Barbarossa

/bahr'beuh ros"euh/, n.

1. Frederick. See Frederick I (def. 1).

2. the planning and operational code name the Germans gave to their invasion of the Soviet Union (June 22, 1941).

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orig. Khiḍr later Khayr al-Dīn

died 1546

Greek Turkish pirate and admiral in the service of the Ottoman Empire.

He and his brother ʽArūj, sons of a Turk from Lesbos, hated the Spanish and Portuguese for their attacks on North Africa and took up piracy on the Barbary Coast in hopes of seizing an African domain for themselves. When ʽArūj was killed in 1518, Khiḍr took the title Khayr al-Dīn. He offered allegiance to the Ottoman sultan and in return received military aid that enabled him to capture Algiers in 1529. Appointed admiral in chief of the Ottoman Empire (1533), he conquered all of Tunisia. Emperor Charles V captured Tunis in 1535, but Khayr al-Dīn defeated his fleet at the Battle of Preveza (1538), securing the eastern Mediterranean for the Turks for 33 years. His red beard was the source of the epithet Barbarossa, used by Europeans.

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▪ Ottoman admiral

(Redbeard),byname of  Khayr ad-Dīn,  original name  Khiḍr  

died 1546

 Barbary pirate and later admiral of the Ottoman fleet, by whose initiative Algeria and Tunisia became part of the Ottoman Empire. For three centuries after his death, Mediterranean coastal towns and villages were ravaged by his pirate successors.

 Khiḍr was one of four sons of a Turk from the island of Lesbos. Hatred of the Spanish and Portuguese who attacked North Africa between 1505 and 1511 encouraged Khiḍr and his brother ʿArūj to intensify their piracy. They hoped, with the aid of Turks and Muslim emigrants from Spain, to wrest an African domain for themselves and had begun to succeed in this design when ʿArūj was killed by the Spanish in 1518. Khiḍr, who had been his brother's lieutenant, then assumed the title Khayr ad-Dīn. Fearing he would lose his possessions to the Spanish, he offered homage to the Ottoman sultan and in return was granted the title beylerbey and sent military reinforcements (1518). With this aid Khayr ad-Dīn was able to capture Algiers in 1529 and make it the great stronghold of Mediterranean piracy. In 1533 he was appointed admiral in chief of the Ottoman Empire, and the next year he conquered the whole of Tunisia (Tunis) for the Turks, Tunis itself becoming the base of piracy against the Italian coast. The Holy Roman emperor Charles V led a crusade that captured Tunis and Goletta in 1535, but Barbarossa defeated Charles V's fleet at the Battle of Preveza (1538), thereby securing the eastern Mediterranean for the Turks (until their defeat at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571). Barbarossa remained one of the great figures of the court at Constantinople until his death.

 

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