V. 1535 that coun During these transactions in Germany, the emperor un- BOOK dertook his famous enterprise against the piratical states in Africa. That part of the African continent lying along The coupethe coast of the Mediterranean sea, which anciently form- ror's expeed the kingdom of Mauritania and Massylia, together Airica, and with the republic of Carthage, and which is now known tate of by the general name of Barbary, had undergone many re-try volutions. Subdued by the Romans, it became a province of their empire. When it was conquered afterwards by the Vandals, they erected a kingdom there. That being overturned by Bellisarius, the country became subject to the Greek emperors, and continued to be so until it was overrun, towards the end of the seventh century, by the rapid and irresistible arms of the Arabians. It remained for some time a part of that vast empire which the caliphs governed with absolute authority. Its immense distance, however, from the seat of government, encouraged the descendants of those leaders who had subdued the country, or the chiefs of the Moors, its ancient inhabitants, to throw off the yoke, and to assert their independence. The caliphs, who derived their authority from a spirit of enthusiasm, more fitted for making conquests than for preserving them, were obliged to connive at acts of rebellion which they could not prevent; and Barbary was divided into several kingdoms, of which Morocco, Algiers, and Tunis, were the most considerable. The inhabitants of these kingdoms were a mixed race; Arabs, negroes from the southern provinces, and Moors, either natives of Africa, or who had been expelled out of Spain; all zealous professors of the Mahometan religion, and inflamed against Christianity with a bigoted hatred proportional to their ignorance and barbarous manners. Among these people, no less daring, inconstant, and Rise of the treacherous, than the ancient inhabitants of the same piratical George, and Joachim, princes of Anhalt, Gebhard and Albert counts of states, BOCK country described by the Roman historians, frequent seV. ditions broke out, and many changes in government took 1535 place. These, as they affected only the internal state of Barbaros $28. a country extremely barbarous, are but little known, and deserve to be so. But about the beginning of the sixteenth century, a sudden revolution happened, which, by rendering the states of Barbary formidable to the Europeans, hath made their history worthy of more attention. This revolution was brought about by persons born in a rank of life which entitled them to act no such illustrious part. and of the Horuc and Hayradin, the sons of a potter in the isle of Lesbos, prompted by a restless and enterprising spirit, forsook their father's trade, ran to sea, and joined a crew of pirates. They soon distinguished themselves by their valour and activity, and becoming masters of a small brigantine, carried on their infamous trade with such conduct and success, that they assembled a fleet of twelve galleys, besides many vessels of smaller force. Of this fleet, Horuc, the elder brother, called Barbarossa from the red colour of his beard, was admiral, and Hayradin second in command, but with almost equal authority. They called themselves the friends of the sea, and the enemies of all who sail upon it; and their names soon became terrible from the straits of the Dardanelles to those of Gibraltar. Together with their fame and power, their ambitious views extended; and while acting as corsairs, they adopted the ideas, and acquired the talents, of conquerors. They often carried the prizes which they took on the coasts of Spain and Italy into the ports of Barbary, and, enriching the inhabitants by the sale of their booty and the thoughtless prodigality of their crews, were welcome guests in every place at which they touched. The convenient situation of these harbours, lying so near the greatest commercial states at that time in Christendom, made the brothers wish for an establishment in that country. An opportunity of accomplishing this quickly presented itself, which they did not suffer to pass unimproved. Eutemi, king of Algiers, having attempted several times, BOOK V. 1535. master of without success, to take a fort which the Spanish gover, nors of Oran had built not far from his capital, was so ill-advised as to apply for aid to Barbarossa, whose valour the Africans considered as irresistible. The active corsair 1516. gladly accepted of the invitation, and, leaving his brother Hayradin with the fleet, marched at the head of five thousand men to Algiers, where he was received as their deliverer. Such a force gave him the command of the town; and as he perceived that the Moors neither suspected him of any bad intention, nor were capable with their light-armed troops of opposing his disciplined vete-Horuc, the rans, he secretly murdered the monarch whom he had elder brother, be come to assist, and proclaimed himself king of Algiers in comes his stead. The authority which he had thus boldly Algiers -usurped, he endeavoured to establish by arts suited to the genius of the people whom he had to govern; by liberality without bounds to those who favoured his promotion, and by cruelty no less unbounded towards all whom he had any reason to distrust. Not satisfied with the throne which he had