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[Achilles The Myrmidon]

Charles Martel



The Moorish advance into Europe seemed unstoppable when in 732 AD they launched a massive invasion of present day France. The king of the leading tribe in that country, Charles Martel of the Franks (who had their headquarters in present day Paris) mobilized a counter attack. A great battle took place between the towns of Tours and Potiers in central France in October 732 AD. The battle was one of the most momentous in the history of the Europe. Defeat would have meant that all of Western Europe might have fallen under the sway of Islam, and the races from the East would have poured into continental Europe. Accounts have it that 375,000 Moors were killed - the Franks army was utterly victorious over the muslims army and the Moorish invasion of Europe was halted in its tracks. Charles Martel earned his name -Martel means 'hammer' - at this battle - he personally bludgeoned to death a large number of muslims with his favorite weapon, a mighty hammer.

In 732 Charles Martel and his Frankish army fought a battle near Tours, France, that affected the history of Europe. Their foes were inspired Muslim, or Saracen, troops who were bent on world conquest for the religion of Islam. In a hundred years the Saracens had established a vast empire that stretched from Persia (now Iran) westward across northern Africa. They had gained a foothold in Europe by taking Spain. As they advanced into the region that is now France, the fate of Christian Europe hung in the balance.
Charles met the Muslim forces between Poitiers and Tours. In a fierce and bloody battle the Muslims were defeated and their leader killed. In later campaigns Charles drove them back into Spain. His vigorous blows earned him the nickname Martel, from a French word meaning "hammer."

October 10, 732 AD marks the conclusion of the Battle of Tours, arguably one of the most decisive battles in all of history.

A Moslem army, in a crusading search for land and the end of Christianity, after the conquest of Syria, Egypt, and North Africa, began to invade Western Europe under the leadership of Abd-er Rahman, governor of Spain. Abd-er Rahman led an infantry of 60,000 to 400,000 soldiers across the Western Pyrenees and toward the Loire River, but they were met just outside the city of Tours by Charles Martel, known as the Hammer, and the Frankish Army.

Martel gathered his forces directly in the path of the oncoming Moslem army and prepared to defend themselves by using a phalanx style of combat. The invading Moslems rushed forward, relying on the slashing tactics and overwhelming number of horsemen that had brought them victories in the past. However, the French Army, composed of foot soldiers armed only with swords, shields, axes, javelins, and daggers, was well trained. Despite the effectiveness of the Moslem army in previous battles, the terrain caused them a disadvantage. Their strength lied within their cavalry, armed with large swords and lances, which along with their baggage mules, limited their mobility. The French army displayed great ardency in withstanding the ferocious attack. It was one of the rare times in the Middle Ages when infantry held its ground against a mounted attack. The exact length of the battle is undetermined; Arab sources claim that it was a two day battle whereas Christian sources hold that the fighting clamored on for seven days. In either case, the battle ended when the French captured and killed Abd-er Rahman. The Moslem army withdrew peacefully overnight and even though Martel expected a surprise retaliation, there was none. For the Moslems, the death of their leader caused a sharp setback and they had no choice but to retreat back across the Pyrenees, never to return again.

Not only did this prove to be an extremely decisive battle for the Christians, but the Battle of Tours is considered the high water mark of the Moslem invasion of Western Europe.

[Achilles The Myrmidon]

János Hunyadi
"Hammer of the Turks"



János Hunyadi was born in around 1387. Not much is known about Hunyadi's early life. Initially he was a knight at the court of king Sigismund and, together with his brother Jován, Hunyadi served the king commanding a force of 300 soldiers. He become immensely rich and raised himself from the ranks of the lesser nobility into those of the aristocratic elite. Eventually, thanks to his outstanding personal qualities, he become the most powerful man in the country.

During the 13th and 14th centuries, large numbers of Vlachs, Serbs, Germans and other peoples settled in the country's uninhabited regions. They lived under serfdom, with the head of a family receiving 40 "holds" (1 hold = 1x42 English acres) of land and their leaders 80 holds, which they were free to dispose of as they wished. The leaders, of these settlers were freemen and as time went by most of them rose to the ranks of the Hungarian nobility. This was the case with a Vlach called Serbe, who had settled in Transylvania in the county of Hunyad. Serbe was János Hunyadi's grandfather and since he lived in Hunyad he adopted this as his surname. János Hunyadi's father Vajk became a Catholic and member, of the lesser nobility, indeed he was actually a courtier and in time of war, at the head to battle.

János Hunyadi's great series of victories against the Turks began in 1441 when he became vojvode of Transylvania and mobilised the military forces there in a successful defence of the region. In 1441 he attacked the forces of the bey Ishak, who had invaded Serbia. Following a minor defeat, in 1442 Hunyadi won another decisive victory and in September of the same year he destroyed the forces of the ottoman Turks.

This series of victories, the news of which resounded throughout Europe, encouraged the young King Ladislaus I, aided by other states, to take advantage of the Sultan's embroilment in Asia and begin a campaign against him. In the autamn of 1443 an army almost 35.OOO strong, made up of Hungarians, Poles, Bosnians and Serbs, marched through Serbia into Bulgaria. The vanguard of this army, which was led by János Hunyadi and Miklós Újlaki, inflicted defeats on the different parts of the Turkish army one after the other. The united forces of the royal army then decisively defeated the Turks in Moravia. The way was now clear as far as the Balkan Mountains. However, the Sultan's forces fiercely defended the Zlatica Pass, and finally in the bitter cold of winter the royal army was forced to turn back. Hunyadi had the task of covering the withdrawal and defeated the emboldened Turkish forces on a further two occasions.

The Sultan Murad II was surprised by this turn of events and offered such favourable peace terms that it was impossible to reject them. This peace settlement was also advantageous for the Serb prince György Brankovics, for by the terms of the agreement the Sultan promised to restore his lands to him. The Hungarians signed this peace but had previously vowed to continue fighting. They were encouraged to do this by the papal representative Cardinal Cesarini, who promised that a Christian army would close the Bosporus making it a relatively easy matter to defeat the smaller Ottoman forces, who were occupying the European side, reaving the Balkans once more in the hands of the Christians. This plan was very tempting and neither Hunyadi nor the King could resist taking part. After signing the peace agreement the Sultan fulfilled all its terms and returned a whole series of Serb castles to Brankovics. The Serb prince was taken aback by the deception practised by the Hungarians and realised it could bring about his downfall. In consequence, not only did Brankovics not participate in the campaign but he also refused to allow the royal armies to march through his lands. At the Bosporus, however, it was not a Christian army that awaited them but the Sultan. The allied fleet had not been able to blockade the Bosporus. On November 10th 1444, the day of the battle, despite facing superior Turkish forces, Hunyadi and the Hungarian army attempted the impossible. During the battle the King recklessly broke through hoping to secure a victory but he and his entourage were killed. With the death of the King the army disintegrated. The battle was lost but Hunyadi and his Knights managed to escape.

When he became viceroy Hunyadi continued to struggle with all his might against the Turks. In 1448 in a battle fought over two days. the Hungarian forces suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the Sultan, with Hunyadi himself only escaping with great difficulty. After a number of skirmishes on July 3th 1456 Sultan Mehmed II began the siege of Nándorfehérvár the most important link in the chain of border. The Sultan's thirst for conquest was insatiable.

The greatest help was provided by Pope Calixtus III, who organised a collection of money to finance an army to do battle with the Turks. In addition the Pope also gave instructions that throughout Christendom the church bells should be rung to remind Christians that they, should pray for the relief of Nándorfehérvár and for the survival of Hungary. The custom of ringing church bells at noon, which is still abserved throughout the Catholic world today, dates from this time.

Scarcely ten days after the beginning of the siege Hunyadi arrived with his army, intent on relieving the beleagured castle. The position seemed hopeless but, nevertheless, Hunyadi and his men managed to break through the Turkish lines and enter the city, which had suffered great damage from the Turkish cannon. The Turks continued to bombard the city for another week until on July 21st the Sultan ordered his men to storm the city. During the fierce fighting the janissaries actually managed to break through and enter the city but Hunyadi and his heavy cavalry drove them out again. One of the Turks hoisted a flag on one of the walls of the city as a sign of victory but a brave knight named Titus Dugovich in an act of self-sacrifice tore the flag from the wall and plunged to his death. The Turks suffered enormous losses and were forced to withdraw to their camp. The next day the Christian forces, encouraged by this turn of events, captured a hill, from which they were able to repulse the Turks when they counterattacked. Hunyadi also came to their aid and by means of a during manoeuvre was able to seize the Turks cannon and used them to attack the flank of the Turkish army. The Turks were then seized by panic and fled in confusion.

News of this victory was greeted with fervent celebrations throughout Europe. Hunyadi, however, scarcely three weeks after his historic victory died of the plague, along with many of his Knights. Even in the last days of his life he was writing letters with the aim of recapturing Constantinople and driving out the Turks.

[Achilles The Myrmidon]

Constantine XI





On 29 May 1453, the Turks began their final assault on the city of Constantinople. With an army in the hundreds of thousands, the city was defended by only some 7,000 Christians knights drawn from all over Europe, under the command of a Genoan from northern Italy, Giustinianni. After a furious all night battle, the walls of the city were finally breached at dawn the next day. All the Christians in the city were either massacred or sold into slavery, with a mere handful escaping to tell the dreadful tale. Constantinople was made into a major Muslim center and renamed Istanbul.

A Greek scholar recites the last minutes of the last Roman Emperor, Constantine XI, as follows:

"Although he (Constantine XI) clearly saw with his own eyes the danger that threatened the city, and had the opportunity to save himself - as well as many people encouraging him to do so - he refused, preferring to die with his country and his subjects.

