Knights of St John (Hospitallers)

فرسان القديس يوحنا

The Knights of St John, the crusading military order based on Rhodes; in al-Salabi's account Prince Cem sought refuge with them after his defeats by Bayezid II, made a compact with their Grand Master that was broken under Bayezid's pressure, and became their prisoner — a hostage they milked for privileges now from Bayezid, now from Cem's Cairo backers, before selling him to Pope Innocent VIII for a great price ¹.

Summary

The Knights of St John, the crusading military order based on Rhodes in the early Ottoman era ¹.

A precious hostage

Al-Salabi records that Prince Cem sought refuge with them after his defeats by Bayezid II; his compact with their Grand Master was broken under Bayezid's pressure, and Cem became their prisoner — a hostage that bought privileges now from Bayezid, now from his Cairo backers — until they sold him to Pope Innocent VIII for a great price ¹.

Hasan b. Khayr al-Din Barbarossa

Khayr al-Din Barbarossa's son, of a noted Algerian family on his mother's side; the Porte's governor of Algiers from 951/1544. He refortified the city's weak points shown by Charles V's attack, kept the Oran force from restoring Abu Zayyan Ahmad II at Tlemcen, secured the Ottoman garrison at al-Mashwar castle, and drove the Sa'dis out by 959/1551 (printed '1151'). But his hostility to all foreign powers — France included — and his refusal of the French envoy's military aid ('jihad is the Muslims' affair; I will not win by an infidel against an infidel') let the envoy poison the Porte's ear: Süleyman deposed him in Safar 960/January 1552, giving the beylerbeylik to Salih Reis. After Hasan Corso's death in 964/1557 the sultan restored him; he raised ten thousand Zawawa, married Sultan Kuku's daughter, set Bu Yahya over Badis, fought Abd al-Aziz b. Abbas of Qal'at Bani Abbas until his fall, and recognised his successor Ahmad Muqran. The Janissaries, fearing he meant independence, arrested him in summer 969/1561 and shipped him bound to Istanbul — yet the sultan returned him a third time in late 970/1562 with ten warships. He besieged Oran on 13 April 1563 with fifteen thousand musketeers, a thousand horse, and twelve thousand Zawawa and Bani Abbas, lifting it as relief converged; shared in the Malta siege of 973/1565 with twenty-five ships and three thousand men; and in 975/1567 Selim II made him commander-in-chief of the fleet.

Knights of St John (Hospitallers)

At a glance

Summary

A precious hostage

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Hasan b. Khayr al-Din Barbarossa