Hayrettin Barbarossa (Redbeard) established Ottoman supremacy in the 16th-century Mediterranean. From his humble beginnings working in the pottery trade, Barbarossa rose to become one of the most feared and respected admirals of Ottoman history. His growing successes in the Mediterranean Sea brought him face-to-face with European naval powers, like the Hapsburgs.Ottoman Naval Power in the 15th CenturyMiniature of the Ottoman Fleet in the Indian Ocean, painted by Matrakci Nasuh, ca.16th century. Source: Wikimedia CommonsUntil the mid-15th century, the Turks were known for their overland conquests. They had steamrolled through Western Anatolia and the Balkans, with their eyes perpetually on Constantinople, the Byzantine capital. However, in the meantime, they were slowly developing their naval power. Coastal principalities around the Aegean Sea were captured under Sultan Bayezid I (d.1402). They also took over much of the Peloponnese peninsula, which was ruled by Venice, a great rival state.The Black Sea, bordering the Caucasus, Balkans, and Anatolia, was another incentive for the expansion of the Ottoman navy. Controlling territory in the Black Sea also meant controlling maritime trade routes, especially those through which important resources like slaves, fabrics, and furs were transported. By 1424, seafaring was still in its early stages, although this did not stop the Ottomans from conquering Sinop, the only natural port on the Southern coast of the Black Sea.The Ottoman Navys big break came with the coronation of Mehmed I, the sultan who conquered Constantinople in 1453. Mehmed improved the navy so that he could attack the Byzantines through the sea route. However, massive chains in the Bosphorus stopped Mehmets ships from passing, leading to the transportation of his fleet across land. His conquest of Trebizond, a Black Sea city and seat of the last Byzantine ruler, in 1461, firmly cemented the Ottomans as a maritime power to be reckoned with.Barbarossas Humble BeginningsThe coast of the island Lesbos. Source: Wikimedia CommonsIn the 1470s, a Turkish man and Greek woman living on the Mediterranean island of Lesbos welcomed the birth of another son, whom they named Hizir. Along with his two sisters and three brothers, Hizir grew up helping his father, who was a potter, and traded his wares with nearby island folk.The family lived in a volatile area; Lesbos had, until the Ottoman takeover in 1462, been ruled by the Genoese. It was also the site of frequent skirmishes and sieges, including an unsuccessful Venetian one in 1464. Like the other islanders, Hizir and his family adapted to a life where the balance of power could change at any moment.The island prospered from the trade of items such as oil, olives, and wine. Hizir and his brothers naturally continued their fathers work, expanding to international trade networks and eventually becoming sailors. However, maritime trade was plagued by pirate attacks and privateering during this time. To counter the raids of the Knights Hospitallers, a Catholic military order stationed in Rhodes, Hizir became a privateer himself.Disaster soon struck when his brothers Ilyas and Oru were attacked by the Knights Hospitallers on their return from a trading expedition in Lebanon. During the skirmish, Ilyas was killed and Oru enslaved. Hizirs father was able to collect ransom money after four years, and Oru was finally freed. However, the familys lives were forever changed by these events.Brothers in ArmsDepiction of the capture of a galley by Oru Reis, illustration by Charles Farine, 1869. Source: Wikimedia CommonsAfter his release, Oru, who by now had a reputation, was lent 18 galleys by Prince Korkut, son of Sultan Bayezid II. With these galleys, Oru was expected to fight the Knights Hospitallers and capture territory and goods for the Ottomans. Hizir joined his brother in this new endeavor, and together, they sailed through the Mediterranean, capturing Spanish and Italian warships and raiding coastal towns like Malaga (Spain).Their other surviving brother, Ishak, soon left Lesbos, where he was running the family business, and joined his siblings. In 1516, they captured Algiers from the Spanish and declared that they were the new rulers of the city. Oru gained the title of sultan of Algiers, although he gave it up one year later to the Ottomans. This political move showed the brothers loyalty to the Ottoman Dynasty, and they were duly rewarded with arms and janissary soldiers.The brothers luck was soon to run out, however. With the help of the Hapsburg king Charles V, local Bedouins and the Spanish governor attacked the city of Tlemcen which was the base of the Barbarossa brothers. Oru and Ishak were fatally wounded and succumbed to their injuries in 1518.Barbarossas BattlesPortrait of Hayreddin (Hizir) Barbarossa, painted by Veneziano, ca. 16th century. Source: Herzog Anton Ulrich-MuseumHizir was now the only surviving brother. Helpless, he sought the assistance of Sultan Selim the Grim. Selim granted Hizir the necessary artillery, such as cannons and a fleet of galleys. From that moment on, Hizir inherited his brother Orus moniker, Barbarossa.The nickname is believed to stem from the Italian Barba Rossa, meaning red beard. It may also have been a distortion of the nickname Baba Oru, or father Oru, which