"Indeed, he chose to die first, so that he might avoid the sight of the city being taken and of its inhabitants being either savagely slaughtered or shamefully led away into slavery. When he saw that the enemy were forcing him back, and surging through the broken down wall into the city, it is said that he uttered in a great voice, these last words 'The city is taken; and should I still live?' With that he thrust himself into the midst of the enemy and was cut down."

Barbaro then went on to relate the horror of the non-White sack of the city, scenes which were repeated all over central and southern Europe:

"On 29 May 1453, the Turks entered Constantinople at daybreak. Before they entered the city, the confusion of those Turks and of the Christians was so great that they met face to face, and so many died that the dead bodies would have filled twenty carts.

"The Turks put the city to sword as they came, and everyone they found in their way they slashed with their scimitars, women and men, old and young, of every condition, and this slaughter continued from dawn until midday. Those Italian merchants who escaped hid in caves under the ground, but they were found by the Turks, and were all taken captive and sold as slaves. When those of the Turkish fleet saw with their own eyes that the Christians had lost Constantinople, that the flag of Sultan Mehmed had been hoisted over the highest tower in the city, and that the emperor's flags had been cut down and lowered, then all those in the seventy galleys went ashore . . .

"They sought out the convents and all the nuns were taken to the ships and abused and dishonored by the Turks, and they were all sold at auction as slaves to be taken to Turkey, and similarly the young women were all dishonored and sold at auction; some preferred to throw themselves into wells and drown.

"These Turks loaded their ships with people and a great treasure. They had this custom: when they entered a house, they would at once raise a flag with their own device, and when other Turks saw such a flag raised, no other Turk would for the world enter that house but would go looking for a house that had no flag; it was the same with all the convents and churches. As I understand it, it seems there were some two hundred thousand of these flags on the houses of Constantinople . . these flags flew above the houses for the whole of that day, and for all of that day the Turks made a great slaughter of Christians in the city. Blood flowed on the ground as though it were raining."

[Achilles The Myrmidon]

John Sobieski








By 1683 ,the Christians armies of Europe united by the Polish King John Sobieski had prepared their defenses around Vienna well. Their armies routed the Ottomans; with the death blow to the muslims assault being dealt by the arrival of a Polish army (from whom the Ottomans had captured part of the Ukraine).

The great victory feast held by the Christians armies after this victory led to the origin of the bread now known as a croissant. The victors ordered the shape of the quarter moon shape of the Turkish flag, so that they could physically eat the emblem of the enemy at the feast. From then on the croissant, a curved sickle moon shape bread, became popular in all Europe.



Born at Olesko in 1629; died at Wilanow, 1696; son of James, Castellan of Cracow and descended by his mother from the heroic Zolkiewski, who died in battle at Cecora. His elder brother Mark was his companion in arms from the time of the great Cossack rebellion (1648), and fought at Zbaraz, Beresteczko, and lastly at Batoh where, after being taken prisoner, he was murdered by the Tatars. John, the last of all the family, accompanied Czarniecki in the expedition to Denmark; then, under George Lubomirski, he fought the Muscovites at Cudnow. Lubomirski revolting, he remained faithful to the king (John Casimir), became successively Field Hetman, Grand Marshal, and -- after Revera Potocki's death -- Grand Hetman or Commander-in-chief. His first exploit as Hetman was in Podhajce, where, besieged by an army of Cossacks and Tatars, he at his own expense raised 8000 men and stored the place with wheat, baffling the foe so completely that they retired with great loss. When, in 1672, under Michael Wisniowiecki's reign, the Turks seized Kamieniec, Sobieski beat them again and again, till at the crowning victory of Chocim they lost 20,000 men and a great many guns. This gave Poland breathing space, and Sobieski became a national hero, so that, King Michael dying at that time, he was unanimously elected king in 1674. Before his coronation he was forced to drive back the Turkish hordes, that had once more invaded the country; he beat them at Lemberg in 1675, arriving in time to raise siege of Trembowla, and to save Chrzanowski and his heroic wife, its defenders. Scarcely crowned, he hastened to fight in the Ruthenian provinces. Having too few soldiers (20,000) to attack the Turks, who were ten to one, he wore them out, entrenching himself at Zurawno, letting the enemy hem him in for a fortnight, extricating himself with marvellous skill and courage, and finally regaining by treaty a good part of the Ukraine.

For some time there was peace: the Turks had learned to dread the "Unvanquished Northern Lion", and Poland, too was exhausted. But soon the Sultan turned his arms against Austria. Passing through Hungary, a great part which had for one hundred and fifty years been in Turkish hands, and enormous army, reckoned at from 210,000 to 300,000 men (the latter figures are Sobieski's) marched forward. The Emperor Leopold fled from Vienna, and begged Sobieski's aid, which the papal nuncio also implored. Though dissuaded by Louis XIV, whose policy was always hostile to Austria, Sobieski hesitated not a instant. Meanwhile (July, 1683) the Grand Vizier Kara Mustapha, had arrived before Vienna, and laid siege to the city, defended by the valiant Imperial General Count Stahremberg, with a garrison of only 15,000 men, exposed to the horrors of disease and fire, as well as to hostile attacks. Sobieski started to the rescue in August, taking his son James with him; passing by Our Lady's sanctuary at Czefistochowa, the troops prayed for a blessing on their arms; and in the beginning of September, having crossed the Danube and joined forces with the German armies under John George, Elector of Saxony, and Prince Charles of Lorraine, they approached Vienna. On 11 Sept., Sobieski was on the heights of Kahlenberg, near the city, and the next day he gave battle in the plain below, with an army of not more than 76,000 men, the German forming the left wing and the Pole under Hetmans Jahonowski and Sieniawski, with General Katski in command of the artillery, forming the right. The hussars charged with their usual impetuosity, but the dense masses of the foe were impenetrable. Their retreat was taken for flight by the Turks, who rushed forward in pursuit; the hussars turned upon them with reinforcements and charged again, when their shouts made known that the "Northern Lion" was on the field and the Turks fled, panic-stricken, with Sobieski's horsemen still in pursuit. Still the battle raged for a time along all the line; both sides fought bravely, and the king was everywhere commanding, fighting, encouraging his men and urging them forward. He was the first to storm the camp: Kara Mustapha had escaped with his life, but he received the bow-string in Belgrade some months later. The Turks were routed, Vienna and Christendom saved, and the news sent to the pope and along with the Standard of the Prophet, taken by Sobieski, who himself had heard Mass in the morning.

Prostrate with outstretched arms, he declared that it was God's cause he was fighting for, and ascribed the victory (Veni, vidi, Deus vicit -- his letter to Innocent XI) to Him alone. Next day he entered Vienna, acclaimed by the people as their saviour. Leopold, displeased that the Polish king should have all the glory, condescended to visit and thank him, but treated his son James and the Polish hetmans with extreme and haughty coldness. Sobieski, though deeply offended, pursued the Turks into Hungary, attacked and took Ostrzyhom after the a second battle, and returned to winter in Poland, with immense spoils taken in the Turkish camp. These and the glory shed upon the nation were all the immediate advantages of the great victory. The Ottoman danger had vanished forever. The war still went on: step by step the foe was driven back, and sixteen years later Kamieniec and the whole of Podolia were restored to Poland. But Sobieski did not live to see this triumph. In vain had he again and again attempted to retake Kamieniec, and even had built a stronghold to destroy its strategic value; this fortress enabled the Tatars to raid the Ruthenian provinces upon several occasions, even to the gates of Lemberg. He was also forced by treaty to give up Kieff to Russia in 1686; nor did he succeed in securing the crown for his son James. His last days were spent in the bosom of his family, at his castle of Wilanow, where he died in 1696, broken down by political strife as much as by illness. His wife, a Frenchwoman, the widow of John Zamoyski, Marie-Casimire, though not worthy of so great a hero, was tenderly beloved by him, as his letters show: she influenced him greatly and not always wisely. His family is now extinct. Charles Edward, the Young Pretender, was his great-grandson -- his son James' daughter, Clementine, having married James Stuart in 1719.

[Achilles The Myrmidon]

Vlad the Impaler

The greatest Romanian of all time! And the man who inspired fear in the hearts of all Turks!



Vlad Dracula (circa 1420-1476), the Walachian (in Romania) terror of the Turks. Known as Vlad the Impaler, he used brutal terror tactics against the Turks, impaling tens of thousands of them upon stakes, thereby earning his nickname. His name has also been used in western literature as a vampire - although this is completely unrelated to his real activities. Vlad was eventually killed by the Turks, and his head delivered to the Sultan of Turkey on a platter, as proof that their great enemy was actually dead.

Walachia first had a fight on its hands against the Hungarians - however the rise of the Ottoman Empire during the 15th Century saw the region overrun by the Turks. It was from this time that the famous Vlad Dracula, a prince of Walachia in 1456, emerged to become the scourge of the Turks. For a short while he succeeded in liberating Walachia from the Turks.

Although his name has been appropriated for another completely unconnected use in western literature (as a vampire), Vlad was in fact the terror of the Ottoman Empire for many years, and through his sheer terrorism he inflicted some of the greatest defeats upon the Ottomans during their long reign in the Balkans. Vlad Dracula is also known as Vlad the Impaler - he earned this nickname for his habit of impaling the Turks on stakes. His father had fought the Turks along with the famous Hungarian hero, Janos Hunyadi, and in this way Dracula always kept close contact with the Hungarian court at Budapest.

When Vlad became prince of Walachia, the might of the Turks forced him to sign a treaty with the non-Whites, in terms of which he had to pay 10,000 gold ducats per year and provide a constant stream of White male babies for use in the Janissaries. When Vlad became lax in providing the required White youngsters, armed Turkish units began carrying out raids in Walachian territory. This precipitated a breakdown in the treaty between Vlad and the Turks.

