خير الدين بربروسة

Khayr al-Din ibn Ya'qub ibn Yusuf, a remnant of the Muslim Turkish conquerors settled on the island of Djerba. His mother was a Muslim woman of al-Andalus. Western sources give him the title Barbarossa. He died in Istanbul around 953 AH (1546 CE); the date is derived. ¹

From his youth he went with his brother Uruj into naval jihad in the Aegean archipelago, around 1510 CE. They then moved their activity to North Africa, and the Hafsid sultan granted them the right to settle on the island of Djerba. They tried to liberate Bejaia in 1512 CE, entered Jijel in 1514 CE and killed its defenders. After Uruj was killed in 1518 CE, Khayr al-Din continued to rule Algiers. ¹

In 940 AH (1533 CE) Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent summoned him with a letter carried by Sinan Cavush. He placed the letter over his head, gathered the scholars, the shaykhs and the notables, and read them the sultan's command. He then sailed with forty-four ships, and on the way he defeated a squadron of the Habsburg fleet near the Morea, until he reached Istanbul. ¹

The sultan clothed him in honour, entrusted him with the arsenal, and gave him the title of Kapudan Pasha, minister of the navy. He then sailed out of the Dardanelles with the new Ottoman fleet toward the southern coasts of Italy and Sicily, and recovered Coron and Lepanto. ¹

With the Franco-Ottoman alliance he made Marseille his fleet's base, led the allied forces to drive the Duke of Savoy from Nice for the French king, then lay at Toulon — most of whose people had left at the king's order — until 1544. Europe's outcry rose; among the propaganda al-Salabi cites: 'Khayr al-Din tore out the church bells, so that in Toulon only the muezzin's call was heard' ².

After the Treaty of Crépy (18 September 1544) he evacuated Toulon, paused off Genoa — whose senate bought safety with costly gifts — took Elba and several coastal towns, and reached Istanbul with ships heavy with booty; he did not live long after. The author preserves his retort when Charles threatened him with his brothers' fate: 'Tomorrow you will see — and tomorrow is not far — your soldiers' limbs scattered, your ships sunk, your captains returning crowned with the shame of defeat' ³.