bourdeille, Pierre de, 242, 344.
-
Bragadino, his defence of Famagusta, 362,
- killed, 362.
- Brigantines, 18, 151, 240.
- Broglio, Commandeur, at the siege of Malta, 333.
- Byzacena, 40.
-
Byzantine, Empire, fall of the, 33.
- Cabri, 246.
- Cachidiablo, 88, 90.
- Cadiz, 4.
- Cadolin, defeated, 100.
- Cagliari, Bay of, 152, 236.
- Calabria, 345.
- Calibia, castle of, surrender, 264.
- Canale, Girolame, his victory over the Moslems, 177.
- Candia, 187.
- Cañete, Marquis de, Viceroy and Captain General of Navarre, 147.
- Cantara, La Bocca de, 272, 274.
- Capello, Vicenzo, his age, 190,
-
Capitana, the, captured, 354, 370,
- retaken, 371.
- Capua, Prior of, his designs for the building of St. Elmo fortress, 325.
- Caracosa, Marie, 98.
- Caramania, coast of, 35, 37, 45, 48.
- Caravajal, Don Luys de Marmol, his “Descripcion general de Affrica,” 272.
- Caravels, 231.
- Carouan, 348.
- Castel Rosso, Isle of, 47.
- Castile, Isabella of, 29.
- Castriot, Constantine, his report on the condition of St. Elmo, 337.
- Centurion, Adan, fails to attack Barbarossa, 165.
- Cephalonia, 313, 363, 366.
- Cervantes, Miguel de, his mention of Ali Basha, 345,
- Charabulac, 242.
- Charlemagne, Emperor, his renown, 286.
- Charles II., King of England, his treaty with Algiers, 377.
-
Charles V., Emperor, 14, 79,
- history of, 43;
- determines to crush the corsairs, 80;
- total fleet and army, 81,191;
- caught in a storm, 82;
- his wrath on the fall of Navarro, 97;
- acquisitions, 98;
- suzerain of Genoa, 101;
- joined by Andrea Doria, 105;
- his trust in him, 107;
- preparations for his attack on Barbarossa, 143;
- at Barcelona, 148;
- joined by his allies, 148–150;
- reviews the armada, 150;
- embarks in the Galera Capitana, 150;
- attack on the fortress of La Goletta, 156;
- defeats Barbarossa, 159;
- letter to the potentates, 163;
- evacuates Tunis, 166;
- his mistaken policy, 167;
- at Corfu, 191;
- orders the destruction of Dragut, 245, 261;
- orders the capture of “Africa,” 265;
- denunciation of Dragut, 271;
- concentrates his fleet at Messina, 278.
- “Christian Princes, Alliance of,” formed, 38,
- Christian slaves, number of, captured, 133.
- Città Notabile, 308.
- Civita Lavinia, 140.
- Coeva, Andrea, 98.
- Colonna, Camille, taken prisoner, 101.
- Colonna, Mark Antony, in command of the Papal fleet, 360, 364.
- Colonna, Vespasian, 134.
- Columbus, his caravels, 231.
- Comares, Marquis de, 80.
- Condalmiero, Alessandro, Captain of the Galleon of Venice, 192, 194,
- Constantine, 350.
-
Constantinople, fall of, 33,
- entry of Barbarossa into, 117.
- Còrdoba, Don Martin de, his defence of Oran, 10.
- Còrdoba, Gonsalvo de, the “Great Captain,” 39,
- Còrdoba, Mosque at, 64.
- Corfu, siege of, 179.
- Cornet, Commandeur de, 337.
- Cornillan, Pierre de, appointed Grand Master of the Knights of St. John, 298.
- Coron, 355.
- Coronado, Capt. Juan Vasquez, 273.
-
Corsairs, Moslem, their iron and rigid discipline, 7.
- See Moslem
- Corsica, coast of, 246.
- Corso, Mami, left in charge of Algiers, 349.
- Cos, or Lango, island of, fortifications of, 292.
- Curtogali, at Bizerta, 40,
-
Cyprus, island of, 34, 356.
- Daoud Pasha, Admiral, defeats Grimani, 38.
-
Dardanelles, 116,
- fortification of the, 34.
- Daru, P., Histoire de Venise, 364, 367.
-
Delizuff, joins forces with Barbarossa, 112,
- killed, 113.
