Campaign of Cherchell (1531)

Last updated
Campaign of Cherchell
DateJuly 1531
Location
Result Victory of the Regency of Algiers [1]
Belligerents

Charles V Arms-personal.svg Empire of Charles V:


Pavillon royal de la France.svg  France [2]
Flag of Algiers.jpg Regency of Algiers
Commanders and leaders
Andrea Doria Hayreddin Barbarossa
Strength
1,500 men
32 galleys
8 galleons
5 brigantines
2 lateen sails
3 ships
35 galleys
Casualties and losses
Heavy
600 captured
22 galleys
Unknown

The Campaign of Cherchell occurred in July 1531, when Charles V sent the admiral Andrea Doria, to take Cherchell as a bridgehead in North Africa. [3] [4]

A French fleet of 13 galleys took part under Andrea Doria. [2] Doria was supported by 32 galleys, eight galleons, five brigantines, two lateen sails, and three ships. [5]

In July 1531, the admiral left Genoa and landed at Cherchell with 1,500 men. [1] He seized the city and liberated several hundred Christian slaves. [1] While the troops disbanded to engage in looting, the Turks took advantage, massacred and routed the invaders, [6] [1] [3] as well as, took 600 captives. [3]

Some of the other Turks opened fire on the galleys. As a result, Doria set sail fearing that he might see his vessels sink and understanding that his soldiers were hopelessly lost. [7] Barbarossa, equipped with 35 galleys, attacked Doria near Genoa and burned 22 Genoese galleys. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Preveza</span> 1538 battle of the Third Ottoman–Venetian War

The Battle of Preveza was a naval engagement that took place on 28 September 1538 near Preveza in the Ionian Sea in northwestern Greece between an Ottoman fleet and that of a Holy League. The battle was an Ottoman victory which occurred in the same area in the Ionian Sea as the Battle of Actium in 31 BC. It was one of the three largest sea battles that took place in the sixteenth century Mediterranean, along with the Battle of Djerba and the Battle of Lepanto.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrea Doria</span> Admiral of the Republic of Genoa (1466–1560)

Andrea Doria, Prince of Melfi was a Genoese statesman, condottiero, and admiral, who played a key role in the Republic of Genoa during his lifetime.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aruj Barbarossa</span> Ottoman corsair, later Sultan of Algiers (c. 1474–1518)

Aruj Barbarossa, known as Oruç Reis to the Turks, was an Ottoman corsair who became Sultan of Algiers. The elder brother of the famous Ottoman admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa, he was born on the Ottoman island of Midilli and died in battle against the Spanish at Tlemcen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Djerba</span> 1560 naval battle between the Ottoman Empire and an alliance of Christian states

The Battle of Djerba took place in May 1560 near the island of Djerba, Tunisia. The Ottomans under Piyale Pasha's command overwhelmed a large joint Christian alliance fleet, composed chiefly of Spanish, Papal, Genoese, Maltese, and Neapolitan forces. The allies lost 27 galleys and some smaller vessels as well as the fortified island of Djerba. This victory marked perhaps the high point of Ottoman power in the Mediterranean Sea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hayreddin Barbarossa</span> 16th-century Ottoman corsair and later admiral of the Ottoman navy

Hayreddin Barbarossa, also known as Hayreddin Pasha, Hızır Hayrettin Pasha, and simply Hızır Reis, was an Ottoman corsair and later admiral of the Ottoman Navy. Barbarossa's naval victories secured Ottoman dominance over the Mediterranean during the mid-16th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piali Pasha</span> Ottoman admiral

Piali Pasha was an Ottoman Grand Admiral between 1553 and 1567, and a Vizier (minister) after 1568. He is also known as Piale Pasha in English.

The Holy League of 1538 was a short-lived alliance of Christian states arranged by Pope Paul III at the urging of the Republic of Venice.

Salah Rais was the 7th King of Algiers, an Ottoman privateer and admiral. He is alternatively referred to as Sala Reis, Salih Rais, Salek Rais and Cale Arraez in several European sources, particularly in Spain, France and Italy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Nice</span> 1543 siege

The siege of Nice occurred in 1543 and was part of the Italian War of 1542–46 in which Francis I and Suleiman the Magnificent collaborated as part of the Franco-Ottoman alliance against the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, and Henry VIII of England. At that time, Nice was under the control of Charles III, Duke of Savoy, an ally of Charles V. This is part of the 1543–1544 Mediterranean campaign of Barbarossa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Invasion of Corsica (1553)</span> 1553 Franco-Ottoman invasion of Corsica

The Invasion of Corsica of 1553 occurred when French, Ottoman, and Corsican exile forces combined to capture the island of Corsica from the Republic of Genoa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Ponza (1552)</span> 1552 Naval conflict between Genoa and the Ottoman Empire

The Battle of Ponza (1552) was a naval battle that occurred near the Italian island of Ponza. The battle was fought between a Franco-Ottoman fleet under Dragut and a Genoese fleet commanded by Andrea Doria. The Genoese were defeated and lost seven galleys captured. The battle made it easier for the Ottoman fleet to raid the coasts of Sicily, Sardinia, and Italy for the next three years.