FIRST GREAT IMPALING OF THE TURKS

In 1461, Walachian soldiers took a Turkish fort called Giurgiu near the Turkish center of Nicopolis and slaughtered all the non-Whites they could find, impaling them on stakes, with the tallest stake being reserved for the Turkish governor of Nicopolis, Hamza Pasha.

Dracula continued along the Danube to the Black Sea, sending a message back to the Hungarian court that "we have killed 23,884 Turks". Accompanying this message, Dracula sent two bags full of Turkish heads, ears and noses to underline his point.

By 1462, the Ottomans had drawn up an overwhelming army of 60,000 men to wipe out the upstart Walachian Prince. The Turks advanced in two parts - half sailed along the Danube River while the other half marched overland through Bulgaria. Dracula's men kept the Turks shadowed along the Danube - when the Turks started disembarking, the Walachians burst upon them from the forest on horseback and drove them back into their boats with the ferocity of the attack. However, Dracula knew that he could not face the Turks in open battle, as he did not have the numbers to defeat the non-Whites in this manner.

GUERRILLA WAR AND THE IMPALING OF 20,000 TURKS AT TIRGOVISTE





Dracula decided to wage a guerrilla war against the Turks, combining it with a scorched earth policy. Constant raids and food shortages then took their toll on the invading Turkish army. The Turkish Sultan himself barely escaped capture when a Walachian party raided his camp in the Carpathinian mountains overlooking Tirgoviste.

Thousands of Turks were captured and killed in this engagement - and when the Sultan advanced upon Tirgoviste itself, he found a mile long gorge filled with 20,000 impaled Turks.

The brutal display was too much even for the notoriously cruel Turks. They withdrew without joining battle for Tirgoviste, with the Sultan complaining that he could not "win this land from a man who does such things".

Sadly for Dracula, he was then deposed as Prince of Walachia by his brother who was kindly disposed towards the Turks.

After being attacked by his brother's forces, Dracula fled to the Hungarian capital, where he was given refuge. In 1476, he once again became prince of Walachia after invading with a new army.

His reign did not last long - ambushed outside Bucharest, his headless corpse was found in a swamp. His head was delivered on a platter to the Turkish Sultan at Constantinople . Walachia then fell once again under Ottoman rule

[Achilles The Myrmidon]

Ivan the Terrible
[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2b/Vasnetsov_Ioann_4.jpg/180px-[/img]

The man who refused to pay tribute to the Islamic Golden Horde Khanate and overthrew the Tatar Yoke!



The name 'Ivan the Terrible' conjours up images of senseless cruelty and paranoia. Yet, for many in Russia, he is a national hero. Ivan appears to be a man of huge contradictions - a man of God who personally tortured his victims and beat his own son to death; a hardened despot who often behaved like a coward, asking his ally, Elizabeth I of England, for political asylum; a man who believed himself chosen to save the souls of his people, but who brutally put thousands to death in carefully orchestrated purges.

Born in 1530, Ivan was only three when he inherited the Russian throne following his father's death. At the age of seven, tragedy struck again when his mother was poisoned by nobles at court. By his early teens, he was already displaying some of his uglier traits. He would throw live animals from towers and appeared to derive pleasure from doing so.

Ivan was crowned Russia's first Tsar at the age of 17. Three weeks later he married, having chosen his bride in a national virgin competition. Virgins over the age of twelve were brought to the Kremlin to be paraded before him. He chose Anastasia, the daughter of a minor noble, and their marriage proved to be a very close one.

Ivan had huge ambitions for his new Imperial dynasty. He launched a holy war against Russia's traditional enemy - the Tartars - showing no mercy to these Muslim peoples and decimating their cultural heritage. In June 1552 Ivan personally led his newly formed army of 100,000 troops down the Volga toward Kazan, the fortified capital of khanate. Ivan besieged the Tartar stronghold in late August and waited for its surrender. He had come equipped with more than 150 heavy artillery pieces and a group of German military engineers who were experienced in reducing large fortifications. On October 11, these engineers successfully mined the fortifications, which soon brought victory to Ivan. After Ivan's victory over Kazan he received, from his troops, the second part of his name that still remains today. This name that he received is Grozny, which has been taken to mean "the terrible" or "the dread," but most accurately translated as "the awesome."

Two years later, in 1554, a second Tartar stronghold, Astrakhan, yielded to another Russian army.

Ivan's victories over Kazan and Astrakhan extended the Russian nation to the Caspian Sea in the south and to the Ural Mountains in the east, adding nearly 1,000,000 square kilometers to Ivan's realm.

Looking to further expand his empire, Ivan targeted Livonia, a small, Baltic-coast nation. Ivan started this conquest in January 1558. By May, Narva and its Baltic seaport were secured and Ivan promptly set about expanding the seaport's harbor to welcome large trading ships from Europe. With the Livonian monopoly on trade between Russia and Western Europe broken, merchants from as far away as Holland and France rushed to Narva to negotiate trade agreements with the Russians.

Ivan's conquest of Kazan and later Astrakhan and Siberia gave birth to a sixteenth century personality cult glorifying him as the Orthodox crusader. As a result, Ivan annexed two of the three Tatar states in Russia--Kazan (1552) and Astrakhan (1556)--the first non-Slavic states in the empire. Thus Russian control of the Volga River and access to the Caspian Sea. Expansion to the east, beyond the Ural Mountains, also began during this period. Before Ivan's death Russia had established itself in Siberia. In addition, trade contacts with the English, French, and Dutch were begun.

[Achilles The Myrmidon]

ISABELLA AND FERDINAND - VANQUISHED THE MOORS





The Christian reconquest of Spain had however only been carried on in fits and starts. In a great battle fought on the plains of Toledo in July 1212, the muslims were defeated by a great Christian army, and the Moors were then restricted to the southern parts of Spain. The north was given time to recuperate and rebuild its strength.

It was only with the rise of two great leaders - the red-haired Isabella I (1451-1504), Queen of Castile, and Ferdinand V, King of Aragon, that the Moors were finally driven from Europe. Castile was one of the territories never occupied by the Moors, and Aragon had been liberated in one of the localized wars between the Visigoths and the Moors.

Isabella, who won renown for not only liberating Spain from the last of the Moors, but for being one of the main sponsors of the voyages of discoveries of Christopher Columbus, was the product of a marriage between Spanish and Portuguese nobility who had, along with a substantial amount of Spaniards, avoided the mixing caused by centuries of Moorish rule. In 1469, Isabella married Ferdinand - due to intertwining royal family connections and personal conquest, he was not only King of Aragon, but also was king of Sicily (1468-1516); and king of Naples (1504-1516).

The surrender of Granada in 1492 was the first time in 770 years the Christians Goths once again ruled all of Spain.

[Achilles The Myrmidon]

Milos Obilic and other heroes of Kosovo...





...On 28 June 1389 the combined Serbian forces from the territories governed by Prince Lazar and Vuk Brankovic together with auxiliary troops sent by King Tvrtko of Bosnia faced Sultan Murad and his army on the field of Kosovo. It had been eighteen years since King Vukasin and Despot Ugljesa failed in their attempt to drive the Turks out of the Balkan Peninsula, and now the Serbian forces were definitely on the defensive. Given the divisiveness among Serbian lords which generally characterized the decades following Dusan's death, the fact that Lazar, Vuk, and Tvrtko were able to conclude an alliance against the Turks was reason for at least some optimism. No one, however, could have known that the struggle was to become a pivotal moment in the history of the Serbian people.

The historian is faced with a difficult problem when he attempts to discover what occurred in the Battle of Kosovo. There are no eyewitness accounts of the battle, and rather significant differences exist among those contemporary sources which do mention the event. There is little doubt that the confrontation occurred on the field of Kosovo on 28 (15) June 1389 between Christian forces led by Prince Lazar of Serbia and Ottoman forces led by Sultan Murad I. When it was over, both leaders were dead and Murad's son, Bayezid, returned to Edirne to secure his succession. The picture becomes very cloudy beyond these meager details. The early documents are not particularly concerned with armaments, tactics, size of forces, and the general course of the battle. Surprisingly enough, it is not even possible to know with certainty from the extant contemporary material whether one or the other side was victorious on the field. There is certainly little to indicate that it was a great Serbian defeat; and the earliest reports of the conflict suggest, on the contrary, that the Christian forces had won.

Rumors of the battle were disseminated as far as Constantinople, Florence, Venice, Barcelona, and Paris, but they appeared to emphasize just one particular bit of news: the death of the Ottoman sultan. While the West had been slow to judge the seriousness of the Ottoman advance into Europe, by the late fourteenth century there was a growing awareness of this new threat to the Christian world. The death of Murad was, therefore, a cause for celebration in the streets of occidental cities. In itself it was a kind of Christian victory.

Some of the earliest reports of the conflict were apparently encouraged by King Tvrtko of Bosnia. In a letter to the senate of the Dalmatian city of Trogir on 1 August 1389, he announced that he had defeated the infidel. Some time that summer he also sent a message to the senate in Florence in which he informed them of his victory over the Turks on Kosovo. Although that message is not preserved today, the response of the Florentine senate to Tvrtko on 20 October 1389 gives us some idea of the news that was emanating from Tvrtko's court and elsewhere.

The Florentine letter is a critical document for our understanding of the battle because it provides certain information about the event for the first time. It correctly identifies Kosovo as the battlefield and June 28, St. Vitus’ Day, as the date of the battle. Most important, however, is its claim that the Ottoman sultan died at the hands of a Christian assassin:

Fortunate, most fortunate are those hands of the twelve loyal lords who, having opened their way with the sword
and having penetrated the enemy lines and the circle of chained camels, heroically reached the tent of Amurat himself.
Fortunate above all is that one who so forcefully killed such a strong vojvoda by stabbing him with a sword in the
throat and belly. And blessed are all those who gave their lives and blood through the glorious manner of martyrdom
as victims of the dead leader over hiss ugly corpse.