- Diou-Donnè, Gozon de, his mode of killing a serpent, 294–296,
-
Doria Andrea, 6, 22, 108,
- his birth, 98;
- parents, 98;
- sent to Rome, 98;
- at the court of Urbino, 99;
- in the service of the King of Aragon, 99;
- joins Roverejo, 99;
- takes service with Lodovico Sforza, 100;
- appointed General of the Galleys, 100;
- captures the Fort of the Lantern, 100;
- defeats Cadolin, 100;
- appointed Captain-General of the Galleys of France, 101;
- the treatment of Francis I., 102, 104;
- letter to him, 103;
- joins Charles V., 105;
- honours received from Genoa, 105;
- Admiralissimo of the Navy, 107, 151;
- defeats the Turks at Patras, 109;
- at Barcelona, 148;
- captures Bona, 166;
- pursuit of Barbarossa, 166;
- defeats Ali-Chabelli, 180;
- wounded, 180;
- appearance, 180;
- age, 190;
- his fleet, 192;
- anchors outside the Gulf of Arta, 194–207;
- at Sessola, 207;
- tactics at the battle of Prevesa, 214;
- sails away, 216;
- ordered to capture Dragut, 261, 271;
- his pursuit of him, 262–264;
- expedition against “Africa,” 265;
- blockades Dragut at Jerbah, 271–275;
- allows him to escape, 275.
- Doria, David, 99.
- Doria, Dominique, 98.
- Doria, Franco, 192.
- Doria, Jannetin, captures Dragut, 245–247.
- Doria, John, 165.
- Doria, John Andrea, at the battle of Lepanto, 363, 367, 370.
- Doria, Philippin, defeats Moncada, 101.
-
Dragut-Reis, 10, 14, 22,
- his birth and parents, 242;
- career, 242;
- offers his services to Barbarossa, 243;
- in command of twelve galleys, 243;
- his destruction ordered, 245, 261;
- captured by Jannetin Doria, 245–247;
- employed as a galley slave, 248;
- ransomed, 248;
- increase of power, 250;
- his desire to capture “Africa,” 251;
- plot with Ibrahim Amburac, 253;
- preparations for the attack, 254–256;
- wounded, 257;
- attack on the city, 257–259;
- pursued by Andrea Doria, 262–264, 271;
- his “Horrid Devastations,” 264;
- in the siege of “Africa,” 265;
- escapes, 267;
- at Constantinople, 269, 276;
- denounced by Charles V., 270;
- appointed Sandjak, or governor, of the island of Santa Maura, 271;
- blockaded at Jerban, 271–275;
- mode of escape, 275;
- hatred of the Knights of Malta, 276, 286;
- autocrat of Tripoli, 309;
- characteristics, 315;
- at the siege of Malta, 329–339;
- mortally wounded, 339;
- death, 341.
- Dupuy, Raimond, joins the Hospice of St. John, 288,
- Eginard, 286.
-
Egypt, Soldan of, his treatment of the Knights of Saint John, 34,
- besieges Rhodes, 36.
- Elmo, St., siege of, 6, 301–305, 323–341,
- Escalente, Bernardino de, his “Diálogos del arte militar,” 371.
- Esquemelin, John, his literary labours, 1.
- Etienne, St., Mount, 294.
-
Eutemi, Selim, besieges Algiers, 65,
- assassinated, 68.
-
Exmouth, Lord, bombards Algiers,30.
- Famagusta, captured, 362.
-
Ferdinand V., King of Spain, joins the “Alliance of Christian Princes,” 38,
- his death, 65.
- Florence, the, 236.
- Floreta, M. de., 144.
- Forfait, on the speed of the galley, 234.
- Francis I., 14,
-
Fundi, 134,
-
sacked by the corsairs, 136.
-
sacked by the corsairs, 136.
-
Galeasse, the, 18,
- description of a, 233.
-
Galera Capitana, 150,
- number of flags and banners on board, 151.
- Galleon of Venice, 192, 194, 208,
- Galley, 2, 18,
- Galley of Naples, The, attacked by the brothers Barbarossa, 51–54.
- Gardampe, Chevalier Abel de Bridiers de la, killed at the siege of Malta, 333.
- Gelves, 271.