was what Oru was called due to his transportation of Muslims out of Spain during the Reconquista. This was a policy that Hizir, the new Barbarossa, continued well into the 1530s.Now in his late 50s to early 60s, Barbarossa desired to solidify, once and for all, Turkish supremacy on the seas. His conquests and raids on Spanish and Italian-controlled territories throughout the Mediterranean were incessant. He also removed the threat of the Knights Hospitallers, who left Rhodes after the Ottoman conquest in 1522.By capturing castles throughout the Spanish coast, Hizir ensured that the Ottomans had military bases where they could station their artillery and galleys in preparation for new conquests and raids. No town on the coast was safe from the Corsairs assaults. From 1520-1530, Barbarossa raided scores of castles, towns, and ports in the Mediterranean, including Toulon, Sardinia, Castignano, Tuscany, Sicily, and Marseilles.Captain of the SeasBarbarossas fleet wintering in the French port city of Toulon, 1543. Source: Wikimedia CommonsThe reign of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent ushered in a golden age of the Ottoman Empire. Under Suleyman, the empire stretched from Algiers, North Africa, to the European Balkans, and to the Western Asian Arabian Peninsula. Suleyman understood that naval power was important to control such a great empire, especially in the threat of his great rival Charles V, who sent Hapsburg fleets to recapture the Algerian coast from the Ottomans.Suleyman summoned Barbarossa to Istanbul in 1532 and appointed him the title of grand admiral of the navy, or Kapudan-I Derya, (literally captain of the seas). Also, as the new governor of North African provinces, Barbarossas power and prestige increased.But Barbarossas assistance was not only sought out by the Ottomans. Francis I, King of France, felt threatened by the Hapsburgs, who had encircled his country. He controversially formed an alliance with Sultan Suleyman. Francis sent an ambassador to Barbarossa, requesting that he force the Mediterranean island of Corsica into recognizing Francis as king.Barbarossas fleet was instrumental in curbing the conquests of the Spanish Hapsburgs in the Western Mediterranean. His heavy bombardment of ports on both Spanish islands like Majorca and mainland cities was so effective that, in 1540, Charles V offered Barbarossa a position as admiral-in-chief and ruler of Spanish North Africa. The staunchly loyal Barbarossa refused this offer.The End of an EraSultan Suleyman receiving a white-bearded Barbarossa, ca. 16th century. Source: Bilkent UniversityHis epic life on the seas came to an end around 1545 when Barbarossa retired to his seaside palace on the shores of the Bosphorus in Constantinople. Barbarossas son, Hasan Pasha, whose mother was most likely a Moorish or Kabyle (Native Berber) woman, inherited his position as ruler of Algiers.Aged around 66, Hayrettin Barbarossa dictated his memoirs to his former second-in-command, Sinan Reis. According to some sources, it was Sultan Suleyman who ordered Barbarossa to record this ghazavatnames (a genre of Ottoman literature that solely focussed on military history and exploits). Regardless, the five-volume memoirs of Hayreddin Barbarossa are an important source for 16th century maritime history.Barbarossa died a year later in the comfort of his palace, rather than on the seas, as may have been expected for such a weathered corsair. He was buried in a mausoleum built by the famous Ottoman architect Sinan. It was constructed in Besiktas, a vital ferry port neighborhood in Istanbul, and the place where Barbarossas fleet was first gathered.Barbarossas LegacyThe Ottoman battleship, Barbaros Hayreddin, around 1915. Source: Wikimedia CommonsBarbarossa has an enduring legacy in both Turkish and European history. He is mainly viewed as a heroic, inspirational figure in Turkish culture. During World War I, an Ottoman battleship that defended the Dardanelles during the Battle of Gallipolionly to be torpedoed by a British submarinewas named the Barbaros Hayreddin.Even in modern times, his name graces important cultural and political structures. A seismographic research vessel, and a mosque constructed in Istanbul in 2023, were both named after the Corsair.He has also been the subject of the artistic world. Centuries after his death, Henry Jones wrote the play Barbarossa (1788), a tale about a woman captured and sold into slavery. Most of the visual depictions of Barbarossa were also painted by European artists. Hayrettins famous portraits were painted mainly in the 16th century, with one engraving being attributed to the Renaissance artist Agostino Veneziano.Barbarossa has had some negative press throughout history. He was an active part of the Mediterranean slave trade. During his conquest of Aegina, a Greek Island, he had many of the local women and children enslaved. A similar scenario occurred in the Maltese island of Gozo, where thousands were enslaved. For these early-modern pirates, slavery was an acceptable and lucrative trade.The fear or admiration that Barbarossa and his fleet inspired continued for decades, until the devastation of the Ottoman fleet at the Battle of Lepanto (1571), when the image of invincibility that the Ottoman naval forces had constructed was shattered.