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'Aruj' or 'Oruc Reis' (
Turkish: 'Oruç Reis') (c.
1474-
1518) was a
Turkish privateer and
Ottoman ''
Bey'' (''Governor'') of
Algiers and ''
Beylerbey'' (''Chief Governor'') of the
West Mediterranean. He was born on the island of Midilli (
Lesbos) in today's Greece and was killed in a battle with the
Spaniards in
Algeria.
He became known as 'Baba Aruj' or 'Baba Oruç' (Father Aruj) when he transported large numbers of
Mudejar refugees from Spain to North Africa; in the Christian countries of the
Mediterranean he was known as 'Barbarossa', which meant '
Redbeard' in Italian.
He was the older brother of the famous Turkish privateer and Ottoman admiral
Hayreddin Barbarossa.
Background
Oruç was one of four brothers who were born in the
1470s on the island of Lesbos (Λέσβος) to their Muslim
Turkish father,
Yakup Ağa, and his Christian
Greek wife, Katerina. According to Ottoman archives Yakup Ağa was a ''
Tımarlı Sipahi'', i.e. a Turkish feudal cavalry knight, whose family had its origins in
Eceabat and
Balıkesir, and later moved to the Ottoman city of
Vardar, near
Thessaloniki. Yakup Ağa was among those appointed by Sultan
Mehmed II to capture Lesbos from the
Genoese in
1462, and he was granted the fief of Bonova village as a reward for fighting for the cause. He married a local Greek girl from
Mytilene named Katerina, and they had two daughters and four sons: Ishak, Oruç,
Hızır and Ilyas. Yakup became an established potter and purchased a boat of his own to trade his products. The brothers helped their father with his business, but not much is known about the sisters.
Early career
All four brothers became seamen, engaged in marine affairs and international sea trade. Oruç 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 turned
privateers in the Mediterranean, counteracting the privateering of the
Knights of St. John of the Island of
Rhodes. Oruç and Ilyas operated in the
Levant, between
Anatolia,
Syria and
Egypt, while Hızır operated in the
Aegean Sea and based his operations mostly in Thessaloniki.
Oruç was a very successful seaman. He also learned to speak Italian, Spanish, French, Greek and Arabic in the early years of his career. While returning from a trading expedition in
Tripoli, Lebanon, he and Ilyas were attacked by a galley of the Knights of St. John. Ilyas was killed in the fight, and Oruç was wounded. Their father's boat was captured, and Oruç was taken prisoner and detained in the Knights'
Bodrum Castle for nearly three years. Upon learning the location of his brother, Hızır went to Bodrum and managed to help Oruç escape.
Oruç Reis the corsair
Oruç Reis captures a galley
Oruç later went to
Antalya, where he was given 18 galleys by
Shehzade Korkud, an
Ottoman prince and governor of the city, and charged with fighting against the Knights of St. John who inflicted serious damage on Ottoman shipping and trade. In the following years, when Shehzade Korkud became governor of
Manisa, he gave Oruç Reis a larger fleet of 24 galleys at the port of
İzmir and ordered him to participate in the Ottoman naval expedition to
Puglia in Italy, where Oruç bombarded several coastal forts and captured two ships. On his way back to Lesbos, he stopped at
Euboea and captured three galleons and another ship. Reaching Mytilene with these captured vessels, Oruç learned that Shehzade Korkud, brother of the new Ottoman sultan, had fled to Egypt in order to avoid being killed because of succession disputes -- 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, Oruç sailed to Egypt where he met Shehzade Korkud in
Cairo and managed to get an audience with the
Mamluk Sultan
Qansuh 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 by
Christian powers. After passing the winter in Cairo, he set sail from
Alexandria and operated along the coasts of
Liguria and
Sicily.
In
1503 Oruç Reis managed to seize three more ships and made the island of
Djerba his new base, thus moving his operations to the Western Mediterranean. Hızır joined Oruç Reis at Djerba. In
1504 the two brothers asked Abu Abdullah Mohammed Hamis, sultan of
Tunisia from the
Beni Hafs dynasty, for permission to use the strategically located port of
La Goulette for their operations. They were granted this right, with the condition of leaving one third of their booty to the sultan. Oruç Reis, in command of small galliots, captured two much larger
Papal galleys near the island of
Elba. Later, near
Lipari, the two brothers captured a
Sicilian warship, the ''Cavalleria'', with 380 Spanish soldiers and 60 Spanish knights from
Aragon on board, who were on their way from
Spain to
Naples. In
1505 they raided the coasts of
Calabria. These accomplishments increased their fame and they were joined by a number of other well-known Muslim corsairs, including Kurtoğlu (known in the West as Curtogoli.) In
1508 they raided the coasts of
Liguria, particularly
Diano Marina.
In
1509 Ishak also left Mytilene and joined his brothers at La Goulette. The fame of Oruç Reis increased when between
1504 and
1510 he transported Muslim
Mudejars from Christian Spain to North Africa. His efforts of helping the Muslims of Spain in need and transporting them to safer lands earned him the honorific name ''Baba Oruç'' (''Father Aruj''), which eventually— due to the similarity in sound— evolved in Spain, Italy and France into
Barbarossa (''Redbeard'' in
Italian).