- Genoa, 32,
-
Gerard, the founder of the Order of St. John, 287,
- death, 288.
- Gibraltar, Straits of, 15.
- Giou, Chevalier de, 313.
- Goialatta, 246.
- Goletta, La, 348,
- Gomez, Alvar, left in charge of Bona, 166.
- Gonzaga, Hernando de, his advice at the battle of Prevesa, 198.
-
Gonzaga, Julia, attempt to capture her, 134–136,
- escape, 136.
-
Gozo, island of, Knights of St. John at, 277, 299,
- sacked, 309.
- Granada, fall of, 4, 8, 22,
- Grandenico, Count, 178.
- Granvelle, Cardinal, 7, 359.
-
Gravière, Admiral Jurien de la, 17, 54, 127, 214,
- his description of a Galeasse, 233.
- Great Harry, 232.
- Grimani, Antonio, the Venetian Admiral, defeated at Zonchio, 38.
- Grimani, Marco, in command of the Papal contingent, 191, 214,
- Guasto, Marquis de, taken prisoner, 101,
- Guerare, Sergeant-Major, at the siege of Malta, 332.
- Guglielmotti, Alberto, his work “La Guerra dei Pirati,” 39, 41, 180.
- Guimeran, Commandeur de, success of his ambush, 307.
-
Guzmana, the galley, 371.
- Hadj-Hossein, his embassy to Selim I., 76–78.
- Haedo, Don Fray Diego de, his History of Algiers, 96, 348, 353, 374.
- Hamid, King of Tunis, character of his rule, 348,
- Hassan Ali, 53,
-
Hassem, his attack on Oran, 10,
- retreat, 10.
- Henry II., 34.
- Henry VII., 215.
- Henry VIII., 14.
- Herbert, Arthur, concludes a treaty with Algiers, 377.
- Himeral, Basha, 114, 125.
- Hogue, La, battle of, 283.
- Honoré II., Pope, 291.
- Horusco, Pero Lopez de, 166.
- Hunyadi, John, 14.
-
Hyères, island of, 234.
- Ibrahim, Grand Vizier to Soliman, 9,
- Innocent VIII., Pope, 98.
- Ionian Islands, 179.
- Ionian Sea, 49.
- Ithaca, island of, 366.
- Iviza, 82.
- Janissaries, their character as soldiers, 8,
- Jerbale, 2, 50, 153, 251.
- Jerusalem, Hospice of St. John at, 287.
-
Jigelli, 2, 56,
- siege of, 57.
- John of Jerusalem, St., Knights of, 18. See Knights
-
Judeo, El, 88.
-
Kara-Hassan, takes possession of Shershell, 66,
- beheaded, 67.
- Khorkud, Governor of Caramania, 48.
-
Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, or Knights of Malta, their bigotry, 18,
- take refuge at Limasol, 34;
- characteristics, 35, 36;
- fortifications of Rhodes, 35;
- faith, 36;
- repulse the Turks, 37;
- expelled from Rhodes, 42, 277;
- forced to retreat to Malta, 42, 277, 292;
- their use of galleys, 229;
- fight for their “Religion,” 277;
- warfare against the corsairs, 277;
- history of the Order, 286–291;
- founded at Jerusalem, 287;
- Grand Masters, 299–298, 301;
- crusade against the Infidel, 289;
- composition of the Order, 289;
- languages, 290;
- dress, 290;
- form of government, 291;
- in the siege of Malta, 300, 324–342;
- number of deaths, 300;
- capture fortresses, 312;
- capture the “puissant galleon,” 313;
- at Licata, 352;
- their galleys captured by Ali Basha, 352–355.
-
Knights Templars, foundation of the Order, 291,
- code of regulations, 291.
-
Kustir-Aga, chief Eunuch of the Seraglio, 313.
-
Lamirande, Chevalier, at the siege of Malta, 334,
- killed, 341.
- Lancaster, the cruiser, 231.
- Lanciani, extract from “The Golden Age of the Renaissance,” 139.
- Lantern, Fort of the, captured, 100.
- Lautrec, Marshal de, 104.
- Leo X., Pope, 41,
-
Lepanto, battle of, 6, 23, 362–372;
- number of killed and wounded, 372.
- Lerici, 104.
- Leyva, Antonio de, 143.
