HAYREDDIN BARBAROSSA
“I AM THE THUNDERBOLT OF HEAVEN, MY VENGEANCE WILL NOT BE ASSUAGED UNTIL I HAVE KILLED THE LAST ONE OF YOU AND ENSLAVED YOUR WOMEN, YOUR DAUGHTERS AND YOUR CHILDREN”
– Hayreddin Barbarossa
Shouts of joy rose from the docks of the port of Mahon in the Balearic Islands on an October day in 1535, as the galleys of a powerful squadron flying Spanish flags glided into the turquoise waters of the harbour. Church bells tolled a hearty welcome, and a Portuguese caravel lying at anchor fired a salute to welcome the triumphant squadron.
Four months earlier, the Spanish king, Charles I, had led a great armada to Tunis. In a month-long battle, he drove Turkish Grand Admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa from the port. The notorious Barbarossa was rumoured to be dead. The inhabitants of the Balearic Islands had suffered mightily as targets of the red-bearded corsair’s raids in the preceding years, and they celebrated his demise with relish.
Suddenly the arriving galleys began firing their bow cannons at the caravel. Shock registered on the faces of the Christians on the quay and aboard the caravel.
Swarms of Turkish troops emerged from their hiding places behind the bulwarks of the galleys. They clambered up the sides of the Portuguese caravel and thronged onto the quay. By then the inhabitants of Mahon had discerned that the Spanish flags were a ruse. The commander of the squadron was not a friendly Spanish admiral but the fearsome Barbarossa. The Ottoman admiral stayed long enough to round up 1,800 Christian captives to be sold in the slave markets of Algiers.
Just before he departed, the burly Ottoman admiral left a note pinned to the tail of a horse. “I