In time the assassination would become the central act in the evolving record of the Battle of Kosovo. And while the Florentine description of the deed is quite different from later accounts which emerge in both Ottoman and Serbian sources, nevertheless, it provides a contemporary historical foundation for the idea that Murad was killed by a daring Serbian assassin...

[Achilles The Myrmidon]

Vassil Levski



Vassil Ivanov Kunchev, Levski, whom the present-day Bulgarians consider their greatest national hero of all times and epochs, was born in Karlovo, a prosperous center of craft-industry in 1837. At the age of twenty four he took the vows of a deacon. The lot in store for the young Bulgarian was obviously not the one of a monk living in resignation to the world. In 1862 he fled to Serbia and enlisted as a volunteer in the Bulgarian legion raised by Rakovski. The legion took part in the Serbo-Turkish hostilities. Between 1862-1868 Levski participated in almost all Bulgarian armed assaults against the Ottoman empire.
Karlovo
The revolutionary theory which took form in Vassil Levski's mind towards the end of the 60s, turned out to be a leap forward for the Bulgarian liberation movement. Levski viewed the national liberation revolution as a concomitant armed upheaval of the whole Bulgarian population in the Ottoman empire. It followed that this uprising had to be well-prepared in advance, with all adequate military training and proper coordination on the part of an internal revolutionary organization branching out into committees in each living area. That organization was supposed to operate independent from the plans or the political combinations of any foreign powers which, as known by previous experience, had brought only trouble and failure to the national revolutionary cause.

Levski also determined the future form of government in liberated Bulgaria - a democratic republic, standing on the principles of the Human and Citizen Rights Charter of the Great French Levski as a legionnaireRevolution. That was the only document hitherto known to guarantee the individual freedom of expression, speech, and association. In their essence Levski's ideas tallied with the most radical ideas of the European bourgeois-democratic revolution.

In more practical terms, in 1869 Levski addressed himself to the task of setting up local committees. By the middle of 1872 he had scoured the Bulgarian lands with the dedication of an apostle, and succeeded in establishing a strong network of committees in hundreds of Bulgarian towns and villages which were in constant contact with and subordination to the clandestine government in the town of Lovech. They provided weapons, organized combat detachments, and got traitors and Turkish officials punished.

In May 1872, the Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee and the Internal Revolutionary Organization, convinced that a coordination of the efforts would be for the general good, merged into one organization. Revolutionary uplift overwhelmed the whole country.

This enthusiasm was short-lived as only a few months on, in the autumn of that year, during a robbery of a Turkish post-office meant to procure money for weapons, the Turkish police picked up the trail of some committees in northeast Bulgaria including the organization headquarters in Lovech. Numerous arrests of revolutionaries followed, threatening the organization to fall through. Karavelov demanded that Levski should immediately rise the Bulgarians in revolt. Levski, who was in Bulgaria at that time and was well-aware that the Levski's capturepopulation was yet unprepared, refused to fulfill the order and tried to take into his charge all documentation belonging to the organization - a safety precaution against its getting into Turkish hand, which could destroy the movement completely. Unfortunately, he himself fell in the hands of the Turkish authorities who put him on trial and sentenced him to death by hanging. Levski was sent to the gallows in Sofia in February 1873. The death of Vassil Levski - a generally recognized leader of the national revolutionary movement, caused temporary crisis. The Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee was groping for new ways and means. A number of revolutionaries undertook actions without coordinating them with the underground headquarters, while others sank into apathy.

[Achilles The Myrmidon]

Michael the Brave



Turkish rule continued uninterrupted until the end of the 16th Century, when another Walachian prince, Michael the Brave, led a revolt against the Ottomans and succeeded in liberating Walachia, Moldavia, and Transylvania, uniting these regions for a brief period until 1601. Michael is to this day the national hero of Romania for his part in this uprising and for being the first to combine the three territories that were to form Romania.

Michael was however defeated by the Ottomans in 1601. The Turks then established a harsh government over Moldavia and Walachia (with Transylvania going to the Hungarians ) with virtual enforced slavery causing hundreds of thousands of Romanian deaths and forcing many hundreds of thousands of others to flee the country for good.

[Achilles The Myrmidon]

ANDRANIK



Since the first day of his existence the sole dream of the Armenian has been his freedom and independence. As we mentioned earlier, Armenian history begins with the struggle for freedom which, the nation's first ancestor, Haig, waged against Bell, the tyrant of Babylon.
About 600 years ago, in 1375, the Armenians lost their independent kingdom. Since then they have been oppressed by many Asiatic peoples but the longest and the worst has been the Ottoman Turkish yoke. Massacres, pillages and rapes were part of the life of the Armenian peasant for centuries, his life was worse than of a slave. The turk called him raya, cattle, which was good for milking, working for him in the fields and finally for slaughtering.
Inspite of a hellish life and unheard of atrocities the Armenian never lost faith in his ultimate delivery and independence. Thousands of Armenian heroes fell on the road of liberty with the vision of a bright dawn in their eyes.
Antranik is 1 of those heroes, but an exceptional one. He shone on the gloomy horizon of Armenia with his shining sword at the right time.
Antranik (Andranik) Ozanian was born in Shabin-Karahisar, the same town as Toramanian, in 1865. His mother died when he was only a year and a half old. His either sister Nazeli, became his mother. At the age of 18, he killed a turk, who was torturing his father, and escaped to the mountains, joining other Armenian freedom-fighters, Fedayis. Soon his exceptional military genius became evident and his fame spread all over the Armenian highland.
After the death of Serop Pasha, the great leader of the Fedayis, Antranik took over the leadership. Inthe guerrilla of Sassoun, Daron, Arakelots Vank and on every occasion his extraordinary audacity, fearlessness, valor and military genius became evident.
"The hero-superman-is so high that human laws can not reach him", has said a thinker.
Antranik was 1 of those heroes.
He was more than Achilles. Achilles was vulnerable at his heel, but Antranik seemed absolutely invulnerable. He took part in a thosand battles, sitting on his white horse, holding his sword high in the air, rushing towards the enemy under a shower of bullets and yet never a bullet hit him. He was the most fearless man in the world.
Khalil Pasha, a cruel Kurd tribesman, who was the terror of Armenians of Sassoun & surroundings, succeeded to kill Serop Pasha treacherously, & received the highest decoration from the Sultan. All the Armenians, even the fedayis were horrified, & no one dared to revenge the death of that great fedayi.
Antranik, although at that time suffering from severe arthritic pains not only succeeded to detect & kill the traitors who had poisoned Serop Pasha, but also succeeded to cut the head of Khalil, thus restoring the prestige of fedayis. That is why the Kurd bards used to sing: "No one can avoid the revengefull dagger of Antranik".
At the guerrilla battle of Arakelots Vank Antranik with his 80 fedayis was fighting against a regular Turkish forces of over 10.000.The turks had surrounded the monastery & were sure to capture or kill Antranik & his fedayis.
After 22 days of severe fighting, due to his extraordinary valor, dexterity and factics Antranik succeeded to break the lines of enemy forces and come out safely with his warriors, filling the turks with fear and terror. "Antranik is not a human being, he is a ghost" turks used to say. The Kurds believed that when at night Antranik took off his coat to go to bed, hundreds of bullets fell from it. Of course this is a legend, but every legend has some truth in it. This is why, the enemy very often ran away from the battlefield leaving everything there when he saw Antranik on his horse. This is why the great revolutionary Rasdom has said: "Antranik is the God of the Fedayis". Not only the Armenians, but also Kurdish bards sang of his feats of valor and chivalry, because they had seen him saving the lives of thausands of women, children and old man, regardless of their nationality. He was a friend of the oppressed, the friendless. The Turks and Kurds who mercilessly tortured and slaughtered his countrymen, sometimes also illtreated and exploited their own kinsmen as well. In such cases Antranik would not hesitate to fight for the under-dog even though he was a Turk or a Kurd.
During the Balkan wars (1912-1913) Antranik was already a well-known general fighting against the Turkish armies.
In 1915 he was with the Russian army to whose victory in the battle of Dilman he contributed materially. Thanks to his extraordinary valor, 150.000 Armenians of the city of Van, who were engaged in a hopeless struggle of self-defence, were rescued in time. In 1918 he fought against the regular Turkish army, thus, delaying the occupation of Baku with its oil fields. "If the Turks had occupied Baku eight months earlier, the fate of the I World War would have been totally different" writes Von Lundendorf in his me'moires.Also in 1918, May 22-28 during the decisive battle of Sardarabad, he crushed Wahib Pasha's Turkish army at Kara-Kilise and frustrated the Turks' plan to wipe out the few hundred thousand Armenians who had survived the Turkish genocide of 1915.
In 1918 he had certain disagreements with the newly established Armenian government and, full of bitterness and rancor, he left Armenia forever. In Europe and America, where he found well-to-do Armenian colonies, he organized a committee to send relief to the starving population of Armenia, which was trapped on all sides by enemies determined to give her the coup de grace. In a few months time 500.000 dollars and 110.000 pounds sterling were raised. The committee gave Antranik a check for 10.000 pounds sterling to be used for himself and his retired soldiers. He returned the check saying: "There are thousands of orphans in Armenia, who are ingreater need for help than my soldiers".
A hero is a hero no matter from what angle you look at him.
When Antranik visited America, all the Armenians, from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast, gave him an enthusiastic reception. Americans were amazed and they asked: "Who is this man?". "Hi is the George Washington of Armenians", was the answer everywhere, and the americans honored him by letting him sit on George Washington's chair, which was an unprecedented honor. In Paris the president of the French Republic, Poincare' also paid him tribute by giving a reception in honor of him.
In 1927 Antranik had a heart attack; he called his wife and said: "Newart, when I die, I want to be buried in the land of my forefathers, Armenia". This was his last will.
He died in Fresno, in 1927. All the Armenians in the city and thousands from other parts of California and the rest of America followed his coffin in awed silence.
In front of the funeral procession walked a horse carrying the sword and the uniform of the hero, while an airplane dropped flowers on them.
When the coffin was being lowered into the grave the huge crowd shed tears like children who had lost their father... Soon, however, around the grave gathered his former soldiers and started singing the much loved song dedicated to Antranik, the hero;
"Like an eagle eternal soaring over the mountains".
In a few minutes all tears were wiped off and the tremendous funeral procession became a huge choir...
"Your memory will ever be cherished from century to century".
More than 10.000 people were singing the glory of their nation.
Later his remains were transferred to Paris and a monument was raised on his tomb.
Antranik embodies in him the soul of all those Armenians, who have fought for the liberation of their people and in defence of their national honor. In him we see Israel Ory, David Beg, Serop Pasha, Khrimian Hairig and all the tens of thousands who were ready to sacrifice their all for the liberty of their people. In Antranik we see the heroes os Sassoun, Van, Shabin-Karahissar, Moussa-Dagh and Zeytoun, who have shown to the world that a liberty loving nation cannot be killed. Antranik symbolizes the eternal spirit of freedom which no tyrant can destroy. He is the symbol of Armenian unity and love of freedom.
Heroes are born but they do not die. Antranik lives in the heart of every Armenian all over the world....
The Armenians believe that one day there will appear another Antranik, who will take the sword of the great Hero and continue the unfinished fight until full justice is done to the Armenians.
Antranik
The Hero of heroes, to whom Death did not dare to approach in the battlefield.
The symbol of struggle of an oppressed nation for her freedom.