- Leyva, Don Sancho de, Governor of “Africa,” 267.
- Liazzo, 246.
- Licastelli, 345.
- Licata, 352.
- Limasol, 34.
- Loredano, Jacques, 34.
- Loredano, Captain, at the battle of Lepanto, 369.
- Los Gelues, 112, 271.
-
Louis XII., 100,
-
joins the “Alliance of Christian Princes,” 38.
-
joins the “Alliance of Christian Princes,” 38.
- Magliana, Castle of, 140.
- Mahan, Rear-Admiral, his books on “Sea Power,” 14.
-
Mahomedi, banished from Constantinople, 43,
- his sons, 43.
- Mahomet, result of his death, 286.
- Mahomet II., Caliph, captures Constantinople, 33,
- Majorca, 172.
- Malipier, Captain, at the battle of Lepanto, 369.
- Malta, siege of, 6, 22, 299–305, 324–342,
- Malta, Knights of, see Knights
- Marquesa, the galley, 371.
- Marsa Muzetto harbour, 325, 331.
- Marsaquivir, attack on, 10.
- Maura, Santa, island of, 207, 271.
- Mecca, 4.
- Medina-Celi, Juan la Cerda, Duke of, expedition against Tripoli, 311.
- Medran, Chevalier Gonzales de, at the siege of St. Elmo, 327, 332, 335.
- Mehedia, 251.
- Melac, Commandeur Gozon de, 312.
- Mendoza, Bernard de, in command of La Goletta, 166.
- Mendoza, Don Luis Hurtado de, 143.
- Messina, 180, 278, 359.
- Minorca, 172.
- Mitylene, island of, 43.
- Monastir, 2, 250.
- Moncada, Don Hugo de, Viceroy of Sicily, 80,
- Mondejar, Marquis de, 143.
- Monferrato, Monastery of Nuestra Señora de, pilgrimages to, 150, 357.
- Monte Cristo island, 113.
- Montmorency, Anne de, 281.
- Monuc, the eunuch, 206.
- Moors, their characteristics, 4,
- Morea, the, 355, 366.
- Morgan, Sir Henry, his capture of Panama, 24.
- Morgan, J., his Compleat History of Algiers, 243, 250, 345.
-
Moriscoes, their persecutions, 5,
- revolt in Granada, 347.
- Mosca, Lodovico del, 39.
-
Moslem corsairs, their cupidity, 3,
- driven out of Spain, 4, 29;
- characteristics, 4, 67, 241;
- fanaticism, 5, 17;
- supremacy on the sea, 8;
- frequent defeats, 10;
- tyranny, 11;
- ships, 18;
- booty, 24;
- cruel methods, 24, 32;
- retrogression, 239;
- mode of commencing their careers, 240;
- conquer Palestine, 286;
- at the siege of Malta, 300;
- number of deaths, 300.
- Motte, Chevalier de la, at the siege of St. Elmo, 327.
- Mourad-Reis, 201.
- Moustafa-Billah, Caliph, 287.
- Muley Hamid, negotiations with, 330.
- Muley Hassan, King of Tunis, 130, 137,
-
Mustafa, in command of the land forces against Malta, 316, 322,
-
captures Famagusta, 362.
-
captures Famagusta, 362.
- Naples, seized, 40,
- Navarro, Count Pedro de, seizes the town of Bougie, 55,
- Navarro’s Tower, siege of, 65, 67, 91–95,
- Nef, the, 18, 232.
-
Negropont, Bailli of, at the siege of Malta, 326, 332, 333,
- killed, 341.
-
Nunez, Martin, his embassy to the Pope, 163.
- Occhiali. See Ali Basha.
- Ojeda, Captain, rescues the Capitana at the battle of Lepanto, 371.
- Omedes, Juan d’, Grand Master of the Knights of St. John, 278,
- Oneglia, 98.
-
Oran, 2, 73,
- attack on, 10.
- Oristano, Gulf of, 236.
- Osmanli, their warlike achievements on land, 15.
-
Ottoman, 292,
- his siege of Rhodes, 293.
-
Our Lady of the Conception, 45.
- Palamos, Bay of, 236.
- Palermo, 265.
- Palestine, conquered by Moslems, 286.
- Palma, 172.
- Panama, capture of, 24.
- Pantellaria, island of, 236.
