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42-546: During an Ottoman siege in 1522, the Knights Hospitaller were expelled from Rhodes , which had been their base since the early 14th century. They subsequently entered negotiations with Spanish Emperor Charles V who offered them Tripoli and the islands of Malta and Gozo as their new base. Tripoli had been under Spanish rule since its capture in 1510. A delegation sent by the Hospitallers produced

84-418: A Governor was appointed to administer Tripoli. The first Hospitaller Governor was Gaspare de Sanguessa , and although he attempted to establish friendly relations with nearby tribes, resistance to Christian rule continued from the nearby settlement of Tajura which was under Ottoman influence. The Florentine military engineer Piccino was sent to Tripoli to design modifications to the city's fortifications in

126-782: A coalition that consisted of Genoa , the Grand Duchy of Tuscany , the Papal States , and the Knights of S. John. Matthew Carr gives the number of 200 ships for the Christian Alliance. The joint fleet was assembled at Messina under the command of Giovanni Andrea Doria, nephew of the Genoese admiral Andrea Doria . It first sailed to Malta , where bad weather forced it to remain for two months. During this time some 2,000 men were lost to sickness. On 10 February 1560,

168-666: A knight. Piri Mehmed Pasha played an important role in the expedition. However, upon his return to Istanbul he faced accusations of bribery relating to an alleged previous incident in Egypt, possibly fabricated by his rival Ahmed Pasha, who sought to strip him of his title of grand vizier. [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] Battle of Djerba Republic of Genoa Spanish Empire Papal States Duchy of Savoy Mediterranean The Battle of Djerba ( Turkish : Cerbe ) took place in May 1560 near

210-509: A report which stated that these locations were unfavourable, and they were reluctant to accept both Tripoli and the Maltese Islands because of the distance between them and the considerable expenses that would be necessary to maintain them. The Hospitallers eventually accepted Tripoli, Malta and Gozo as a fief on 23 March 1530, and they took control of the city on 25 July. The Order established its headquarters at Birgu on Malta, while

252-691: A sortie on 29 July and was in that way captured. Through Busbecq's efforts, de Sande was ransomed and released several years later and fought against the Turks at the Siege of Malta in 1565. The victory in the Battle of Djerba represented the apex of Ottoman naval domination in the Mediterranean, which had been growing since the victory at the Battle of Preveza 22 years earlier. Of particular importance were

294-527: A three-year period. No church would be desecrated or turned into a mosque . Those remaining on the island would be free of Ottoman taxation for five years. On 1 January 1523, the remaining knights and soldiers marched out of the town, with banners flying, drums beating, and in battle armour. They boarded the 50 ships which had been made available to them and sailed to Crete (a Venetian possession), accompanied by several thousand civilians. The siege of Rhodes ended with an Ottoman victory. The conquest of Rhodes

336-547: Is a claim that the victorious Ottomans erected a pyramid of skulls of the defeated Spanish defenders, which stood until the late nineteenth century. A small monument now stands in its place at Borj Ghazi Mustafa, Homt Souk. The Battle of Djerba is given a prominent place in The Course of Fortune by Tony Rothman (2015), a novel that concerns the events leading to the Great Siege of Malta , 1565. The Battle of Djerba

378-612: The Ottoman Empire to expel the Knights of Rhodes from their island stronghold and thereby secure Ottoman control of the Eastern Mediterranean . The first siege in 1480 had been unsuccessful. Despite very strong defenses, the walls were demolished over the course of six months by Turkish artillery and mines. The Knights of St. John, or Knights Hospitallers, had captured Rhodes in the early 14th century after

420-533: The Christian forces after Doria had fled. The accounts of the final days of the besieged garrison are irreconcilable. Ogier de Busbecq , the Austrian Habsburg ambassador to Constantinople, recounts in his famous Turkish Letters that, recognizing the futility of armed resistance, de Sande had tried to escape in a small boat, but was quickly captured. In other accounts, for instance Braudel's, he led

