The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #63880 Message #1041446
Posted By: Q (Frank Staplin)
24-Oct-03 - 11:59 PM
Thread Name: Folklore: How Barbary Pirates Learned Their Trade
Subject: RE: Folklore: How Barbary Pirates Learned Their Trade
For heavens Sakes, doesn't anyone remember Barbarossa (c. 1482-1518) and his brother, Khaireddin (1482-1546), two renegade Greeks who terrorized the Mediterranean Sea as Turkish corsairs?
Ward was a Johnny-come-lately.
Barbarossa, invited to Algiers to fight Spaniards, killed the amir and took over. The Arabs decided they had had enough and invited the Spaniards back; they captured Barbarossa and beheaded him. The brother, however, took over and conquered Tunis as well.
Khaireddin seemingly worked not only both sides of the street, but but aided the French in taking Nice. With thousands of captives, he went to Constantinople in triumph and died a natural death.