The Sultan's Fleet
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The Sultan's Fleet

Seafarers of the Ottoman Empire

Christine Isom-Verhaaren

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The Sultan's Fleet

Seafarers of the Ottoman Empire

Christine Isom-Verhaaren

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About This Book

While the Ottoman Empire is most often recognized today as a land power, for four centuries the seas of the Eastern Mediterranean were dominated by the Ottoman Navy. Yet to date, little is known about the seafarers who made up the sultans' fleet, the men whose naval mastery ensured that an empire from North Africa to Black Sea expanded and was protected, allowing global trading networks to flourish in the face of piracy and the Sublime Porte's wars with the Italian city states and continental European powers. In this book, Christine Isom-Verhaaren provides a history of the major events and engagements of the navy, from its origins as the fleets of Anatolian Turkish beyliks to major turning points such as the Battle of Lepanto. But the book also puts together a picture of the structure of the Ottoman navy as an institution, revealing the personal stories of the North African corsairs and Greek sailors recruited as admirals. Rich in detail drawn from a variety of sources, the book provides a comprehensive account of the Ottoman Navy, the forgotten contingent in the empire's period of supremacy from the 14th century to the 18th century.

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Information

Publisher
I.B. Tauris
Year
2021
ISBN
9780755641727
Topic
Storia
Edition
1
1
Turks Invade the Aegean
The Feats of Umur of Aydın Retrospective Ottoman Hero
That fortunate man [Umur Bey]s aid to Hoca Selman, “Build a large kadırga [war galley] for me.” He built a large kadırga for him, the pasha [Umur] was joyous and he named the ship “Gazi.” He [Hoca Selman] made seven kayıks [small galleys] also. . . . When the eight ships were equipped he [Umur] left on a raid. . . .
When they arrived at Bozcaada [Tenedos] they saw five round ships, they looked at them. . . . The ship of the pasha attacked the round ships in the blink of an eye, . . . Who could describe that battle? . . . The battle lasted two entire days and nights. . . . The surface of the sea was red with blood. The pasha himself fought intensely.
Enveri, The Destan of Umur Pasha 1
The Ottoman poet Enveri produced this first detailed account of a naval battle during which Turks of the fourteenth century attacked ships heading for Istanbul at the mouth of the Dardanelles, in a recounting of the exploits of Umur Bey of Aydın. This account was included in an epic written with the patronage of the most powerful grand vizier of Mehmed the Conqueror, Mahmud Pasha, which Enveri dedicated to him. The epic is divided into three parts, the second of which recounts Umur’s naval career, which is the primary basis for our knowledge of his feats at sea. The section on Umur extends over a third of the work, which appears rather extensive for a book recounting Ottoman history. However, Umur’s exploits became significant for Ottoman expansion, since as a seafaring gazi he became the focus of a “cult, which remained alive for several generations among the sailors of the Aegean.”2 The work was completed in 1464 or 1465 when Mehmed was in the process of fashioning his own effective naval forces to combat the Venetians during a war which continued until 1479 and Mahmud Pasha might have believed that Ottoman sailors would be inspired by this seafaring bey of the previous century. Apparently, Ottoman seafarers revered Umur’s memory since they swore “for the sake of Umur Gazi” into the seventeenth century.3 Thus Ottoman historiography offered a prominent place for the exploits of this bey of Aydın due to his influence on the seafarers of the Ottoman sultan, some of whom later equaled his exploits.
Umur, the second son of Mehmed, Bey of Aydın (d. 1334), had recently conquered the lower fortress of Izmir (Smyrna) in 1329 giving him access to the Aegean Sea, when he requested Hoca Selman build ships for him. According to Enveri, Mehmed Bey had assigned Umur this territory because of his courage, which he needed as he faced challenges to his control of Izmir both from the Genoese Zaccaria family and later from crusaders.4 Immediately on gaining access to the port, Umur prepared to begin sea gazas (raids supposedly in the name of religion). After the ships were filled with weapons, Umur and his Turcoman warriors left on a gaza to gain booty. As they headed to sea, near Bozcaada they encountered five round ships (köke).5 To Umur, who had no known previous experience on the sea, these ships appeared as enormous mountains with fortresses, which held many men. When the wind fell, the ships could not sail; then Umur prayed to God for help before he commenced his attack. The Turks rowed toward the round ships, collided with them, attempted to board, and began to fight. According to the epic, the battle lasted for two days and nights before a wind arose and the ships sailed to Istanbul. The surface of the sea was red with blood and many men had fallen into the water, whom Umur and his men captured and took to Izmir, probably the only source of profit from the encounter. Enveri considered this battle to have been a victory, although the round ships escaped and arrived in Istanbul. According to Enveri, the infidels (he does not indicate the provenance of the ships) became fearful and the fame of Umur reached the Franks. Tangible profits from this expedition may have been limited, but Umur apparently discovered