[Achilles The Myrmidon]

DON PELAYO



Don Pelayo begun La Reconquista with a few of his warriors, in Asturias. They we're inferior in number against the Sarracen army but they used guerrilla tactic's. They made the Sarracen's send a big army to finish with him and his men with General Alqama in charge. Pelayo's men moved in to a difficult ground to move in, wich is now called Covadonga. They hid in the cave and waited for the muslims who thought becouse of the little resistance they had seen they would defeat Pelayo and his men with no problems. Pelayo waited for the moment he thought best and charged against the muslims with such force that caused great massacre and panic. The muslims in this panic and confusion either died in battle or retreated into the hills where they were later killed one by one.

When Manuza heard of this he was shocked and decided to retreat to the south, to León, where he was attacked by Christian rebel's. Pelayo was proclamed king clandestinely. The battle of Covandonga is without doubt the spark that started La Reconquista.

[Achilles The Myrmidon]

Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar “El Cid Campeador”


Known for his great virtues: bravery, loyalty, strong, educated and a true warrior. He was born in Vivar in 1043. He won the name Campeador by defeating the second liutenant of Navarra. From here on he was known as Mio Cid o Cidi, it means lord o sir in arab. When Alfonso VI was proclamed king Cid's luck changed due to that the king envied him to the extent that he was expelled from Castilla in 1081. He did not go alone, 300 of the best horsemen of Castilla went with him. They travelled to Levante (Mediterranean Coast) this lasted 6 years and they made Zaragoza their head-quarters.

In 1087 he returns to Burgos, but the peace with the king lasted little and he returned to the coast, this time to Valencia, where he was the protector of the muslim king Al-Cádir.

He crossed the Gibraltar strait and the king Alfonso VI asked him for help, but a missunderstanding between turns in to another quarrel and Cid is kicked out of Castilla once again in 1089.

In the next decade, El Cid's fame would rise spectacularly, on the other hand the king Alfonso VI would be the other way around. In les than a year El Cid conquered and made himself lord of the muslim kingdoms of Lérida, Dénia, Valencia, Albarracín and Alpuente.

Around 1093 Al Cádir was murderded and the city of Valencia was once again taken by the moors, by Ben Yehhaf. El Cid sieged the city for 19 months and finally in june of 1094 he entered the city victorious.

Cid took charge of Valencia, and gave the city a statute of justice, made Christianism the religion (restored it) and at the same time he renewed the mosque, made a currency, and organized the city with the help of Christian and Arab poets.

He still had a lot of battles to fight, and that same year he fought against the emperor of the almorávides Mahammad, nephew of Yusuf, who appeared with a army of 150.000 men. Cid was victorious once again.

Once he was firmly established in Valencia, Cid allied himself with Pedro I of Aragón and Ramón Berenguer III of Barcelona, with the intention of stopping the almorávides together.

The military alliances were reinforced with marriages. Cid's daughter married with the count of Barcelona, and his other daughter with the infant Ramiro of Navarra. Allthough they were misstreated by their husbands and kicked out of the family.

Sadly, in 1097, his only son Diego died in the battle of Consuegra, leaving the family with no male descendency. Two years later, the 10 of July of 1099 Cid died.

[Achilles The Myrmidon]

George Gordon Byron


By 1823 Byron had grown bored with his life in Genoa with his paramour, Countess Guiccioli. When the representatives of the movement for Greek independence from the Ottoman Empire contacted him to ask for his support, he immediately accepted, placing his fortune, enthusiasm, energy, and imagination at the service of the Greek cause.

On July 16, Byron left Genoa on the Hercules, arriving at Kefalonia in the Ionian Islands on August 2. He spent £4000 of his own money to refit the Greek fleet, then sailed for Messolonghi in western Greece, arriving on December 29 to join Prince Alexandros Mavrokordatos, leader of the Greek rebel forces. In Kefalonia he met a Greek boy, Loukas Khalandritsanos, whom he employed as a page and with whom he developed an emotional, and possibly a sexual, relationship.

Mavrokordatos and Byron planned to attack the Turkish-held fortress of Lepanto, at the mouth of the Gulf of Corinth. Byron employed a fire-master to prepare artillery and took part of the rebel army under his own command and pay, despite his lack of military experience. But before the expedition could sail, on February 15, 1824, he fell ill, and the usual remedy of bleeding weakened him further. He made a partial recovery, but in early April he caught a violent cold which the bleeding -- insisted on by his doctors -- aggravated. The cold became a violent fever, and he died on April 19.

The Greeks mourned Lord Byron deeply, and he became a national hero (Viron, the Greek form of "Byron", continues in popularity as a boy's name in Greece). His body was embalmed and his heart buried under a tree in Messolonghi. His remains were sent to England and, refused burial in Westminster Abbey, were buried at the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Hucknall, Nottingham. At her request, Ada, the child he never knew, was buried next to him.

In later years, the Abbey allowed a duplicate of a marble slab given by the King of Greece, which is laid directly above Byron's grave. In 1969, 145 years after Byron's death, a memorial to him was finally placed in Westminster Abbey.

Upon his death, the baronage passed to a cousin, George Anson Byron (1789–1868), a career military officer and Byron's polar opposite in temperament and lifestyle.

[Achilles The Myrmidon]

Richard The Lionheart


While Richard Plantagenet is revered as one of the great warrior kings of England, he is perhaps best known as "the absent king." This is due to the fact that during his reign from 1189-1199, he spent a total of six months in England. This aside Richard I was well known for his bravery which earned him the nickname "The Lionheart". A name that has reached epic and mythological proportions, best seen in literary works such as Robin Hood and Sir Walter Scott's novel Ivanhoe.

Richard Plantagenet came into the world September 8th in the year 1157 AD Although born in Oxfordshire England, Richard was a child of Aquitaine a part of Southern France. His native language was not English and throughout his life he spoke little of it.

He had four brothers and three sisters, the first of which died at a young age. Of the remainder; Henry was named heir to the English throne, Richard was to succeed his mother's Aquitaine and Geoffrey was to inherit Brittany. John was the poorest to fair out receiving nothing from his father. It is this action that gave him the name John Lackland.

At a young age of twelve, Richard pledged homage to the king of France for lands of his. At the age of fourteen, Richard was named the Duke of Aquitane in the church of St. Hillaire at Poitiers which was one of the lands made homage to the French King. Henry's sons, who had been given lands but no real power revolted against their King father aided by their mother. In retaliation King Henry had Eleanor jailed. She remained there for many years.

Off To The Crusades
In 1183 the younger Henry died leaving Richard as the heir to the English throne. Another family dispute occurred when Richard received the lands of his brother. Henry was expected to give his Aquitaine to his brother John. Richard refused to give up the homeland of his mother. While this dispute over family land raged on, Richard learned of the tragic loss at Hattin, where the Crusaders had lost Jerusalem to the Saracen leader Saladin. Richard soon took up the cross of the crusades, much against his father's approval.

In 1189, upon the death of Henry II, Richard was crowned king of England in Westminster Abbey London. One of his first actions was to free his mother from prison. His second was to begin to raise funds for his crusade known to history as the Third Crusade. He imposed a tax on the English people called a Saladin tithe as a means of aiding his war effort.

A King Imprisoned
After the Third Crusade, Richard began his homeward journey to England. Put ashore by bad weather he found himself in Austria home of Leopold, whom Richard had angered by actions during the crusade. Leopold captured King Richard and imprisoned him in his castle. Eager for a piece of the action the Emperor of Germany offered Leopold 75,000 marks for Richard taking him into custody in Germany.