acquired, he attacked the neighbouring king of Tremecen, and having vanquished him in battle, added his dominions to those of Algiers. At the same time he continued to infest the coast of Spain and Italy with fleets which resembled the armaments of a great monarch, rather than the light squadrons of a corsair. Their frequent and cruel devastations obliged Charles, about the 1518. beginning of his reign, to furnish the marquis de Comares, governor of Oran, with troops sufficient to attack him. That officer, assisted by the dethroned king of Tremecen, executed the commission with such spirit, that Barbarossa's troops being beat in several encounters, he himself was shut up in Tremecen. After defending it to the last extremity, he was overtaken in attempting to make his escape, and slain while he fought with an obstinate valour, worthy of his former fame and exploits. His brother Hayradin, known likewise by the name of the preBarbarossa, assumed the sceptre of Algiers with the same gress of ambition and abilities, but with better fortune. His reign the second Hayradin, brother. V. 1535. Puts his dominions under the of the sul tan. being undisturbed by the arms of the Spaniards, which had full occupation in the wars among the European powers, he regulated with admirable prudence the interior police of his kingdom, carried on his naval operations with great vigour, and extended his conquests on the continent of Africa. But, perceiving that the Moors and Arabs submitted to his government with the utmost reluctance, and being afraid that his continual depredations would one day draw upon him the arms of the Christians, he put his dominions under the protection of the grand protection seignor, and received from him a body of Turkish soldiers sufficient for his security against his domestic as well as his foreign enemies. At last, the fame of his exploits daily increasing, Solyman offered him the command of the Turkish fleet, as the only person whose valour and skill in naval affairs entitled him to command against Andrew Doria, the greatest sea-officer of that age. Proud of this distinction, Barbarossa repaired to Constantinople, and, with a wonderful versatility of mind, mingling the arts of a courtier with the boldness of a corsair, gained the entire confidence both of the sultan and his vizier. To them he communicated a scheme which he had formed of making himself master of Tunis, the most flourishing kingdom at that time on the coast of Africa; and this being approved of by them, he obtained whatever he demanded for carrying it into execution. His scheme for con quering Tunis. His hopes of success in this undertaking were founded on the intestine divisions in the kingdom of Tunis. Mahmed, the last king of that country, having thirty-four sons by different wives, appointed Muley-Hascen, one of the youngest among them to be his successor. That weak prince, who owed this preference, not to his own merit, but to the ascendant which his mother had acquired over a monarch doating with age, first poisoned Mahmed his father, in order to prevent him from altering his destination with respect to the succession, and then, with the barbarous policy which prevails wherever polygamy is permitted and the right of succession is not pre V. 1535 eisely fixed, he put to death all his brothers whom he BOOK could get into his power. Alraschid, one of the eldest, was so fortunate as to escape his rage; and, finding a retreat among the wandering Arabs, made several attempts, by the assistance of some of their chiefs, to recover the throne, which of right belonged to him. But these proving unsuccessful, and the Arabs, from their natural levity, being ready to deliver him up to his merciless brother, he fled to Algiers, the only place of refuge remaining, and implored the protection of Barbarossa; who, discerning at once all the advantages which might be gained by supporting his title, received him with every possible demonstration of friendship and respect. Being ready, at that time, to set sail for Constantinople, he easily persuaded Alraschid, whose eagerness to obtain a crown disposed him to believe or undertake any thing, to accompany him thither, promising him effectual aşsistance from Solyman, whom he represented to be the most generous, as well as most powerful monarch in the world. But no sooner were they arrived at Constantinople, than the treacherous corsair, regardless of all his promises to him, opened to the sultan a plan for conquering Tunis, and annexing it to the Turkish empire, by making use of the name of this exiled prince, and cooperating with the party in the kingdom which was ready to declare in his favour. Solyman approved, with too much facility, of this perfidious proposal, extremely suitable to the character of its author, but altogether unworthy of a great prince. A powerful fleet and numerous army were soon assembled; at the sight of which the credulous Alraschid flattered himself that he should soon enter his capital in triumph. But just as this unhappy prince was going to embark, Its success. he was arrested by order of the sultan, shut up in the seraglio, and was never heard of more. Barbarossa sailed, with a fleet of two hundred and fifty vessels, towards Africa. After ravaging the coasts of Italy, and spreading terror through every part of that country, he appear |