- Pantera, Captain Pantero, “L’ Armata Navale,” 225.
- Parma, Prince of, at the battle of Lepanto, 364.
- Paschal II., Pope, 301.
- Passaro, Cape, 352.
- Patras, Turks defeated at, 109.
- Patrona galley, capture of, 275.
- Paul III., his scheme of defence for Rome, 139.
- Paxo, island of, 180.
- Payens, Hugues de, founds the Order of the Knights Templars, 291.
- Pedro, Francisco San, 371.
- Penne, Barras de la, on the treatment of men on board the galleys, 223.
- Peter the Hermit, 287.
- Philip II., King of Spain, 274, 311,
- Piali, Admiral, 10,
- Pierre, St., Isle of, 235.
-
Pius V., Pope, 356, 373,
- forms the “Holy League,” 357.
- Portugal, Don Juan, King of, his armada at Barcelona, 148.
- Portugal, Prince Luis of, at Barcelona, 148, 150.
- Prescott, William Hickling, 4,
- Press-gang, methods of the, 226.
- Prevesa, battle of, 6, 22, 108, 189, 190, 194–218, 366.
-
Punta delle Forche, 277, 333.
- Rabadan, Celebi, 92, 112.
- Rabadan, left in charge of Tunis, 351.
- Raschid, 130, 137.
- Raschid, Caliph Haroun, 287.
- Ravenstein, Count Philip of, 39.
- Real, the, 364.
-
Reggio, 32,
- sack of, 133.
- Reis, Aisa-, left in charge of “Africa,” 261, 264,
- Reis, Dragut-, See Dragut
- Requesens, Don Luiz de, disaster to his fleet, 234.
- Revenge, the, 354.
- Rhodes, island of, 242,
- Ribera, Don Perisan de, 80.
- Ricasoli, 333.
- Richard II, 215.
- Rio, Juan del, taken captive, 71.
- Rivière, Chevalier La, 322.
- Robeira, Captain, repulses the corsairs, 84.
- Rocca Guillelma, fortress of, besieged, 99.
- Rodas, Capitan de, 111.
- Roderick the Goth, conquered by the Osmanli, 15, 29.
- Rome, fortifications of, 139.
-
Romegas, Commandeur de, 312, 313,
- his account of the battle of Lepanto, 360.
- Rosell, Don Cayetano, his Historia del combate naval de Lepanto, 359, 364.
- Roverejo, Juan, war with Cordoba, 99.
- Roxalana, Sultana, her influence over Soliman, 174,
- Salaerrez, 88.
- Saleh-Reis, 187.
- Salerno, Gulf of, 101.
- Sallee, the rovers, 237.
- Sandoval, El Maestro Don Fray Prudencio de, his history of Charles V., 43, 70, 71, 108, 142, 144, 150, 155.
- Sangle, Claude de la, his death, 309.
- Sangullo, Antonio de, 139.
- Santa Ana, bravery of the, 353.
-
Santa Cruz, Marquis of, at the battle of Lepanto, 364,
- rescues the Capitana, 371.
- Santa Maria, the flagship of Columbus, 231.
- Sardinia, 136.
- Satalie, Gulf of, 47.
- Savona, fortification of, 103.
- Sceberass, Mount, 301, 307, 325, 342.
- Scutari, 38.
-
Sea-Wolves of the Mediterranean,
- take refuge in Northern Africa, 1;
- their deeds of terror, 2;
- cupidity, 3;
- fanaticism, 5, 17;
- autocratic rule, 7, 25;
- equality, 7;
- aptitude for the sea, 8;
- defeats, 10;
- nefarious doings, 15;
- characteristics of their leaders, 16, 25, 284, 376;
- ships, 18;
- character of the men, 26;
- leagues against, 29;
- relations with the Turks, 33.
- Seignelay, his criticism of Admiral de Tourville, 283.
- Selim I., Sultan of Turkey. See Soliman
- Selim II., Sultan of Turkey, 356,
- Serpent, method of killing, 294–296.
- Sesse, Duke of, 311.
- Sessola, islet of, 207.
- Sfax, 2, 250.
- Sforza, Lodovico, Duke of Milan, 100.
- Shershell, 2, 66.
- Shott-el-Jerid, 153.
- Sinan-Reis, in command of La Goletta fortress, 156,
- Skiathos, 187.