Rumors ran rampant throughout England over the missing king. There is a legend that the troubadour Blondel heard his king singing in a castle and responded with a song that the both of them were sure to know. Whether true or not the fact remains that two Abbots were soon dispatched to journey for him through the network of the church. Even Eleanor, Richard's mother wrote to the Pope for assistance in the matter. Richard was found and soon a ransom was set for his return to England. The sum was 150,000 marks an amount equal to three years of annual income and weighing at three tons in silver.

Return Of The King
Richard returned to England receiving a hero's welcome. He forgave his brother John, by saying he was manipulated by cunning people and vowed to punish them and not his brother. Unfortunately for the King he returned to a land in financial troubles. The cost of the Crusade and his large ransom had tapped out the finances of the land. This monetary trouble was to plague him for his remaining five-year reign. He created a new great seal as a means to raise funds and made void all documents signed with the old.

Death Of A King
For such a brave and noble man, King Richard's death came about in a rather strange way. In Chalus, Aquitaine, a peasant plowing his fields came upon a treasure. This treasure consisted of some gold statues and coins. The feudal lord claimed the treasure from his vassal, Richard in turn claimed the treasure from the lord, who refused. This prompted Richard to siege the village.

During the siege Richard was riding close to the castle without the protection of full armor. He spotted an archer with bow in hand on the wall aiming a shot at him. It is said Richard paused to applaud the Bowman. He was struck in the shoulder with the arrow and refused treatment for his wound. Infection set in and Richard the Lionheart died on April the 6th 1199. He was buried in the Fontvraud Abbey in Anjou France.

Richard The Lionheart Massacres The Saracens, 1191

In the year 1187, the Muslim leader Saladin re-conquered the city of Jerusalem as well as most of the Crusader strongholds throughout the Holy Land. In response, the kings of Europe including Frederick Babarossa of Germany (who died on route), Phillip of France and Richard I of England (the Lionheart) mounted a campaign to rescue the city. The Third Crusade was underway.

Key to the campaign's success was the capture of the port city of Acre. King Richard arrived on the scene in June 1191 to find the city under siege by a Christian army. In the distance, Saladin threatened - his army too weak to overwhelm the besiegers, but too strong to be dislodged. Intensifying the bombardment of the city, Richard and the French King, Phillip, slowly broke the city's walls, weakening its defenses while simultaneously starving the occupiers into submission. Finally, on July 12, the Muslim defenders and Crusaders agreed to surrender terms. In exchange for sparing the lives of the defenders, Saladin would pay a ransom of 200,000 gold pieces, release some 1500 Christian prisoners and return the Holy Cross. These actions were to be accomplished within one month after the fall of the city. Richard would hold 2,700 Muslim prisoners as hostage until the terms were met.

Saladin immediately ran into problems meeting his part of the bargain and the deadline came without payment of the terms. As a compromise, Saladin proposed that Richard release his prisoners in return for part of the ransom with the remainder to be paid at a later date. Saladin would provide hostages to Richard to assure payment. Alternatively, he proposed to give Richard what money he had and allow Richard to keep the prisoners in return for Christian hostages to be held until the remainder of the money was raised and the Muslim prisoners released. Richard countered that he would accept the partial payment but Saladin must accept his royal promise to release his prisoners when he received the remainder of the ransom. Neither ruler would accept his opponent's terms. Richard declared the lives of the Muslim defenders of Acre forfeit and set August 20 as the date for their execution.

Slaughter In The Desert

Beha-ed-Din was a member of Saladin's court and (along with much of the Saracen army who watched from a distance) witnessed the massacre of 2,700 of his comrades:

"Then the king of England, seeing all the delays interposed by the Sultan to the execution of the treaty, acted perfidiously as regards his Musulinan prisoners. On their yielding the town he had engaged to grant their life, adding that if the Sultan carried out the bargain he would give them freedom and suffer them to carry off their children and wives; if the Sultan did not fulfill his engagements they were to be made slaves. Now the king broke his promises to them and made open display of what he had till now kept hidden in his heart, by carrying out what he had intended to do after he had received the money and the Frank prisoners. It is thus that people of his nation ultimately admitted.

In the afternoon of Tuesday, 27 Rajab, [August 20] about four o'clock, he came out on horseback with all the Frankish army, knights, footmen, Turcoples, and advanced to the pits at the foot of the hill of Al 'Ayadiyeh, to which place be had already sent on his tents. The Franks, on reaching the middle of the plain that stretches between this hill and that of Keisan, close to which place the sultan's advanced guard had drawn back, ordered all the Musulman prisoners, whose martyrdom God had decreed for this day, to be brought before him. They numbered more than three thousand and were all bound with ropes. The Franks then flung themselves upon them all at once and massacred them with sword and lance in cold blood. Our advanced guard had already told the Sultan of the enemy's movements and he sent it some reinforcements, but only after the massacre. The Musulmans, seeing what was being done to the prisoners, rushed against the Franks and in the combat, which lasted till nightfall, several were slain and wounded on either side. On the morrow morning our people gathered at the spot and found the Musulmans stretched out upon the ground as martyrs for the faith. They even recognised some of the dead, and the sight was a great affliction to them. The enemy had only spared the prisoners of note and such as were strong enough to work.

The motives of this massacre are differently told; according to some, the captives were slain by way of reprisal for the death of those Christians whom the Musulmans had slain. Others again say that the king of England, on deciding to attempt the conquest of Ascalon, thought it unwise to leave so many prisoners in the town after his departure. God alone knows what the real reason was. "

[Achilles The Myrmidon]

Stevan Sindjelic



At the beginning of the 19th century the crucial thing for the renewal of the Serbian state was the liberation of Nis from the Turks. The Serbian leader Karadjordje, in his talks with the representatives of Russia, as well as in his talks with Napoleon and the Turks, pointed out that Nis had to belong to Serbia. The Serbian insurrection army headed towards Nis in order to take it and go ahead towards Old Serbia and Kosovo. Karadjordje's suggestion was to use the whole army to liberate Nis, while the rest of the commanders demanded to attack Nis from four different points. The latter was accepted. On April 27, 1809, the Serbian insurrection army with its 16,000 soldiers approached the villages of Kamenica, Gornji and Donji Matejevac, near the town of Nis with Miloje Petrovic as Commander-in-chief. The Serbian soldiers made six trenches. The first and biggest was on Cegar Hill with voivoda Stevan Sindjelic at the head. The second one was in the village Gornji Matejevac (near the newly rebuilt Latin Church) with Petar Dobrnjac as the commander. The third trench was north-east to Kamenica, with voivoda Ilija Barjaktarevic. The fourth trench was in Kamenica with Miloje Petrovic as the chief commander. The fifth trench was in the mountain above Kamenica and under the control of voivoda Pauljo Matejic, while the sixth one was made in Donji Matejevac. Miloje Petrovic's request to attack Nis directly was not accepted. The demand was to wait and to besiege the town. Meanwhile the Turkish army was reinforced with 20,000 soldiers from Adrianople, Thessalonica, Vranje and Leskovac.

The Turks attacked the trench of Petar Dobrnjac on 30 May. The following day, on May 31, 1809, the most prominent trench on Cegar Hill, under the command of Stevan Sindjelic, got attacked. The battle lasted the whole day. As Milovan Kukic witnessed, "the Turks attacked five times, and the Serbs managed to repulse them five times. Each time their losses were great. Some of the Turks attacked, and some of them went ahead, and thus when they attacked for the sixth time they filled the trenches with their dead so that the alive went over their dead bodies and they began to fight against the Serbs with their rifles, cutting and sticking in their enemies with their sabers and knives. The Serbian soldiers from other trenches cried out to help Stevan. But there was no help," as Milovan Kukic said, "either because they could not help without their cavalry, or because Miloje Petrovic did not allow it. Anyway, when Stevan Sindjelic saw that the Turks had took over the trench, he ran to the powder cave, took out his gun and fired the powder magazine. The explosion was so strong that all the surrounding was shaken, and the whole trench caught in a cloud of dense smoke. Stevan Sindjelic who up to that moment had reached everywhere, helping and encouraging everybody went into the air." Three thousands Serbian soldiers and more than double of that on the Turkish side were killed on Cegar Hill.

At the end of the summer 1809, after the battle on Cegar Hill, the skulls of the killed Serbian soldiers were built in a tower, Skull Tower, on the way to Constantinople. It was done by order of Turkish pasha Hurshid, the brutal Turkish commander of the town of Nis at that time. Rectangular in its base, 3 meters high, Skull Tower was built out of 952 skulls of the Serbian heroes as a warning to the Serbian people. In 1833, on his way back from Constatinople, French poet Alphonse de Lamartine stopped for a moment in front of Skull Tower. He was shocked at the sight of it and wrote down in his book, later published as his travel accounts Journey to the East, the famous words: "My eyes and my heart greeted the remains of those brave men whose cut off heads made the corner stone of the independence of their homeland. May the Serbs keep this monument! It will always teach their children the value of the independence of a people, showing them the real price their fathers had to pay for it." In 1892, a chapel was built over the skulls which now protects 58 skulls left. Skull Tower represents a unique monument of this kind in the world, and it faithfully depicts the true nature of the Turkish crimes against the Serbian people.

The place where Battle on Cegar Hill had happened was first marked on July 4, 1878 with the following inscription: "To voivoda Stevan Sindjelic and his undead heroes who lost their lives on May 19, 1809, in their attack on Nis. Knez Milan M. Obrenovic IV and his brave soldiers redeemed them on December 27, 1877 by conquering Nis." Today's monument in the shape of a tower - a symbol of the soldiers' fortification - was erected for the fiftieth anniversary of the liberation of Nis from the Turks, on June 1, 1927. In 1938 a bronze bust of Stevan Sindjelic was positioned in the semi-circle niche of the monument.