sea raiding to be his passion, for after he returned to Izmir, he planned his next gaza. “He prepared night and day for combat. . . . he wanted to make the sea bubble again. . . . His intention was to attack the lands of Rum [Roman/Byzantine].”6 For the next twenty years, Umur desired to employ his rapidly increasing naval power in fighting infidels until they became his vassals or subjects; thus he terrorized the Aegean capturing and enslaving many inhabitants of the region. One result of his actions and those of other beys who also engaged in sea gaza was to change the geopolitical outcome of the region eventually leading to the rise of a new imperial power, the Ottoman Empire. But Umur was no Ottoman; he was from the House of Aydın, and his beylik (principality) became the center of sea gaza during the fourth decade of the fourteenth century.
Fragmentation in the Aegean
At what date should one begin an account of the Ottoman navy? Should it be with the earliest Turks to reach Anatolia in the eleventh ce ntury, the Seljuks of Rum, who had migrated to the region after the battle of Manzikert in 1071? Perhaps, for between 1080 and 1097 Turkish maritime beyliks arose with shipyards and fleets on the Aegean and Marmara coasts. These beyliks, though ephemeral, still posed a threat to the Byzantines of Istanbul. One, that of Chaka, was based at Izmir, foreshadowing the rise of Umur at Izmir 200 years later. Chaka invaded Chios, Lesbos, Samos, and threatened Istanbul with his fleet in 1090–1. The Byzantine princess and historian Anna Comnena claimed that a local naval expert of Izmir aided Chaka (Tzachas) in the construction of his fleet and the recruitment of crews. Another bey, Ebulkasim, had captured the western shores of Anatolia, built a fleet, and engaged in naval raids slightly earlier. The First Crusade, which impelled the Seljuks of Rum to relocate their capital from Iznik (Nicea) to Konya (Iconium), also enabled the Byzantines to destroy these maritime beyliks.7 The Seljuks of Rum had often lacked access to the sea; thus, they were rarely known for naval power.
Conditions in Anatolia at the beginning of the fourteenth century were shaped by the Fourth Crusade, during which French crusaders united with Venice, conquered Istanbul, and established a Latin empire whose capital was at that city from 1204 until 1261. After the conquest of the metropolis, Venetians conquered surrounding territories establishing bases for a commercial maritime empire. The Venetians’ chief rival, Genoa, attempted to increase its power in the Black Sea; thus, rivalry between these two Italian maritime states characterized the fourteenth century. The Turkish Seljuks ruling in Anatolia since 1071 benefited from Byzantine weakness after the Fourth Crusade and expanded to the Mediterranean Sea conquering the ports of Antalya and Alanya, between 1207 and 1226, creating a navy and arsenal at Alanya.8
Events in Eastern Eurasia also impacted the region for in 1243, when a Mongol army defeated the Seljuks of Rum at the battle of Köse Dağ, thereafter the Seljuks lost effective power in Anatolia. In addition, Oghuz Turkmen migrated west from Central Asia hoping to escape Mongol rule arriving in Anatolia and moving west to reach the uc regions (frontiers), beyond effective Mongol control in western Anatolia.9 In 1261 the Byzantines reconquered Istanbul from the Latin Empire, but neglected to protect Anatolia as they fought the Latins for control of the Balkans. The Mamluks of Egypt and Syria conquered the final crusader base at Acre removing a crusader presence in Syria in 1291. Because of the changing geopolitical circumstances stretching from China through the eastern Mediterranean, the scene was set for dramatic changes in the lands that would later become part of the greatest Islamic Empire of Late Medieval and Early Modern times, the Ottoman Empire. Political fragmentation in Anatolia and the Balkans was extreme due to the events of the thirteenth century. Clearly the Byzantines had ceased to be an effective political power, Latin territories were governed by competing states, the Seljuks were fading from the scene, and the Mongols were unable to control the western edges of their territory. Crusaders such as the Knights of St. John were desperate for a new base after the fall of Acre, while the other main crusading order, the Templars, was soon to be disbanded by the king of France. Turkish migration through Anatolia was only one of many factors changing the political landscape in western Eurasia.
This chapter traces the changing geopolitical circumstances of the lands of the eastern Mediterranean by following the careers of several Turcoman beys, especially but not limited to those of the beylik of Aydın. Turcoman beys, who a generation earlier had been confined to the interior of Anatolia, penetrated coastal regions, conquered strategic port cities, and created naval forces. Then, despite an initial lack of seafaring experience, they challenged the existing rulers of the Aegean, the Byzantines, and the Latins of various origins, who dominated the seas at the beginning of the fourteenth century, for control of these waters. Turkish expansion on land was then complemented by gaza on the sea. One measure of the impact of these raids was that Turkish naval gazas provoked two crusades in 1333–4 and 1343–52 initiated by the Venetians, but involving other participants, which territorial gains on land had failed to ignite.10 The tense relations between the Byzantines and the Latins in Romania (here used to refer to the lands which had been ruled by the Byzantines before 1204) were complicated by the insertion of Turkish naval power into the equation. The Byzantines and their Christian rivals from the Latin west had dominated the seas for some time, although earlier, Arab fleets had been a major presence in the Mediterranean.11 But that was well before the First Crusade and, despite losing crusader strongholds in Syria, Western shipping dominated the Mediterranean, east and west.
