Barbarossa

Barbarossa (bär'bərŏs`ə) [Ital.,=red-beard], surname of the Turkish corsair Khayr ad-Din (c.1483–1546). Barbarossa and his brother Aruj, having seized (1518) Algiers from the Spanish, placed Algeria under Turkish suzerainty. He extended his conquests to the rest of the Barbary States. Between 1533 and 1544, as admiral of the Turkish fleet under Sulayman I, he twice defeated Andrea Doria and ravaged the coasts of Greece, Spain, and Italy. His able son Hasan (d. 1572) succeeded him in Algeria.

Bibliography

See biography by E. D. S. Bradford (1969).

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Barbarossa

 orig. Khidr later Khayr al-Din

(died 1546) Greek Turkish pirate and admiral in the service of the Ottoman Empire. He and his brother 'Aruj, 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 'Aruj was killed in 1518, Khidr took the title Khayr al-Din. 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-Din 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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Barbarossa

1. the nickname of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I

2. real name Khair ed-Din. c 1465--1546, Turkish pirate and admiral: conquered Tunis for the Ottomans (1534)

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Barbarossa

disastrous invasion of Russia; sealed Nazi fate (1941–1943). [Eur. Hist.: Hitler, 888–921, 922–955]

See : Turning Point