- Skios island, 187.
-
Slaves, on board galleys, their treatment, 223–229,
- mutiny at Lepanto, 228.
- Smyrna, Basha of, 48.
-
Soliman the Magnificent, Sultan of Turkey, 9, 14, 109,
- expels the Knights of St. John from Rhodes, 42, 277, 299;
- embassy from Barbarossa, 60, 76;
- sends reinforcements, 61;
- recalls his ships, 61;
- his conquest of the Mamelukes, 77;
- invites the cooperation of Barbarossa, 110;
- appoints him commander of his fleet, 111, 117, 127;
- receives gifts from him, 118;
- his reception of him, 120;
- relations with Ibrahim, 173;
- under the influence of Roxalana, 174;
- declares war against Venice, 179;
- defeated, 179;
- preparations for campaigns, 183, 277, 316;
- his demands from Charles V., 270;
- loss of his “puissant galleon,” 313;
- lamentations of his people, 314;
- holds a conference, 316;
- expedition against Malta, 316;
- his death, 356.
- Spaniards, under Moorish rule, 30,
- Spartivento, Cape, 136.
- Spezzia, Gulf of, 104.
- Susa, 2, 250.
-
Swertius, Franciscus, his collection of epitaphs, 373.
- Tabas, 88.
- Taranto, 32.
- Tarik, 15, 29.
-
Tenes, 2,
- fall of, 72.
- Thevenot, his Travels, 297.
- Tiber, the, 139.
- Tineo, Garzia de, kills Uruj Barbarossa, 73.
- Tlemcen, 2.
- Tlemcen, Sultan of, his flight to Fez, 72.
- Toledo, Don Garcia de, 230;
- Toledo, Don Pedro de, 273.
- Tours, Viscomte de, sent to Genoa, 102.
- Tourville, Admiral de, criticism on, 283.
- Traparni, 265.
- Tripoli, 2, 153,
- Trivulce, Theodore, 104.
- Tunis, 2,
-
Tunis, Sultan of, his treaties with the Barbarossas, 51, 61,
- repudiates treaty, 59.
- Turks, their character as soldiers, 8, 124,
-
Tuscany, Duke of, 235.
- Urbain II., Pope, 287.
-
Urbino, Duke of, 99,
- at the battle of Lepanto, 364.
- Vagnor, Chevalier, 333.
- Valentia, ravaged by corsairs, 83.
- Valetta, position of, 307, 342.
-
Valette, Jean Parisot de la, Grand Master of the Knights of
St. John, 6, 248;
- his characteristics, 301, 309;
- creed, 302;
- personal example in the siege of Malta, 302–305;
- his high conception of duty, 310;
- expedition against Tripoli, 311;
- repulsed, 312;
- summons help, 318;
- preparations for the siege, 318–321;
- address to his brethren, 319;
- at the siege of Malta, 324–328;
- reinforcements, 328.
- Vargas, Martin de, in command of the fortress of Navarro, 91,
- Vasto, Marquis de, 143.
- Vega, Don Alvaro, in command of “Africa,” 267.
-
Vega, Don Juan de, Viceroy of Sicily, 273,
- in the expedition against Dragut, 265.
- Velez, Peñon de, captured, 312.
- Venalcadi, 73,
- Vengeur, the, 354.
- Venice, 32,
- Veniero, Sebastian in command of the Venetian fleet, 360, 364.
-
Vera, Don Diego de, sent to capture Algiers, 70,
- defeated, 71.
- Vercoyran, Chevalier de, at the siege of Malta, 332.
- Vertot, M. L’Abbé de, 273, 297, 311.
- Victory, the, 354.
- Villaret, Fulke de, Grand Master of the Knights of St. John, 35,
- Villegagnon, Commandeur de, his interview with the Grand Master, 281.
- Villeneuve, Helion de, Grand Master of the Knights of St. John, 293,
- Vittoriosa, 299.
-
Volo, Gulf of, 187.
-
Ximenes, Fray Francisco, Cardinal Bishop of Toledo, 70.
- Yamboli, 216.
-
Yonis Bey, sent to Venice, 178.
- Zante, island of, 114, 313.
- Zara, port of, 227.
- Zay, Basha, 114, 125.
- Zonchio, battle of, 38.