462-507: The Hospitallers of Tripoli and the forces of Tajura. The Hospitallers lacked the funds to make the necessary upgrades to the city's fortifications, and at times they proposed to abandon the city, demolish its castle and block its harbour. By the mid-1540s, the Ottoman threat to Tripoli decreased as a truce was signed between Ottoman Sultan Suleiman and Charles V. Jean de Valette was appointed as Governor of Tripoli in 1546, and he reformed

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504-482: The Mediterranean headed the list of Spanish priorities under Philip II of Spain (1556–98); under his leadership the Habsburg galley fleet increased to about 100 ships, and more in wartime. Spain sent a major fleet against the Turks in 1560, aiming for the island of Djerba off the coast west of Tripoli . The Ottoman fleet won a resounding victory, killing more than 5,000 men and sinking many vessels. However, typical of

546-527: The Order's Grand Master in 1557, still hoped to retake the city and in 1559 an invasion force was assembled for this purpose but it was defeated in the Battle of Djerba in 1560. Tripoli remained under direct or indirect Ottoman rule until it was captured by Italy during the Italo-Turkish War in 1911. Hospitaller Tripoli was administered by a Governor . After the Hospitallers took over Tripoli,

588-505: The Turkish invasion force of 400 ships arrived on Rhodes on 26 June 1522, they were commanded by Çoban Mustafa Pasha . Suleiman himself arrived with the army of 100,000 men on 28 July to take personal charge. The Turks blockaded the harbour and bombarded the town with field artillery from the land side, followed by almost daily infantry attacks. They also sought to undermine the fortifications through tunnels and mines. The artillery fire

630-474: The Turks assaulted the breach that day, but the English and German brothers held the gap. On 24 September, Mustafa Pasha ordered a massive assault upon the bastions of Spain, England, Provence, and Italy. After a day of furious fighting, during which the bastion of Spain changed hands twice, Suleiman eventually called off the attack. He sentenced Mustafa Pasha, his brother-in-law, to death for his failure to take

672-527: The aftermath of Mediterranean battles, they did not follow up the victory. Spain was able to rebuild its fleet in the next two years and prepared a new offensive in 1563–64 with nearly 100 ships. Despite the Ottomans being victorious in the battle, they were unable to attack the Venetian center of gravity . Since losing against Barbarossa Hayreddin's Ottoman fleet at the Battle of Preveza in 1538 and

714-558: The amount of trade which passed through the city declined while Tajura became a more important trading centre. The Hospitallers' main church in Tripoli was incorporated into the Sidi Darghut Mosque in around 1560. Parts of the original building still survive although they have undergone major alterations. Siege of Rhodes (1522) The siege of Rhodes of 1522 was the second and ultimately successful attempt by

756-722: The city from the Maltese Knights in August 1551 and had subsequently been made Bey (Governor) of Tripoli by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent . The historian William H. Prescott wrote that the sources describing the Djerba campaign were so contradictory it was impossible to reconcile them. Most historians believe that the fleet assembled by the allied Christian powers in 1560 consisted of between 50 and 60 galleys and between 40 and 60 smaller craft. For example, Giacomo Bosio ,

798-548: The city's garrison was also allowed to leave, while the rest were enslaved. Muslim auxiliaries who had been in Hospitaller service were executed. The Hospitallers made several attempts to recapture Tripoli, starting with a raid on Tripolitania in 1552. Dragut became the beylerbey of Tripoli in 1556, and he modified the city's fortifications such that it became one of the best-defended cities in Africa. De Valette, who became

840-400: The city's government and improved its fortifications. He made a proposal that the Order should transfer its headquarters from Malta to the city, retaining the islands only as an outpost. A compromise was reached in which Malta remained the Hospitallers' main base, but efforts to establish a Hospitaller presence in Tripoli increased with more knights being sent to the city. The Governor of Tripoli

882-433: The city, but eventually spared his life after the pleas of other senior officials. Mustafa's replacement, Ahmed Pasha , was an experienced siege engineer, and the Turks now focused their efforts on undermining the ramparts and blowing them up with mines while maintaining their continuous artillery barrages. The regularity of the locations where the mines were detonated under the walls (which generally rest on rock) has led to