[Achilles The Myrmidon]

Nikola Šubic Zrinski / Miklós Zrínyi



Croatian and Hungarian hero, member of the Croatian noble family Zrinski.

Nikola was the son of Nikola Zrinski and Ilona Karlovic. He distinguished himself at the siege of Vienna in 1529, and in 1542 saved the imperial army from defeat before Pest by intervening with 400 Croats, for which service he was appointed ban of Croatia.

In 1542 he routed the Turks at Somlyo. In 1543 he married Catherine (Katarina) Frankopan, who placed the whole of her vast estates at his disposal. The Emperor Ferdinand also gave him large possessions in Hungary, and henceforth the Zrinskis–Zrinyis became as much Magyar as Croatian magnates.

In 1556 Zrinyi won a series of victories over the Turks, culminating in the battle of Babócsa. The Croatians, however, overwhelmed their ban (count) with reproaches for neglecting them to fight for the Magyars, and the emperor simultaneously deprived him of the captaincy of Upper Croatia and sent 10,000 men to aid the Croats, while the Magyars were left without any help, whereupon Zrinyi resigned the banship (1561).

In 1563, on the coronation of the Emperor Maximilian as king of Hungary, Zrinyi attended the ceremony at the head of 3000 Croatian and Magyar mounted noblemen, in the vain hope of obtaining the dignity of palatine, vacant by the death of Thomas Nadasdy.

Shortly after marrying (in 1564) his second wife, Eva Rosenberg, a great Bohemian heiress, he hastened southwards to defend the frontier, and defeated the Turks at Segesd. In 1566, from August 5 to September 7, his small force heroically defended the little fortress of Szigetvar against the whole Turkish host, led by Suleiman the Magnificent in person. The Battle of Szigetvar ended with Zrinski perishing with every member of the garrison in a last desperate sortie.

Battle of Siget (Szigetvar)


The Battle of Szigetvar was a monumental battle in the small fort of Szigetvár in Hungary in 1566 between the defending forces of the Kingdom of Hungary under the leadership of Croatian ban Nikola Šubiæ Zrinski, and the invading army of the Ottoman Empire under Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.

The entrenched Croatian forces of Zrinski, "...two thousand and three hundreds of them", held off a vast Ottoman army (more than 90,000 men and 300 cannons) for several weeks. Despite them being undermanned and greatly outnumbered, the imperial army from Vienna would not send them any reinforcements.

After many days of exhausting and bloody struggle, the defenders have receded into the Old City; with the majority of Croats already dead, their last stand. Turks have tried to lure Zrinski into submission, offering him rule over entire Croatia (of course, under their suzerainty). To no avail: "...nobody will point his finger on my children in contempt." In the morning, September the 7th, the all-out attack by Turks began: fireballs, "Greek fire", concentrated cannonade, fusillade. Soon, the last Croat stronghold within Siget was set ablaze. The entire Turkish army was swarming against the Old City, drumming and yelling, "..their flags darkening the skies." Zrinski prepared for the last charge, addressing his brothers in arms: "..Let us go out from this burning place into the open and stand up to our enemies. Who dies- he will be with God. Who dies not-his name will be honoured. I will go first, and what I do, you do. And God is my witness- I will never leave you, my brothers and knights !" In the last decisive battle Zrinski was first wounded, then killed. Only seven defenders managed to get through Turkish surround. Historians consider that Turks lost 18,000 cavalrymen and 7,000 elite yanissaries. The yannissary corps was decimated.

The huge Ottoman army, the best Suleyman the Magnificent (who died during the siege) could gather, suffered heavy losses and was ultimately stopped in its tracks.

The battle was immortalized in the epic poem Szigeti Veszedelem (1664) by Zrinyi's great-grandson, Miklos Zrinyi, also a ban of Croatia. This was one of the first such epics in Hungarian language.

[cap'n queasy]

Nice set of historical profiles. I enjoyed reading them very much. :-D

[Achilles The Myrmidon]

Don Juan of Austria




Don Juan (b. Feb. 24, 1547, Regensburg [Germany] d. Oct. 1, 1578, Bouges, near Namur, Spanish Netherlands [now in Belgium]) was the illegitimate son of the Spanish King and Holy Roman Emperor Carlos I (Charles V) and half brother of King Felipe (Philip) II of Spain. As a Spanish military commander, he achieved victory over the Turks in the historic naval Battle of Lepanto. Born in Regensburg, Germany, the progeny of a liaison between Charles and Barbara Blombberg, a burgher's daughter, Don John was raised anonymously in Spain before being recognised by Philip II of Spain as a half-brother and given an income and his title. Philip had planned that Don John would enter the Church but was unable to stem his enthusiasm for a military career. Don John's first engagement in 1568 was against Moorish pirates and success entailed his appointment at the head of the Spanish forces arranged against the Morisco rebellions in Grenada. In 1571, at the height of Don John's prestige, Philip set him at the head of the navy of the Holy League which Don John, by authority and charisma, was able to unite in the defeat of the Turks at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571. The Battle of Lepanto (7 October 1571) was a naval battle at the northern edge of the entrance to the Gulf of Corinth (then the Gulf of Lepanto), off western Greece. A galley fleet of the Holy League, a sometimes-flimsy coalition of the Pope, Spain, Venice, Genoa, Savoy, Naples, the Knights of Malta and others, defeated a force of Ottoman galleys. The coalition fleet consisted of 206 galleys and 6 galleasses, and was ably commanded by Don John of Austria (Don Juan). Galleys were contributed by the various Christian factions: 108 Venetian galleys and 6 Venetian galleasses, 13 from Habsburg Spain, 30 from Habsburg Naples, 6 from Habsburg Sicily, 3 from Genoa, 3 from Savoy, 3 from Malta, 12 Papal ships and 28 privately owned galleys. Ali Pacha (Ali Pasha), supported by the buccaneers Chulouk Bey of Alexandria (also called Scirocco, Mehmet Shuluk or Suluk Pasha) and Uluj Ali, was at the head of approximately 220-230 galleys, 50-60 galliots and some smaller vessels belonging to the Ottomans. One of the more well-known participants in the battle was Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes, who was wounded and lost the use of his left hand.

The Christian fleet formed up in 4 divisions in a North-South line. At the northern end, closest to the coast, was the Left Division of 53 galleys, mainly Venetian, led by Agustino Barbarigo, with Querini and Canale. The Centre Division consisted of 62 galleys under Don Juan himself, along with Sebastian Veniero and Marcantonio Colonna. The Right Division to the south consisted of another 53 galleys under Gian Andrea Doria. Two galleases were positioned in front of each main division. A further Reserve Division was stationed behind (that is, to the west of) the main fleet, to support wherever it might be needed. It consisted of 38 galleys - 30 behind the Centre Division commanded by Alvaro de Bazán and 4 behind each wing. A scouting group was formed from 2 Right and 6 Reserve galleys. As the Christian fleet was slowly turning around Point Scropha, Doria's Right Division at the off-shore side was delayed at the start of the battle, and the Right's galleases did not get into position.

The Turkish fleet consisted of 54 galleys and 2 galliots in its Right, or northern, division, under Chulouk Bey, 61 galleys and 32 galliots in the Centre under Ali Pasha and about 63 galleys and 30 galliots in the South off-shore, under Uluj Ali. A small reserve existed of 8 galleys and 22 galliots and 64 fustas behind the Center body.

The Left and Centre galleases had been towed half a mile ahead of the Christian line, and were able to sink 2 Turkish galleys and damage some more before the Turkish fleet left them behind. As the battle started, Doria found that Uluj Ali's galleys extended further to the south than his own, and so headed south to avoid being out-flanked. This meant he was even later coming into action. He ended up being outmanoeuvered by Ali, who turned back and attacked the southern end of the Centre Division taking advantage of the big gap that Doria had left.

In the North Chulouk Bey had managed to get between the shore and the Christian North Division with six galleys, and early on, the Christian fleet suffered. Barbarigo was killed by an arrow, but the Venetians held their lines. The Christian Center also held the line and caused great damage to the Muslim Center. In the South off-shore side, Doria was engaged in a melee with Uluj Ali's ships taking the worse part, meanwhile Uluj Ali commanded 16 galleys in a fast attack on the Centre, taking 6 Christian galleys, between them the Capitana of Malta, from the Knights Hospitallers, killing everybody on board. The arrival of Alvaro de Bazán with the reserve was able to turn the battle, both in the Centre and in Doria's South wing. Uluj Ali was forced to flee with 16 galleys and 24 galliots, abandoning his captures. The Turkish fleet suffered the loss of about 180 galleys and 60 galliots. However, only 117 galleys and 13 galliots were in good enough condition for the Christians to keep. On the Christian side 15 galleys were destroyed and 30 damaged so much they had to be scuttled.

During the course of the battle, the Ottoman commander's ship was boarded and the Spanish Tercios from 3 galleys and the Turkish Janissaries from 7 galleys fought on the deck of the Turkish Sultana. Twice the Spanish were repelled with great loss, but at the third attempt, with reinforcements from Alvaro de Bazán's galley, they prevailed. Müezzenzade Ali Pasha was killed and beheaded, against the wishes of Don John. However, when his head was displayed on a pike from the Spanish flagship, it contributed greatly to the destruction of Turkish morale. The battle concluded around 4 pm.

The Christian victory ended the Ottoman naval superiority. After Lepanto the naval power of the Ottoman's entered a period of decline. Their power on land began to decline after their defeat at the Siege of Vienna by Jan Sobieski of Poland.

