Seyyid Muradî's prose biography of Hizir Ibn Yakub, alias Hayreddin Barabarossa

Murphey, Rhoads (2001) Seyyid Muradî's prose biography of Hizir Ibn Yakub, alias Hayreddin Barabarossa. Acta Orientalia, 54 (4). pp. 519-532. ISSN 0001-6446

Preview

Text aorient.54.2001.4.11.pdf Download (161kB) | Preview

Abstract

The importance of Seyyid Muradi's Gazavatname as a source of detailed information on the career and exploits of the celebrated Ottoman admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa has a long been recognised. The present study makes use of a mid-seventeenth-century manuscript copy of the tale preserved in Vienna to focus on the early phases of Hayreddin's career before his rise to prominence as Sultan Süleyman I's key naval strategist after the mid-1530s. The study explores his role first as new participiant and then gradually primus inter pares among the freelane Muslim corsairs who were drawn of shores of North Africa in the early decades of sixteenth century after the fall of Oran (Wahran) to the Spanish in 1509. The process by wich these self-generated and essentially independent local forces of the frontier were transormed over time into agents of the expanding Ottoman empire forms one dimension of analysis in the study. Another key concern is showing the value of Muradi's text as a source for recapturing the ethos and motivations of the sea gazis in a pre-imperial era.

Actions (login required)

Edit Item