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924-470: The construction of bulwarks around most towers, and caponiers enfilading the ditch. Gates were reduced in number, and the old battlement parapets were replaced with slanting ones suitable for artillery fights. A team of masons, labourers, and slaves did the construction work, with the Muslim slaves charged with the hardest labour. In 1521, Philippe Villiers de L'Isle-Adam was elected grand master of

966-619: The crippling losses of the Spanish fleet in experienced personnel: 600 skilled mariners ( oficiales ) and 2,400 arquebusier marines were lost, men who could not be quickly replaced. After Djerba the Maltese channel lay open and it was inevitable that the Ottomans soon turned on the new base of the Knights of St John in Malta in 1565 (the Knights having previously been expelled from Rhodes in 1522), but did not succeed in taking it. There

1008-471: The defenders peace, their lives, and food if they surrendered, but death or slavery if the Turks were compelled to take the city by force. Pressed by the townspeople, Villiers de L'Isle-Adam agreed to negotiate. A truce was declared for 11–13 December to allow negotiations, but when the locals demanded further assurances for their safety, Suleiman was angered and ordered the bombardment and assaults to resume. The bastion of Spain fell on 17 December. With most of

1050-773: The disastrous expedition of Emperor Charles V against Barbarossa in Algiers in 1541, the major European sea powers in the Mediterranean , Spain and Venice , felt more and more threatened by the Ottomans and their corsair allies. Indeed, by 1558 Piyale Pasha had captured the Balearic Islands and together with Turgut Reis raided the Mediterranean coasts of Spain. King Philip II of Spain appealed to Pope Paul IV and his allies in Europe to organize an expedition to retake Tripoli from Turgut Reis, who had captured

1092-552: The early 1530s. At one point, Tajura's ruler Aydın Reis built a fortress known as the el-Cadi tower about 1 mile (1.6 km) outside the walls of Tripoli, but this was captured and destroyed by Hospitaller forces led by Governor Georg Schilling . The knight Paul Simeoni was sent to Tripoli in March 1539 to draw up a report on the state of the city, and when he returned to Malta in June he reported that there were daily skirmishes between

1134-450: The fleet set sail for Tripoli. The precise numbers of soldiers aboard are not known. Braudel gives 10,000-12,000; Testa 14,000; older figures in excess of 20,000 are clearly exaggerations considering the number of men a sixteenth-century galley could carry. Although the expedition landed not far from Tripoli, the lack of water, sickness and a freak storm caused the commanders to abandon their original objective, and on 7 March they returned to

1176-491: The island of Djerba , Tunisia . The Ottomans under Piyale Pasha 's command overwhelmed a large joint Christian alliance fleet, composed chiefly of Spanish , Papal , Genoese , Maltese , and Neapolitan forces. The allies lost 27 galleys and some smaller vessels as well as the fortified island of Djerba. This victory marked perhaps the high point of Ottoman power in the Mediterranean Sea . Until about 1573

1218-400: The island of Djerba, which they quickly overran. The Viceroy of Sicily, Juan de la Cerda, 4th Duke of Medinaceli , ordered a fort to be built on the island, and construction was begun. By that time an Ottoman fleet of about 86 galleys and galliots under the command of the Ottoman admiral Piyale Pasha was already underway from Istanbul . Piyale's fleet arrived at Djerba on 11 May 1560, much to

1260-593: The loss in 1291 of Acre , the last Crusader stronghold in Palestine. From Rhodes, they became an active part of the trade in the Aegean Sea , and at times harassed Turkish shipping in the Levant to secure control over the eastern Mediterranean . A first effort by the Ottomans to capture the island was repulsed by the order in 1480, but the continuing presence of the knights just off the southern coast of Anatolia

1302-406: The official historian of the Knights of St John writes that there were 54 galleys. Fernand Braudel also gives 54 warships plus 36 supply vessels. One of the most detailed accounts is by Carmel Testa who evidently has access to the archives of the Knights of St. John . He lists precisely 54 galleys, 7 brigs, 17 frigates, 2 galleons, 28 merchant vessels, and 12 small ships. These were supplied by