The Poem "Lepanto" by G. K. Chesterton

WHITE founts falling in the Courts of the sun,
And the Soldan of Byzantium is smiling as they run;
There is laughter like the fountains in that face of all men feared,
It stirs the forest darkness, the darkness of his beard;
It curls the blood-red crescent, the crescent of his lips; 5
For the inmost sea of all the earth is shaken with his ships.
They have dared the white republics up the capes of Italy,
They have dashed the Adriatic round the Lion of the Sea,
And the Pope has cast his arms abroad for agony and loss,
And called the kings of Christendom for swords about the Cross. 10
The cold queen of England is looking in the glass;
The shadow of the Valois is yawning at the Mass;
From evening isles fantastical rings faint the Spanish gun,
And the Lord upon the Golden Horn is laughing in the sun.

Dim drums throbbing, in the hills half heard, 15
Where only on a nameless throne a crownless prince has stirred,
Where, risen from a doubtful seat and half attainted stall,
The last knight of Europe takes weapons from the wall,
The last and lingering troubadour to whom the bird has sung,
That once went singing southward when all the world was young. 20
In that enormous silence, tiny and unafraid,
Comes up along a winding road the noise of the Crusade.
Strong gongs groaning as the guns boom far,
Don John of Austria is going to the war,
Stiff flags straining in the night-blasts cold 25
In the gloom black-purple, in the glint old-gold,
Torchlight crimson on the copper kettle-drums,
Then the tuckets, then the trumpets, then the cannon, and he comes.
Don John laughing in the brave beard curled,
Spurning of his stirrups like the thrones of all the world, 30
Holding his head up for a flag of all the free.
Love-light of Spain—hurrah!
Death-light of Africa!
Don John of Austria
Is riding to the sea. 35

Mahound is in his paradise above the evening star,
(Don John of Austria is going to the war.)
He moves a mighty turban on the timeless houri's knees,
His turban that is woven of the sunsets and the seas.
He shakes the peacock gardens as he rises from his ease, 40
And he strides among the tree-tops and is taller than the trees;
And his voice through all the garden is a thunder sent to bring
Black Azrael and Ariel and Ammon on the wing.
Giants and the Genii,
Multiplex of wing and eye, 45
Whose strong obedience broke the sky
When Solomon was king.

They rush in red and purple from the red clouds of the morn,
From the temples where the yellow gods shut up their eyes in scorn;
They rise in green robes roaring from the green hells of the sea 50
Where fallen skies and evil hues and eyeless creatures be,
On them the sea-valves cluster and the grey sea-forests curl,
Splashed with a splendid sickness, the sickness of the pearl;
They swell in sapphire smoke out of the blue cracks of the ground,—
They gather and they wonder and give worship to Mahound. 55
And he saith, "Break up the mountains where the hermit-folk can hide,
And sift the red and silver sands lest bone of saint abide,
And chase the Giaours flying night and day, not giving rest,
For that which was our trouble comes again out of the west.
We have set the seal of Solomon on all things under sun, 60
Of knowledge and of sorrow and endurance of things done.
But a noise is in the mountains, in the mountains, and I know
The voice that shook our palaces—four hundred years ago:
It is he that saith not 'Kismet'; it is he that knows not Fate;
It is Richard, it is Raymond, it is Godfrey at the gate! 65
It is he whose loss is laughter when he counts the wager worth,
Put down your feet upon him, that our peace be on the earth."
For he heard drums groaning and he heard guns jar,
(Don John of Austria is going to the war.)
Sudden and still—hurrah! 70
Bolt from Iberia!
Don John of Austria
Is gone by Alcalar.

St. Michaels on his Mountain in the sea-roads of the north
(Don John of Austria is girt and going forth.) 75
Where the grey seas glitter and the sharp tides shift
And the sea-folk labour and the red sails lift.
He shakes his lance of iron and he claps his wings of stone;
The noise is gone through Normandy; the noise is gone alone;
The North is full of tangled things and texts and aching eyes, 80
And dead is all the innocence of anger and surprise,
And Christian killeth Christian in a narrow dusty room,
And Christian dreadeth Christ that hath a newer face of doom,
And Christian hateth Mary that God kissed in Galilee,—
But Don John of Austria is riding to the sea. 85
Don John calling through the blast and the eclipse
Crying with the trumpet, with the trumpet of his lips,
Trumpet that sayeth ha!
Domino gloria!
Don John of Austria 90
Is shouting to the ships.

King Philip's in his closet with the Fleece about his neck
(Don John of Austria is armed upon the deck.)
The walls are hung with velvet that is black and soft as sin,
And little dwarfs creep out of it and little dwarfs creep in. 95
He holds a crystal phial that has colours like the moon,
He touches, and it tingles, and he trembles very soon,
And his face is as a fungus of a leprous white and grey
Like plants in the high houses that are shuttered from the day,
And death is in the phial and the end of noble work, 100
But Don John of Austria has fired upon the Turk.
Don John's hunting, and his hounds have bayed—
Booms away past Italy the rumour of his raid.
Gun upon gun, ha! ha!
Gun upon gun, hurrah! 105
Don John of Austria
Has loosed the cannonade.

The Pope was in his chapel before day or battle broke,
(Don John of Austria is hidden in the smoke.)
The hidden room in man's house where God sits all the year, 110
The secret window whence the world looks small and very dear.
He sees as in a mirror on the monstrous twilight sea
The crescent of his cruel ships whose name is mystery;
They fling great shadows foe-wards, making Cross and Castle dark,
They veil the plumèd lions on the galleys of St. Mark; 115
And above the ships are palaces of brown, black-bearded chiefs,
And below the ships are prisons, where with multitudinous griefs,
Christian captives sick and sunless, all a labouring race repines
Like a race in sunken cities, like a nation in the mines.
They are lost like slaves that sweat, and in the skies of morning hung 120
The stair-ways of the tallest gods when tyranny was young.
They are countless, voiceless, hopeless as those fallen or fleeing on
Before the high Kings' horses in the granite of Babylon.
And many a one grows witless in his quiet room in hell
Where a yellow face looks inward through the lattice of his cell, 125
And he finds his God forgotten, and he seeks no more a sign—
(But Don John of Austria has burst the battle-line!)
Don John pounding from the slaughter-painted poop,
Purpling all the ocean like a bloody pirate's sloop,
Scarlet running over on the silvers and the golds, 130
Breaking of the hatches up and bursting of the holds,
Thronging of the thousands up that labour under sea
White for bliss and blind for sun and stunned for liberty.

Vivat Hispania!
Domino Gloria! 135
Don John of Austria
Has set his people free!

Cervantes on his galley sets the sword back in the sheath
(Don John of Austria rides homeward with a wreath.)
And he sees across a weary land a straggling road in Spain, 140
Up which a lean and foolish knight for ever rides in vain,
And he smiles, but not as Sultans smile, and settles back the blade....
(But Don John of Austria rides home from the Crusade.)

[Achilles The Myrmidon]

Charles I, King of Spain



Born at Ghent, 1500; died at Yuste, in Spain, 1558; it was said of him that the sun never set on his dominions. Charles was the son of Philip, Duke of Burgundy, by Joanna, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella

In 1521 the Turks had taken possession of Belgrade, the key to Hungary; in 1522, of Rhodes, the bulwark which had hitherto barred their way westward of the Aegean Sea. In the following year the daring pirate, Chaireddin Barbarossa, an ally of the sultan, placing himself at the head of the North African corsairs who were continually harassing the Italian and Spanish coasts, had built up a formidable power in the small Mohammedan States of the North African coast. On land the Turks had defeated the Hungarians at Mohács, and taken possession of almost the entire kingdom. Their way was thus opened to Vienna, which they entered in 1529

Charles was successful in forcing them back, and in recovering a large part of Hungary, but without inflicting any decisive defeat on the Turks. He transferred the war to the Mediterranean Sea. In 1530, by the advice of the pope, he had given to the Knights Hospitallers, the defenders of Rhodes, the island of Malta, which barred the approach of the Turkish fleet to the Tuscan Sea. In 1531 and 1532 Andrea Doria had sought the Turks in their own waters, but the Turkish fleet avoided a battle. The sultan now sought to prevent the return of Doria by giving the chief command of his navy to Chairaddin, thus making the cause of the pirates his own. Charles thereupon decided to clear the Mediterranean Sea of piracy. In 1535 he personally took part in the campaign against Tunis under the leadership of Doria. He had the largest share in the victory, and urged an immediate advance on Algiers to complete his success. His commanders, however, opposed this plan, as the season was far advanced. This campaign established Charles' reputation throughout Europe

The rule of the Arabic Emirs in Tunis was overthrown by the Turks. Turkish corsairs led by the Greek renegade Horuk Barbarossa appeared in the western part of the Mediterranean about 1510. By gifts they won over the ruler of Tunis, Mulei Mohammed, who permitted them to make the City of Tunis the base for their piratical expeditions. In a short time Horuk Barbarossa gathered a large fleet manned chiefly by Turks, and became master of the City of Algiers and several towns along the African coast. His brother, Khair al-Dín Barbarossa, increased these possessions on the coast and sought to give his conquests permanence by placing them under the suzerainty of the Porte. When disputes over the succession to the throne arose in the Hafsite dynasty, Barbarossa skilfully used the opportunity to overthrow Mulei Hassan and to make himself the ruler of Tunis. Mulei Hassan appealed to the Emperor Charles V, who responded by landing near Carthage with a fleet, capturing Tunis and Goletta in July, 1535, and liberating nearly 20,000 Christian slaves. Mulei Hassan was restored to power in Tunis as a Spanish vassal, but was obliged to promise to suppress Christian slavery in his domain, to grant religious liberty, and to close his ports to the pirates. As a pledge Spain retained the citadels of Tunis and Goletta, which it garrisoned. On the way home the Spanish fleet completed the destruction of Carthage