In
1510 the three brothers raided Cape Passero in
Sicily and repulsed a Spanish attack on
Bougie,
Oran and
Algiers. In August
1511 they raided the areas around
Reggio Calabria in southern Italy. In August
1512 the exiled ruler of Bougie invited the brothers to drive out the Spaniards, and during the battle Oruç Reis lost his left arm. This incident earned him the nickname ''Gümüş Kol'' (''Silver Arm'' in Turkish), in reference to the sliver prosthetic device which he used in place of his missing limb. Later that year the three brothers raided the coasts of
Andalusia in Spain, capturing a galliot of the Lomellini family of
Genoa who owned the
Tabarca island in that area. They subsequently landed on
Minorca and captured a coastal castle, and then headed towards
Liguria 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, raided
Valencia where they captured four more ships, and then headed for
Alicante and captured a Spanish galley near
Málaga. In 1513 and 1514 the three brothers engaged Spanish squadrons on several other occasions and moved to their new base in
Cherchell, east of
Algiers. In
1514, with 12 galliots and 1,000 Turks, they destroyed two Spanish fortresses at
Bougie, and when a Spanish fleet under the command of Miguel de Gurrea, viceroy of
Majorca, arrived for assistance, they headed towards
Ceuta and raided that city before capturing
Jijel in Algeria, which was under Genoese control. They later captured
Mahdiya in Tunisia. Afterwards they raided the coasts of
Sicily,
Sardinia, the
Balearic Islands and the Spanish mainland, capturing three large ships there. In
1515 they captured several galleons, a galley and three barques at
Majorca. Still in 1515 Oruç Reis sent precious gifts to the Ottoman Sultan
Selim I who, in return, sent him two galleys and two swords embellished with diamonds. In
1516, joined by Kurtoğlu, the brothers besieged the Castle of
Elba, before heading once more towards Liguria where they captured 12 ships and damaged 28 others.
Ruler of Algiers
In
1516 the three brothers succeeded in liberating
Jijel and Algiers from the Spaniards, but eventually assumed control over the cities and surrounding region, forcing the previous ruler, Abu Hamo Musa III of the Beni Ziyad dynasty, to flee. The local Spaniards in Algiers sought refuge in the island of
Peñón near Algiers and asked Emperor
Charles 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, Oruç Reis sought to enhance his territory inlands and took
Miliana,
Medea and
Ténès. 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
Island of Capo Rizzuto in
Calabria.
Algiers joins the Ottoman Empire
For Oruç Reis the best protection against
Spain was to join the
Ottoman Empire, his homeland and Spain's main rival. For this he had to relinquish his title of Sultan of Algiers to the Ottomans. He did this in
1517 and offered Algiers to the Ottoman Sultan. The Sultan accepted Algiers as an Ottoman ''Sanjak'' (province), appointed Oruç as the
Bey (Governor) of Algiers and
Beylerbey (Chief Governor) of West Mediterranean, and promised to support him with
janissaries, galleys and cannons.
Final engagements and death of Oruç Reis and Ishak
The Spaniards ordered Abu Zayan, whom they had appointed as the new ruler of
Tlemcen and
Oran, to attack Oruç Reis by land, but Oruç learned of the plan and pre-emptively struck against Tlemcen, capturing the city and executing Abu Zayan. The only survivor of Abu Zayan's dynasty was Sheikh Buhammud, who escaped to Oran and called for Spain's assistance.
In May
1518 Emperor Charles V arrived at Oran and was received there by Sheikh Buhammud and the Spanish governor of the city, Diego de Cordoba, marquess of Comares, who commanded a force of 10,000 Spanish soldiers. Joined by thousands of Bedouins, the Spaniards marched overland on Tlemcen where Oruç Reis and Ishak awaited them with 1,500 Turkish and 5,000 Moorish soldiers. They defended Tlemcen for 20 days, but were eventually killed in combat by the forces of Garcia de Tineo.
The last remaining brother,
Hızır Reis, inherited his brother's place, his name (Barbarossa) and his mission.
Legacy
Oruç Reis established the
Turkish presence in
North Africa which lasted 4 centuries, ''
de facto'' until the loss of
Libya to
Italy in
1912 and ''
de jure'' until the official loss of
Egypt to the
United Kingdom in
1914, after the
Ottoman Empire joined
World War I on the side of the
Central Powers. The
Republic of Turkey officially renounced the remaining disputed Turkish rights in some territories of Egypt with the
Treaty of Lausanne in
1923.
Several submarines of the
Turkish Navy have been named after Oruç Reis (see
Oruç Reis class submarine).
See also
★
Turkish Navy
★
History of the Turkish Navy
Literature
★ Wolf, John B., ''The Barbary Coast: Algeria under the Turks'', New York, 1979; ISBN 0-393-01205-0
★ Bono, Salvatore: ''Corsari nel Mediterraneo'' (''Corsairs in the Mediterranean''), Oscar Storia Mondadori. Perugia, 1993.
External links
★
An article on the Barbarossa brothers
★
Another article on the Barbarossa brothers
★
Encyclopedia of the Orient
★
Biography of Aruj
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