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1344-441: The order. Expecting a new Ottoman attack on Rhodes, he continued to strengthen the city's fortifications, and called upon the order's knights elsewhere in Europe to come to the island's defence. The rest of Europe ignored his request for assistance, but Sir John Rawson , prior of the order's Irish House, came alone. The city was protected by two and, in some places three, rings of stone walls and several large bastions . The defence

1386-527: The suggestion that the Turkish miners may have taken advantage of ancient culverts of the Hellenistic city buried beneath the medieval city of Rhodes. Another major assault at the end of November was repelled, but both sides were now exhausted—the knights were reaching the end of their strength with no relief forces expected, while the Turkish troops were increasingly demoralized and depleted by combat fatalities and disease in their camps. Suleiman offered

1428-416: The surprise of the Christian forces. The battle was over in a matter of hours, with about half the Christian galleys captured or sunk. Anderson gives the total number of Christian casualties as 18,000 but Guilmartin more conservatively puts the losses at about 9,000 of which about two-thirds would have been oarsmen. The surviving soldiers took refuge in the fort they had completed just days earlier, which

1470-586: The walls now destroyed, it was only a matter of time before the city was forced to surrender. On 20 December, after several days of pressure from the townspeople, the Grand Master asked for a fresh truce. On 22 December, the representatives of the city's Latin and Greek inhabitants accepted Suleiman's terms, which were generous. The knights were given twelve days to leave the island and would be allowed to take their weapons, valuables, and religious icons. Islanders who wished to leave could do so at any time within

1512-457: Was a major obstacle to Ottoman expansion. An earthquake shook the island in 1481. After the siege and earthquake, the fortress was greatly strengthened against artillery according to the new school of trace italienne . In the most exposed land-facing sectors, the improvements included a thickening of the main wall, doubling of the width of the dry ditch, coupled with a transformation of the old counterscarp into massive outworks ( tenailles ),

1554-607: Was a major step towards Ottoman control over the eastern Mediterranean and greatly eased their maritime communications between Constantinople and Cairo and the Levantine ports. Later, in 1669, from this base Ottoman Turks captured Venetian Crete . The Knights Hospitaller initially moved to Sicily, but, in 1530, were granted by Emperor Charles V the islands of Malta , Gozo , and the North African port city of Tripoli , following an agreement with Pope Clement VII , himself

1596-454: Was assigned in sections to the different Langues . The harbour entrance was blocked by a heavy iron chain , behind which the order's fleet was anchored. The sultan, Suleiman , was convinced to attack Rhodes by Piri Mehmed Pasha . Piri, Çoban and Kurtoğlu participated in the divan meetings, and Piri urged the Sultan to hurry to Rhodes. He then went to war with the Sultan. When

1638-472: Was captured by the Turkish corsair Dragut . In early 1551, Suleiman ordered Sinan Pasha to capture Tripoli from the Hospitallers. Following a failed attempt to take Malta and a successful attack on Gozo , the Ottomans besieged Tripoli for two weeks. The city surrendered on 15 August, and Governor Gaspard de Vallier and the knights were allowed to leave on vessels provided by the French ambassador. Part of

1680-418: Was given powers similar to those of the Order's Grand Master , and he could establish auberges for the Order's eight langues within the city. Valette hoped that the Hospitallers could eventually gain control of the entire region of Tripolitania . The Order's plans to move to Tripoli ceased after the galley La Catarinetta which had been carrying 7000 scudi intended to pay for the city's new fortifications

1722-469: Was slow in inflicting serious damage to the massive walls, but after five weeks, on 4 September, two large gunpowder mines exploded under the bastion of England, causing a 12-yard (11 m) portion of the wall to fall into the moat. The attackers immediately assaulted this breach and soon gained control of it, but a counterattack by the English brothers under Fra' Nicholas Hussey and Grand Master Villiers de L'Isle-Adam succeeded in driving them back. Twice more

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1764-410: Was soon attacked by the combined forces of Piyale Pasha and Turgut Reis (who had joined Piyale Pasha on the third day), but not before Giovanni Andrea Doria managed to escape in a small vessel. After a siege of three months, the garrison surrendered and, according to Bosio, Piyale carried about 5,000 prisoners back to Istanbul, including the Spanish commander, D. Alvaro de Sande, who had taken command of

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