The fourteenth century is the “black hole” of Ottoman history,12 yet there are sources that shed light on this remarkable transition from an Aegean dominated by the Latin powers, especially Venice, to one within which Turks and later specifically Ottomans had a large share of power. Sources for the fourtee nth century describing this process are limited, but analyzing them creates a picture of how this process developed. The most important source for events in the first half of the fourteenth century is the Destan of Umur Pasha. The section on Umur Bey was based on a contemporary source by a Hoca Selman, presumably the same individual who constructed Umur’s ships, who was very well informed not merely concerning Umur but also about the other Turkish beys, Byzantine leaders, and Western lords.13
Thus, writing a biography of Umur based on the Destan of Umur Pasha by Enveri is both possible and enlightening. This source has been the subject of repeated analyses, and the general assessment is that it reflects the events and ethos of the fourteenth century quite accurately, although the epic was written in the fifteenth century. Enveri claims to have followed his source word for word,14 although this appears to be an exaggeration because there are sections in which the facts appear to be confused. Nevertheless, although Umur was not the first or only Turcoman bey to engage in sea gaza, we know more about his actions than any other single individual who could claim to be a gazi in the fourteenth century. Assuming his contemporaries had similar goals and methods of achieving them, analyzing his exploits reveals how Turkish sea power increased in the first half of the fourteenth century.
Ibn Battuta wrote another valuable source after he traveled through Anatolia in 1331 or 1333 and visited many of the beys when they were reaping the rewards of their naval power.15 Ibn Battuta and Enveri are supplemented by various chronicles and documents.16 However, relying too heavily on Byzantine or Western sources sometimes leads to an assumption that the Turks were mainly motivated by religion and booty, and that they were manipulated by Byzantine leaders such as John VI Kantakouzenos (r. 1347–54), who appear in Byzantine or Western sources to be directing events. In contrast a source such as Enveri’s epic reveals that Turkish beys possessed a vision to expand to control the Aegean region by conquering strategic locations and they desired to become the leading powers there.17
While our understanding of this period remains incomplete, evidence indicates the vital role of naval power in the expansion of the beyliks of Anatolia. One of them, the Ottomans, began absorbing the others in the mid-fourteenth century and became the beneficiary of the naval expertise that their rival beyliks had developed. With this naval expertise, the Ottomans eventually dominated the eastern Mediterranean Sea, after they conquered not merely the mainland coastal areas, but most of the islands as well. Sea power, while often slighted by historians who study specifically Ottoman expansion, was vital to it. Although the islands long escaped conquest by the Turks, despite attempts at raiding and conquering them, control of the Anatolian coasts was the determining factor in the rise of Turkish sea power. Until the beyliks of the fourteenth century conquered the ports of the coasts they had little chance of competing at sea. However, once they controlled certain key ports, such as Izmir and Ephesus in the beylik of Aydın, expanding on the sea became possible.
While Turkish attacks on the Aegean islands have been viewed as mere raids, the early battles between the fleets of Turkish beys and their opponents, in 1312, 1319, and 1320, should be considered as attempts to conquer the islands. Divining the motivations of the beys with our limited sources is futile, but it is simplistic to believe that their only motivation was booty. The islands concerned, Rhodes and Chios, were wrested from Byzantine rule by Latin powers during the early fourteenth century, and the neighboring Turkish beys challenged Latin rule. The beylik of MenteƟe’s naval power would have been enhanced with possession of Rhodes,18 and controlling Chios would have benefited Aydın. Both beyliks’ recent advances to conquer coastal areas indicate that they aimed to continue conquests of key maritime bases rather than merely amass booty. Enveri’s depictions of Umur’s attacks as successes despite the only gains being booty and tribute highlight tributary relationships as another means of achieving expansion despite not gaining direct control of territory. Tribute in the form of the haraç (a poll tax paid by non-Muslims) indicates that the beyliks viewed tributary relationships as incorporating these lands into Muslim ruled territory.19 Direct rule of most of the islands was achieved by the Ottomans in the second half of the fifteenth century or the sixteenth century, but it was probably the aim of the maritime beyliks much earlier.
Sea power based on galleys, as was the case in the fourteenth-century Aegean, required possession of naval bases and the beyliks attempted to expand the bases they controlled. Umur’s raid on Gal lip...

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