Oberto Doria was an Italian politician and admiral of the Republic of Genoa, ruling the republic as Capitano del popolo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capture of Mahdia (1550)</span> 1550 naval siege and land capture of Mahdia

The capture of Mahdia was an amphibious military operation that took place from June to September, 1550, during the struggle between the Ottoman Empire and the Spanish Habsburgs for the control of the Mediterranean. A Spanish naval expedition under the command of the Genoese condottiero and admiral Andrea Doria and the Spaniard Bernardino de Mendoza, supported by the Knights of Malta under their Grand Master Claude de la Sengle, besieged and captured the Ottoman stronghold of Mahdia or Mahdiye, defended by the Ottoman Admiral Turgut Reis, known as Dragut, who was using the place as a base for his piratical activities throughout the Spanish and Italian coasts. Mahdia was abandoned by Spain three years later, and all its fortifications were demolished to avoid a re-occupation of the city by the Ottomans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dragut</span> Ottoman corsair, naval commander, and governor (1485–1565)

Dragut was an Ottoman corsair, naval commander, governor, and noble. Under his command, the Ottoman Empire's maritime power was extended across North Africa. Recognized for his military genius, and as being among "the most dangerous" of corsairs, Dragut has been referred to as "the greatest pirate warrior of all time", "undoubtedly the most able of all the Turkish leaders", and "the uncrowned king of the Mediterranean". He was nicknamed "the Drawn Sword of Islam". He was described by a French admiral as "a living chart of the Mediterranean, skillful enough on land to be compared to the finest generals of the time" and that "no one was more worthy than he to bear the name of king". Hayreddin Barbarossa, who was his mentor, stated that Dragut was ahead of him "both in fishing and bravery".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sinan Reis</span> Ottoman pirate of the 16th century

Sinan Reis, also Ciphut Sinan, "Sinan the Chief", and Portuguese: Sinão o Judeo, "Sinan the Jew", was a Barbary corsair who sailed under and was second in command of the famed Ottoman admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Girolata</span> 1540 battle

The Battle of Girolata was a naval action fought between Genoese, Spanish, and Ottoman ships on 15 June 1540 in the Gulf of Girolata, on the west coast of the island of Corsica, amidst the war between Charles V of Spain and Suleiman the Magnificent. A Spanish squadron of 21 galleys led by the Genoese Gianettino Doria and the Spaniard Berenguer de Requesens surprised an Ottoman squadron of 11 galleys, anchored at Girolata, led by the Ottoman admiral Dragut, whom the commander of the Ottoman Navy, Hayreddin Barbarossa, had committed to raid the Italian coast after his victories in the Adriatic Sea the year before. As the crews of the Ottoman warships were ashore, distributing the booty from recent raids, the Spanish-Genoese fleet easily overtook them, taking all 11 Ottoman galleys and making 1,200 prisoners, among them Dragut, who was carried to Genoa and put, together with his captains, to row in Andrea Doria's galleys.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Genoese navy</span> Military unit

The Genoese navy was the naval contingent of the Republic of Genoa's military. From the 11th century onward the Genoese navy protected the interests of the republic and projected its power throughout the Mediterranean and Black Seas. It played a crucial role in the history of the republic as a thalassocracy and a maritime trading power.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Capo d'Orso</span> 1528 naval battle during the War of the League of Cognac

The Battle of Capo d'Orso, sometimes known as the Battle of Cava and the Battle of Amalfi, was a naval engagement taking place from 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM on April 28 1528, during the War of the League of Cognac. A French fleet inflicted a crushing defeat on the fleet of the Kingdom of Naples under Spanish command in the Gulf of Salerno, where Spanish forces trying to break the French blockade of the city met the French fleet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Pianosa</span> 16th century naval engagement

The Battle of Pianosa was a naval engagement which took place on 25 April 25, 1519, when a Genoese fleet severely defeated the flotilla of the Tunisia-based Barbary corsair Kaid Ali in the Tyrrhenian Sea, in view of the island of Elba. The battle broke the back of one of the rising corsair bases on the Barbary Coast, Bizerte, and established Andrea Doria as among the foremost captains in the Mediterranean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Filippino Doria</span> Genoese admiral

Filippo or Filippino Doria was a Genoese admiral from a cadet branch of the Doria family.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 MERCIER, Ernest. "L’AFRIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE." I888, I (1888): 182. Page 33.
  2. 1 2 "VI. Relations with France to 1536" In Suleiman the Magnificent, 1520-1566, 126-144. Cambridge, MA and London, England: Harvard University Press, 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 Ring, Trudy, and Noelle Watson. Middle East and Africa: International Dictionary of Historic Places. Routledge, 2014.
  4. 1 2 Servantie, Alain. "The Mediterranean Policy of Charles V." A New World: Emperor Charles V and the Beginnings of Globalisation (2021): 83.
  5. Espinosa, Aurelio. "The Grand Strategy of Charles V (1500-1558): Castile, War, and Dynastic Priority in the Mediterranean", Journal of Early Modern History 9, 3 (2005): 239-283, doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/157006505775008446
  6. Moliner-Violle, Michel Francois Auguste, and Michel-F-A. Moliner-Violle. Précis de géographie historique de l'Algérie. A. Jourdan, 1877.
  7. de Haëdo, Diego, and Henri-Delmas de Grammont. "Kheir-ed-Din Barberousse, second roi." Histoire du Maghreb (1998): 50-75.